COVID Heroes – Weekly Feature
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates a number of important lessons ultimately, one being how critical it is to be empathetic, understanding and caring — this is especially true for global business, too.
In these times of continued uncertainty, how organizations respond and in turn manage their workforces will be remembered for many years. Though we recognize all cases are situational, however those that have not extended empathy to the circumstances may be left with some reputational impact to manage over the months and years to come. How businesses have responded will also have a lasting impact on employee behavior including, engagement, productivity, and loyalty.
There’s a number of organizations, both large and small that have engaged actively in the anti-COVID-19 mission, some are actively raising funds, or engaging with charitable concerns, others are logistically retooling entirely to focus on pandemic materials or equipment.
You may have heard that Jack Dorsey has devoted $1 billion of his stake in Square, the payments firm he co-founded, to help fund the Coronavirus relief effort. That’s incredible, right? Well, he wasn’t the only one making inspirational gestures.
This is why we’re creating this weekly feature, sharing news from companies, professionals & entrepreneurs who are really being heroes, looking after their employees & others, and giving us all a source of inspiration.
As we progress these regular thought pieces we’ll be inviting our friends and network to join and tell their stories of crises best practice in comms & HR and how they’re engaging their teams and companies to help respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
So keep a lookout for guest interviews and new editorial 🙂
Oakley
Oakley’s R&D and manufacturing teams have been working to put their time and talents to good use: in collaboration with the local medical community, the teams have developed protective shields that will be mass-produced and provided to first responders and front-line medical workers. In addition to this, the company has made a donation of 20,000 units of protective eyewear that will be shipped across North America and Europe.
Microsoft
Announced that they will keep paying the hourly workers who support their campus. Microsoft said they will continue to pay all vendor hourly service providers their regular pay during this period of reduced service needs. This is independent of whether their full services are needed; even if their work hours are reduced, hourly employees who work in their facilities will continue to receive their regular wages. In times of uncertainty, it’s great to witness Tech Giants being sensitive to support their employees.
Loom
Speaking of supporting employees, video recording and sharing service Loom has made its Pro feature free for teachers and students at K-12 schools, universities, and educational institutions. They have also removed the recording limit on free plans and have cut the price for Loom Pro in half to help businesses and brands across the board!
Education is key, and it’s great to witness Loom not leaving anyone behind.
Dyson
Although having no medical experience, the renowned brand of Vacuum cleaners and air circulation products have pledged assistance, in their ambition to temporarily retool and shift production to ventilators. The UK government has placed a 10,000 unit CoVent ventilator order from Dyson. They are one of a number of organisations in this space who have formally or informally taken up the UK ventilator challenge in response to a potential shortage of breathing apparatus across UK hospitals.
The social networking website is opening up 16 of its learning courses for free. Courses that provide tips on how to stay productive, build relationships when you’re not face-to-face, use virtual meeting tools and balance family and work dynamics in a healthy way. The company is also using its powerful platform to share news more broadly, help businesses use live video to replace onsite events, and deal with business continuity.
BMW
The BMW Group’s Rolls Royce brand joined the Ventilator Challenge U.K., a consortium of engineering firms including Airbus, BAE Systems, and a series of Formula One motor racing teams that have pledged to secure the production of two types of ventilator machines, for a total of 10.000 units, with the goal of helping and protecting the NHS during the pandemic spread.
Kroger
Kroger has established emergency leave guidelines to provide paid time off for associates diagnosed with, experiencing symptoms of, or placed under quarantine for the coronavirus. It has also made more than $5 million available through its Helping Hands fund to provide financial support to associates experiencing hardships due to coronavirus, including childcare costs!
The company has also waived prescription delivery fees for customers and has formed employment partnerships with local, regional, and national businesses from the most-affected industries to temporarily move employees to roles at Kroger.
____
There’s plenty of companies that are donating money, personal protective equipment, converting production lines and taking measures to keep workers employed: we will do our best to keep you all posted on these most notable actions.
If you want to feature in our regular update or would like to nominate a colleague or company for being a hero during this crisis, send us a note and a short blurb about what they have achieved and some details of their heroism during COVID-19 and we’ll reach back out for some more info! 😀
You can send your nominations to hey@wearebeem.com and we’ll be back in touch to hear your story!