Capitalism Meets Coronavirus: Additional Company Policies

April 23, 2020

Worker Support

Aldi is giving every store employee a 10% bonus for their hard work during the COVID-19 crisis.
Amgen has asked any employee who can to work from home to do so for the foreseeable future. In addition, Amgen and the Amgen Foundation have committed up to $12.5 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts directly in the communities where their teams work.
Anheuser-Busch has temporarily increased pay for front-line employees. In addition, all full-time employees are being provided additional paid leave to address COVID-19 related illness
Campbell’s has asked all employees and contractors who can work from home to do so. In addition, all production line employees are receiving an additional $2 per hour, and frontline supervisors an extra $100 each week.
Capital One has requested that employees work from home if they can, and will space out branch workers and others who can’t work remotely to help reduce density in workplaces.
CarMax is encouraging any workers who can work from home to do so, and is implementing a policy so that any location that has to close due to coronavirus pays its employees for an additional two weeks.
Cisco mandates a two-week work from home policy for most of its 75,000 employees around the world.
The Coca-Cola Company has asked its office-based employees around the world to work remotely and has restricted travel, while taking extra precautions to ensure safe product delivery. .
Corning has encouraged employees who can work from home to do so, and is providing additional compensation for the next month to employees who cannot. However, the company has decided to lay off some of their workers, but has not disclosed how many.
Cox Communications has asked all employees who can to work from home, is deep cleaning their facilities, and are supporting the FCC’s Keep America Connected initiative.
Cushman & Wakefield have launched a Global Employee Assistance Fund as part of a $5 million dollar commitment to help those impacted by coronavirus. In addition, the company’s CEO and executive teams will be taking pay cuts in order to fund the assistance and avoid layoffs.
Danone has guaranteed it’s 100,000 employee’s contracts and income until June 30th, has confirmed all of their employees will have COVID-19 health coverage, and the company is giving bonuses for employees who must work onsite.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has vowed to find a way to pay the hourly wages of arena workers during the NBA cancellation.
Dominion Energy has 80 hours of paid leave for employees sick with (or caring for someone sick with) coronavirus, or if they’re experiencing unexpected childcare needs. In addition, they are offering free telemedicine until June 1, free COVID-19 testing through the year, and have created resources for additional childcare and employee financial hardship.
Domino’s expanded paid leave for full and part-time hourly employees to all of its company-owned stores and supply centers. However, that only includes 6% of its establishments.
Dow has recommended that employees who are able to work from home. They have also implemented new policies at their manufacturing sites, including limiting site access only to critical personnel, implementing temperature screenings, following social distancing guidelines and employing additional cleaning and disinfecting measures.
Hubspot requires employees in high-risk regions to work from home and encourages those in low-to-medium risk regions to do the same.
Kroger halts its “hero pay” program and announces “thank you” bonuses for frontline workers.
Lowe’s has created a second specialty payment of $80 million to its frontline hourly workers, matching a payment the company made in March. Currently, Lowe’s has spent over $250 million on COVID-19-related employee investment.
Lyft advised its San Francisco headquarters employees to work from home, and set aside funds for drivers who are quarantined and unable to work.
McDonald’s workers filed a class action lawsuit, claiming the company failed to adopt government safety guidelines to keep them safe and that they were not provided enough PPE.
MetLife is offering paid voluntary leave to its licensed healthcare workers who join the fight against COVID-19.
