Business not as usual
As for everyone else, our business routine has changed pretty quickly. By the middle of March, it was apparent that things were about to change. You can’t really plan or prepare for such unprecedented events, you just have to take it a day at a time whilst in the eye of the storm. Some customers were choosing to shut, a trickle of closures became a flood. The horror of this virus meant by the 22nd March we had chosen to shut down as much as possible, and encourage staff to stay home and stay safe.
We have furloughed 39 members the Green Mop team. There is work we could have carried on doing, but we don’t want to put any of our workers at unnecessary risk.
We have several Green Moppers still working at customer sites that really can’t close, for example NHS support offices, and the Macmillan centre. And the staff working have chosen to carry on. We gave them the choice. I am proud of all of our staff, but am in awe of the work the fab five are doing.
The office is shut. A supervisor goes in and checks post, sorts out laundry, and does stores orders when needed. I am working from home and managing any ongoing business and admin from here.
We hope as many businesses as possible can make it through to the other side of this, but it’s going to be a while before we’re sure who’s made it and who hasn’t. We’ll continue to do our best to protect our workers and get back to work when safe to do so.