Lawsuits against employers are emerging from employees who claim they contracted the coronavirus at work and brought it home, spreading it to their families. The cases follow precedents set by "take home" asbestos suits, and risk analysis firm Praedicat estimates that if US deaths during the pandemic reach 300,000, the cost of such lawsuits could be up to $21 billion.

Contract tracing in the workplace could put employers in a legal bind because of confidentiality rules, warns attorney Susan Kline. Kline advises employers to establish a contract-tracing policy, to never disclose names of employees who test positive, and to ensure those in contact-tracing roles are trained to sensitively deal with employees.

Employers should cultivate a safety culture to limit risk in the workplace as the pandemic continues, writes SafetyTek Software founder and CEO Ryan Quiring. Conduct regular updates, foster collaboration with employee-led coronavirus safety committees and mitigate employee fears by widely communicating paid leave policies for those who need to quarantine, Quiring recommends.

Conduct an employee demographic audit to inform your company's financial wellness program and use appropriate tools for education, such as apps for younger employees or in-person coaching for those who are older. Focus on long-term engagement and benefits that will reduce financial instability to create a loyal, more productive workforce.

Bad habits take time to correct, and the key is to focus on what actions and decisions you have explicit control over, writes Doug Phares, former CEO of the Sandusky News Group, who offers advice based on James Clear's "Atomic Habits." "I think it's easy to imagine that we can always see when we're self-sabotaging, but bad habits can be so simple that you don't really think of them as habits at all," Phares writes.