Nestle is guaranteeing 12 weeks of regular wages in the event of a full or partial facility closure, paying eligible frontline employees an additional 12% for at least 12 weeks, and are providing up to 14 days of additional time off to employees impacted by the coronavirus.
NVIDIA has asked all employees who can work from home to do so (and is making ordering office supplies from home simple), is continuing to pay all of their hourly workers who can’t work right now, and are giving anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 case managers through their medical plan.
Owens Corning has asked all employees who can to work from home, and has instituted extreme deep cleaning procedures throughout their manufacturing locations.
PwC has closed all of its offices and are allowing all U.S. employees to work from home, as well as offering $2,200 in additional emergency backup child care.
Salesforce has strongly encouraged employees in New York, Washington State, and California to work remotely for the month of March.
SimpliPhi, which has been deemed an “essential” business, closed its manufacturing plant until March 30 to create safe procedures for its workers, and has allowed corporate employees to work from home. It has also added unlimited paid sick leave for those diagnosed with coronavirus.
ServiceNow has asked all employees to work from home starting March 11th, and has collaborated with Seattle on an emergency response app. In addition, the company pledged not to lay any employees off in 2020 due to coronavirus.
S&P Global has expanded care leave and minimum sick leave to two weeks, supported global work-from-home arrangements by providing a technology subsidy to accommodate the WFH environment, and extended their Employee Assistance Program to provide wider access to mental health services. It has also committed pay employees who contract COVID-19, and is extending vacation carryover.
Square has asked employees to work remotely.
Synchrony Financial has added on-site healthcare professionals at its largest offices, expanded its backup emergency care benefit, and is giving its frontline workers a one-time, special bonus as a thank you for the essential role they are playing.
Twitter has informed all employees globally that they must work from home, after strongly encouraging them to do starting March 2. Update: Twitter announces employees can work from home indefinitely, even after the COVID-19 crisis has passed.
Uber has strongly recommended that its U.S. employees work remotely through April 6, and agreed to compensate drivers under mandatory quarantine. Uber also announced that it will provide 14 days of sick pay for drivers or delivery workers – technically considered independent contractors who have not previously qualified for paid leave or benefits – who are sick with the coronavirus or are required to be isolated. Meanwhile Lyft is pausing the addition of new drivers in several markets and is expanding delivery to include healthcare supplies in order to safeguard driver earnings.
Verisk is offering COVID-19 paid leave for impacted employees in addition to their annual PTO, is expanding its existing emergency relief policy to include civic emergencies, and is easing the financial burden on employees affected by the pandemic through interest free loans.
VMWare has closed several of its offices and has strongly suggested to other employees that they begin working from home.
Workday has asked all of its employees and contractors in all of its global locations to work from home until the end of March, and is giving its employees an additional two weeks of pay in order to help them during the coronavirus fallout.
Whole Foods, a week after announcing they were asking employees to donate their paid time off to colleagues, has updated its policies. Its new approach includes an additional $2 an hour for all employees through April, double-time for all overtime, unlimited call-outs, two weeks additional paid-time off for all those diagnosed with coronavirus or forced into quarantine, and more.
Yum Brands is vowing to keep paying employees at any of its stores that are shut down due to coronavirus. However, Yum only owns 2% of its stores, and so is encouraging franchisees – the vast majority of their owners – to follow suit.

