Boon Edam USA ensures protection of staff with continued customer service during the COVID-19 pandemic

As reports of COVID-19 outbreaks continue to spread across the globe, Boon Edam USA, like other organisations, had to quickly adjust operations, in order to protect the health and safety of staff, while maintaining a high level of customer service.

March 13th was a ‘D-Day’ for Valerie Anderson, the Managing Director of Boon Edam Inc. and Patrick Nora, the Managing Director of the factory in Lillington, North Carolina, USA. Both executives had to make the call to keep operations running in a new way.

Key decisions to ensure staff safety

As a company that provides revolving doors and security entrance solutions for essential businesses, together, they decided to: (1) enact teleworking policies for customer service staff and (2) take steps to provide a safe working environment for factory employees.

Patrick Nora explains, “Immediately, Valerie and I prepared an application for official “Essential Business” status from the state of North Carolina. We also reached out to vendors to ensure necessary parts could still be supplied to keep the factory running. So, when NC officials enacted a ‘stay-at-home’ order on Friday, March 27th, we were positioned to continue operations without a hiccup.”

Mastering the virtual environment to connect with customers

In a matter of 24-hours, at-home workstations were set-up and business continued with minimal interruption

Once it was decided that the customer service team would work remotely, management pushed to ensure their staff had the tools and accessibility resources necessary to perform their job duties from home. In a matter of 24-hours, at-home workstations were set-up and business continued with minimal interruption.

Perhaps, the most significant obstacle for a key subset of the customer service team was the cessation of travel. Valerie Anderson explains, “While executive management and regional and enterprise sales managers knew that travel had to come to a halt, they were concerned with how they would continue to connect with their customers.”

She adds, “The team was accustomed to travelling on a regular basis to meet with customers face-to-face to conduct entry evaluations and better understand their needs at the entry. However, using virtual platforms for holding one-on-one meetings and educational webinars, our sales force is mastering this new way of connecting with clients.”

Creating a production environment to protect staff

While the customer service staff was able to continue working from home, the production team needed to continue to perform their jobs physically at the North Carolina factory of Boon Edam. Factory managers conducted research to build the ideal work environment, so as to ensure the safety of all staff.

Patrick Nora described the new work atmosphere, stating “Employees received daily training and communication regarding proper hand-washing techniques, the importance of social distancing, how to sanitise work areas, at the end of each shift, and more. Focus was also placed on granting leniency and sympathy to the factory team, as they faced personal impacts of the virus, such as lack of childcare and sick family members.”

Grateful for a nimble team

Both Valerie Anderson and Patrick Nora continue to be grateful for the nimbleness of their teams

Both Valerie Anderson and Patrick Nora continue to be grateful for the nimbleness of their teams, during these uncertain times. Employees have taken on challenges with a positive attitude and shown flexibility and teamwork to get their jobs done.

“People have moved around the facility and performed jobs, they’ve never done before,” said Patrick Nora, adding “We’ve implemented policies that, while necessary, have not been comfortable for anyone. The team has worked overtime to ensure on-time delivery to our customers was never threatened. I couldn’t be happier with their efforts.”

Successfully pivoted and adapted to new way of working

Valerie Anderson echoes Patrick Nora’s sentiments, seeing this crisis as an opportunity to learn and grow. She said, “Often, the term crisis is associated with a negative event. However, I think when Boon Edam looks back at how we responded to the COVID-19 crisis, we will look at this ‘crisis’ as a time when we got a moment to pause and truly appreciate the structures we had put in place, to pivot and adapt to our new way of working, while ensuring we did not impact our customer experience.”

Valerie Anderson continues, “Also, we will look at it as a time when we saw leadership being demonstrated throughout all levels of our organisation. There was no task too big or too small that our staff was not willing to support, to ensure that we maintained business continuity, and for that, we are truly grateful.”