Our hearts and thoughts are with all the families, friends and community members who have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The virus is dominating the news cycle, and it must also be dominating your personal and professional conversations. Premier is no different and we are actively implementing our response to this situation. At Premier, the safety and well-being of our employees and our customers is always our priority.
We are actively monitoring the COVID-19/Coronavirus situation and taking steps to help keep our company and community safe. We wanted to share with you some steps we are taking. We have created a plan to deal with the threat that SARS-CoV-2poses. The intent of this plan is to educate our employees, maintain the safest, healthiest workplace possible, and avoid disruptions to business under the assumption that the virus will have an impact.
Employee health and wellness
Sustained operations
Maintaining integrity in supply chains
1. Employee Health and Wellness
Education and the raising of awareness will be the most important tools utilized. We have distributed materials including a “SARS-CoV-2 Fast Facts” to all employees and followed up with training and discussions regarding caring for themselves and their community.
As our employees interact with customers and the general public, we have taken steps to limit exposure to the virus. Like many others, we are limiting travel and meetings while providing remote-work solutions where applicable. We have sourced cleaning and sanitizing materials and we are cleaning our entire facility more often to help keep everyone as safe as possible.
We are in continuous communication with our employees reminding them about the importance of good hygiene, providing them with health education and support whenever needed. Employees who feel ill have been told to not report to work and we have specific quarantine and communication procedures in place should an employee be diagnosed with COVID-19 or is asked to self-isolate by a public health authority, and to provide comprehensive benefits to support them.
2. Sustained Operations
Currently, Premier is operating without restrictions and/or changes to production and delivery services. We are currently staggering our production team schedules between days and shifts to avoid cross-contamination. In the event of excessive absenteeism, our staff of temporary employees will be utilized primarily to fill any gaps per Premier’s Disaster Recovery Plan.
3. Supply Chain Management
Currently, the CDC projects widespread absenteeism in many sectors of business and commerce as a result of SARS-CoV-2. This could reduce our control over the cost of certain goods and services. We are currently holding inventory in supplies that include paper, ink, toner and other materials to keep operations running as scheduled. As the situation develops, we are committed to communicating any changes as early as possible.
Looking Ahead
As stated, Premier is currently operating without restrictions or changes to production. However, the public response to this challenging situation is changing rapidly. As this continues, some impacts to our service may become unavoidable, depending on local conditions and restrictions in each community. We promise that we will keep you informed on any necessary changes to our operations via direct email and our website - we will make sure to alert you to any potential delays, or changes we must make to production or delivery timeframes in response to this situation.
During this difficult time, we want you to know that your business and your support means a great deal to our team. We value your trust, and everyone at Premier is committed to providing the reliable support that you need and expect.