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Jobs & Layoffs

7-Eleven is hiring 20,000 new employees due to increased demand from coronavirus.
Alteon Health has slashed benefits, salaries, and more from their staff of doctors and nurses, citing reduced revenue.
American Express has stated that it plans to avoid job cuts in 2020 and will find other ways to ride out the impacts of the coronavirus.
Airbnb is laying off 25% of their workforce. However, those impacted by the layoffs will continue to be paid for 14 weeks (with an additional week of pay for every year worked), and their health insurance will run until the end of the year, up to a full 12 months depending on the country, in order to try and minimize their hardship.
Bird has laid off hundreds of employees, many of them over a 2-minute mass zoom call.
Dominos is hiring 10,000 workers to handle the increased demand for takeout in COVID-19 afflicted areas.
Hyatt is temporarily furloughing many hotel managers and reducing hours for most employees. However, health benefits will still be kept.
Instacart plans to add 300,000 jobs over the next three months to deal with the massive increase in grocery delivery customers.
Lowe’s is hiring an additional 30,000 employees in order to meet demand throughout the COVID-19 crisis.
Major News Media Companies including Disney, Buzzfeed, Vice, Group Nine Media, Maven Media, Gannett, and more are undergoing major layoffs, salary cuts, and furloughs.
The Mayo Clinic will furlough or reduce the hours of up to 30,000 workers.
Morgan Stanley’s CEO has sworn that there will be no layoffs or job cuts in 2020 due to the coronavirus.
NBCUniversal is looking at potentially laying off thousands of employees in order to cut costs incurred from the coronavirus crisis.
Qantas Airlines, in a very unusual arrangement, is temporarily laying off 20,000 workers but furloughing them to partner-company Woolworth’s grocery so they can continue to have work.
Papa John’s International is adding 20,000 jobs due to increased demand for pizza delivery.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman has said that the company will not lay off any employees due to the coronavirus crisis.
Pizza Hut is hiring 30,000 full-time workers to keep up with increased demand.
Salesforce CEO urges CEOs to take a “no layoff pledge” as part of an eight-point plan to deal with coronavirus.
Uber plans to lay off more than 3,000 employees, and will shut down nearly 45 offices due to coronavirus.
Union Square Hospitality Group cut 80 percent of its workforce as restaurant companies around the country shed workers. USHG created a relief fund to help employees, with CEO Danny Meyer seeding it with his entire compensation.
Virgin Atlantic is asking its employees to take eight weeks of unpaid leave in order to try and reduce the number of layoffs that may be coming.
Visa has promised no COVID-19 related layoffs in 2020.

Customer Support

Aetna is waving all co-pays for teladoc services, offering free medication delivery from CVS and sending out care packages to those diagnosed with coronavirus to help them recover at home and avoid exposing their loved ones.
Ally Bank is deferring payments for auto and mortgage customers up to 120 days, and is pledging $3 million in financial aid to local communities and organizations.
Allstate is refunding over $600 million to customers who are stuck at home because of COVID-19.
American Family Mutual will refund $200 million to customers who are under quarantine and unable to drive
Comcast, Charter, Verizon, Google, and Sprint have signed a pledge to keep Americans internet-connected for the next 60 days, even if people cannot afford to pay.
Dominion Energy has suspended all disconnections for customers who cannot pay for their energy cost during the coronavirus epidemic.
Dozens of health insurance companies are waiving all fees for COVID-19 testing.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosures for the next 60 days.
Geico is giving customers a 15% credit on their auto insurance plans.
Giant, Whole Foods, Target, and Dollar General have created “senior-only” shopping hours, to allow those most at risk from coronavirus to shop separately.
Goldman Sachs, AMEX, and Capital One are providing interest payment relief for credit card holders.
H&R Block is offering free tax prep and additional services to all frontline workers.
Labcorp has set aside one hour per day specifically for those 65 and older, or those with serious underlying health conditions.
PayPal has created a suite of services to help its customers, including allowing people to defer payments at no additional cost, waiving fees for instantly transfering funds from your account to your bank until April 30th, and more.
Progressive is giving a 20% credit to its auto insurance customers in April and May, and will not cancel any policies due to lack of payment for the next 2 months.
SVB Financial is allowing certain customers to defer principal payments on loans for up to six months.
U-Haul has announced 30 days of free self-storage to all college students who have been impacted by schedule changes at their universities.
Verisk is providing a policyholder self-serve claims-handling app at no cost to help insurers, adjusters, and policyholders resolve insurance claims quickly and let policyholders document losses through video and photos safely.

