Good afternoon Team Donohoe:
It has been a week since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and we are all understandably concerned what that means and how it will affect our lives and families. We will continue to share information on the virus and recommendations from local authorities via Donohoe Updates. We also want to keep you apprised of what’s happening at Donohoe to help keep us connected while many are working remotely. Yesterday there were over 300 visits to HelpDesk.Donohoe.com which is probably why two days into telecommuting, business goes on as usual. Thanks to all of you for embracing this new way of working and not overloading our IT team. A special thanks to the CBS, DHS and DCC teams in the field - who are working on-sites while social distancing and following CDC guidelines all to support critically important missions.
What are we doing?
Our Coronavirus task force continues to meet regularly (via conference call) to share current information and best practices.
We are currently experiencing an unprecedented economic and social crisis that will be remembered by future generations. While the Company is strong financially today, we simply don’t know how severe this will get or how long it will last. Through that lens we’ve decided to immediately implement cost cutting actions, so we can save jobs, avoid layoffs and ride out this storm.
The following policy changes were made yesterday and are effective immediately:
- The Executive Committee/leadership team will receive a pay reduction
- Senior managers above a certain salary level will receive a smaller pay reduction
- The Company will suspend the employer match contribution to the 401(k) Plan
- The June family picnic is cancelled
We will continue to re-evaluate our businesses and the depth of this crisis daily and adjust accordingly. It is our intention to restore these cuts when we return to normal.
What Can You Do?
Each of us has a role to play so together we can weather this storm. First and foremost, take care of you and your family so that we can lessen the spread and impact of this virus. That means following the CDC guidelines about preventative hygiene, safe cleaning and social distancing practices. Second, we need to keep our business running smoothly, so collaborate daily with your team members using any of the technology’s IT has made available to us and just keep doing your job – taking care of our customers, partners, clients and guests is what we do.
None of our companies has been impacted more than our hospitality division. Due to a virtual stop in travel, hotels are experiencing an unprecedented decline in business, ten times worse than 9/11. We are exploring all possible ways to care for our hospitality team members during this difficult period. Our leadership team is actively engaged with Members of Congress to advocate for an expedited targeted relief package for the hotel industry – those efforts to influence national legislation will also help our own. Our supportive thoughts are with our fellow team members in the hospitality division as they wrestle with very difficult decisions in the coming days.
We’ve never been more confident in the talent and dedication of our people and together we will ride out this storm. Until then, be kind, be careful, look out for your family, elderly neighbors and friends. When the storm passes, the sun will shine brighter than ever.
Thank you for being part of this incredible organization, Team Donohoe.
