Premier has taken the following actions in response to COVID-19:
Coronavirus Taskforce
Premier Relocations has formed a working group to lead our response to the evolving COVID-19 outbreak. The goal is to ensure the protection of our employees, our customers and the health of the overall business.
Impacted Employees
At this point, none of our employees have been directly impacted by the virus. We are engaging daily in an interactive process with employees, customers, and partners to determine whether they have been impacted by the virus and what impact that will have on our day-to-day operations.
Mitigating Risks
- In early March, Premier began screening crews regarding their current health and recent travel to mitigate any spread and protect customers
- Employees are encouraged to monitor their own health and stay home when they are feeling sick
- 2 weeks of additional paid sick leave was extended to all employees to ensure that anyone feeling ill will stay home from work with no personal financial repercussions as a result
- Coordinators have a series of questions for each customer regarding their current health and travel to ensure the customer is not sick on move day
- As of March 17, 2020, all employees who do not have an essential on-site function began working from home with full access to internal systems, including voicemail and email
- All moving quotes are provided using Premier’s Virtual Survey process, allowing customers to connect with a representative online through video chat
- Our crews are equipped with PPE (personal protection equipment) including hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves
- With respect to social distancing
- Crews are encouraged to report directly to the job site
- When riding together, crews sit as far apart as possible from one another
- Crew start times are staggered, minimize the number of people interacting at the warehouse
- To minimize the number of people each crew member comes into contact with, our crews are being kept consistent each day
- The inside of every truck is wiped down with sanitizing solution every night. This includes door handles, steering wheel, dashboard, and seat belts
- In addition, all equipment and work surfaces are sanitized daily, this includes, toolboxes, dollies, etc.
Are you experiencing or do you anticipate any disruption to your supply chain or other disruptions that could impact your ability to deliver services?
As a service provider, our people and our assets (trucks and warehouses) represent the core of our service delivery mechanism. Therefore, our primary disruption would be an outbreak of the virus in a facility or among our crews or support teams. At this point, we have not had any outbreaks at any of our locations. To mitigate the risk of infection, we implemented the actions delineated above and have also advised employees that if they have symptoms, they should stay home, seek medical attention, communicate with their frontline manager and avoid contact with colleagues.
In reference to materials and supplies, Premier relies primarily on packaging and materials which are sourced directly in local markets. We do not anticipate any impact to those materials. Although our moving blankets are primarily manufactured outside of the U.S., we are confident that we have ample supply to cover our operations. Should any supply chain risks be anticipated, Premier is positioned to opportunistically pre-purchase materials and supplies.
Will COVID-19 directly impact any of your service providers?
Premier’s desire to keep our service providers financially healthy by continuing to use them to service our customers is a key component of our mitigation plan.
The primary risks that we see, with regard to our service providers, are more market-based risks, where governments and businesses take broader measures to keep people at home to stop the spread of the virus. In such cases, even the most diverse supply chain would be impacted.
Do you have adequate stock of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)?
Yes, we are taking steps to ensure that our teams have appropriate PPE.
What are your trigger levels for communicating and processing future changes in service levels/expectations if needed?
The well-being of our employees and customers is of the utmost importance to us. Team members of our taskforce are in contact with one another daily. As needed, they work to determine whether any actions are needed within the communication channels to inform employees, customers, and partners.
Does your company have a pandemic response plan/business continuity plan?
Yes. Premier, has positioned itself wisely and maintains a pivotal environment that includes plans to adapt our business according to changing conditions.
- Cloud-hosted applications minimize site risk and ensure business continuity
- Increased server capacity to allow for more employees to work remotely
- Redirecting operations to alternate locations within our network of qualified providers
- Redirecting inbound customer calls to alternate locations
- Modifying work activities based on threat levels
Has your company-issued communications or conducted training regarding COVID-19?
Yes, regular and open communication is essential to maintaining healthy operations including daily communication and health screenings with all frontline service providers. Steps to educate and prepare our workforce include:
- Educating employees about preventative measures such as hand washing, site sanitation, and PPE
- Employees are encouraged to monitor their own health and stay home when they are feeling sick
- Advising moving crews about protocols for interacting with peers and customers
- Providing essential tools to frontline managers to help them support their workforce and customers as the COVID-19 crisis continues to evolve