Community Support

Adobe is offering free distance learning for schools that have been impacted by coronavirus through May 31st.
Airbnb has announced it will provide free housing for 100,000 coronavirus responders around the world.
American Eagle and Aerie are committing $1 million to COVID-19 relief efforts, and will donate 1 million masks to public health workers.
Anheuser-Busch is producing bottles of hand sanitizer to aid relief efforts, and is donating $5 million to the Red Cross to aid in COVID-19 work.
Blackbaud has expanded its employee gift-matching program, and is donating its technology to the World Health Organization and UN Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to help in tracking the spread of the virus.
BlackRock is committing $50 million globally to help those immediately impacted by COVID-19.
Bloomberg and Gates Foundations announce big initiatives to help coronavirus response.
Cisco is pledging $225 million to assist with the global response to coronavirus.
Citizens Bank announced a $5 million pledge to help local communities impacted by the coronavirus.
Colgate-Palmolive is donating $20 million in health and hygiene products to community organizations, and has launched a gift-matching campaign with its employees, up to $1 million dollars.
The Coca-Cola system, including The Coca-Cola Foundation, is pledging more than $100 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts in communities around the world
Corning has donated thousands of 384-well microplates, tools laboratories use to screen drug compounds, to expedite the discovery of COVID-19 treatments.
Danone has committed 250 million euro to 15,000 small businesses in its ecosystem.
Dominion Energy is committing $1 million to coronavirus relief efforts.
Dow is committing $3 million to aid COVID-19 relief efforts, with donations going towards global relief organizations and non-profits in communities where Dow operates. The company has also adjusted operations to produce more than 200 metric tons of hand sanitizer at sites across North America, Europe and Latin America, to be donated to local health systems and government agencies. In addition, the company has created a simplified face-shield design that allows them to increase production for healthcare workers, and are vowing to donate 100,000 shields to Michigan-area hospitals.
Eleven Madison Park, considered one of the best restaurants in the world, has moved its resources to become a food commissary for NYC first-responders.
Eli Lilly has been offering drive-thru COVID-19 testing to Indianapolis-area healthcare workers, essential workers, and those most at risk of the disease, with the goal of expanding deeper across the state. In addition, it has joined a cross-industry collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the development, manufacturing and delivery of vaccines, diagnostics and treatments for COVID-19.
Eversource Foundation is donating $2 million to aid in community coronavirus relief efforts.
Exelon is donating over $1 million to coronavirus relief efforts.
Facebook is giving all of its employees a $1,000 bonus to deal with coronavirus fallout. Additionally, the company is giving away $100 million in grants and ads to 30,000 small businesses to help during this time. As of March 30th, the company has also announced it will be providing an additional $100 million to support local news outlets. Additionally, on April 6th the company announced it is working on tools to help researchers track if social-distancing is working.
Harbor Freight is donating all of its PPE gear to hospitals with 24-hour emergency rooms across the nation.
Hormel Foods has announced a $1 million dollar pledge to help those suffering from food insecurity during this crisis.
Industrial Commons has shifted to producing masks and gowns for hospital and nursing home workers.
JetBlue is donating free flights to healthcare workers heading to New York State.
John Deere has created a 2-for-1 match for employee donations up to $250,000 to select home-community food banks and American Red Cross chapters. In addition, they are offering support and relief to their financing/lease customers facing financial hardships.
Levi Strauss & Co committed $3 million to assist communities hit hard by COVID-19, and created a 3:1 employee gift matching program for coronavirus-related causes and charities.
Louis Vuitton will be creating hand sanitizer for free to help with shortages, particularly in France.
Lowe’s is donating $1 million of flower baskets from its network of small business growers and nurseries to more than 500 long-term care and senior living facilities across areas greatly impacted by the pandemic, including New York, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Miami, and more.
Mastercard is matching all employee donations to relief efforts, which has included funds to the China Women’s Development Foundation, local U.S. food banks, and a gift of 25,000 respirator masks to New York City hospitals. Additionally, the company has made Girls4Tech online curriculum for grades 3–7 available to parents and teachers looking for learning resources.
MetLife Foundation is committing $25 million to helping the global COVID-19 response, and an additional $1 million to U.S. food banks to help with food insecurity during the crisis.
Miller is donating $1 million to support out-of-work bartenders during the coronavirus pandemic.
New Balance is transitioning several production lines from shoes to face masks in order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Nike has announced that, in collaboration with its foundation and partners, it will commit $15 million toward COVID-19 response efforts.
NVIDIA is giving researchers free access to genome-sequencing software to help in the fight against COVID-19.
PwC Foundation has pledged $3.55 million to support communities impacted by COVID-19. This includes $2.85 million to help address immediate needs like hunger and PPE; $500,000 to help teachers and students get the supplies they need for remote schooling; and $200,000 to amplify crowdfunding projects started by PwC employees that address needs in their local communities.
Salesforce has created a $1.5 million dollar coronavirus fund for affected citizens in San Francisco.
S&P Global Foundation is donating $4 million to COVID-19 response efforts.
SVB Financial is committing $5.5 million to provide relief for small businesses, and assist in health and food security. In addition, the company has put an extra $1 million towards direct COVID-19 response efforts.
Synchrony Financial has committed $5 million to help local and national organizations assist those areas of the country most affected by Coronavirus.
TE Foundation is donating $1 million to organizations working on therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines for COVID-19.
Toyota USA has awarded $2.5 million in grants to a number of nonprofits across the country to help combat COVID-19.
Visa Foundation is committing $210 million to support small and micro businesses through COVID-19.
Xerox is committing to mass produce disposable ventilators for U.S. hospitals.
Zoom is giving K-12 schools its videoconference tools for free.

Leadership & Shareholders

BlackRock reiterated its pledge to hold company board members accountable for their impact on climate change and the way they treat employees despite coronavirus.
Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and Wells Fargo have stopped all stock buybacks for the 2nd quarter in order to maintain their solvency and liquidity for customers during the outbreak.
Bank of America has issued a $1 billion corporate social bond to support the fight against COVID-19, the first such offering by a U.S. commercial bank.
Columbia Sportswear’s CEO has reduced his pay to $10,000 for the year, and members of the executive team have taken 15% pay reductions to ensure their retail workers can continue to be paid.
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ President and CEO will both give up their salary for the year, and the rest of senior leadership have taken a pay cut to help support workers.
HCA Healthcare executives are taking pay cuts in order to avoid laying off employees.
Rockwell Automation CEO Blake Moret is taking a 25% pay cut. Additionally, executives and non-manufacturing employees will also take pay cuts of differing percentages, while manufacturing employees will receive a one-time bonus as a thank you for working under difficult conditions.
Square CEO Jack Dorsey is moving $1 billion of his own money into an LLC (28% of his net worth) to fund global COVID-19 relief.
Texas Roadhouse’s CEO has given up his salary for the year to pay frontline workers.

Operational Impacts

Conde Nast is instituting 10-20% pay cuts for all staff making over $100K for the next five months to avoid layoffs.
Delta has had more than 13,000 employees volunteer for unpaid leave in order to help the company.
General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler have agreed to close all of their factories through March 30. Update: As of April 1st, Ford and GM have yet to re-open their automotive factories. Some, however, are being reconfigured to help with ventilators. Update: As of May 18th, all three companies have officially re-opened their factories.
Hanes is retrofitting its factories to produce masks for healthcare workers.
Honda is enacting a temporary production shutdown for a week while they clean all of their plants. Workers will be compensated for the duration of the shutdown. Update: As of April 7th, Honda, alongside Nissan, have furloughed 24,000 workers without pay.
Lego is shutting down all of its stores outside of China until March 27th, and asking any employee who can work from home to do so.
Lululemon is closing all of their stores in North America and Europe for the next two weeks. Their employees will be paid for all of the hours they were scheduled to work. Update: Stores have remained closed as of May 18th, with some re-opening shortly, but employee pay will end in June.
NYSE, as of March 19th, has officially closed its trading floor and is requiring all employees to work from home.
Patagonia is closing all of its stores and website until March 27th. All employees will be paid during the closure. Update: As of April 1st, Patagonia’s stores are still closed, and for now, their employees are continuing to be paid.
REI is closing its stores until March 27th, and all of its employees will be paid during this temporary closure. Update: They are continuing to close for an additional two weeks.
Tesla, despite fighting the order for several days, officially closed car production in its California factory. Update: As of April 7th, the company is officially slashing pay and furloughing hourly workers until the end of the 2nd quarter.
VF Corp is closing all of its stores until April 5th. All employees will continue to be paid through the closure.