Volvo Employees Voluntarily Work to Ease Impact of the Global Coronacrises

A special thank you to the weekly magazine 'Spanaren' and Göran Ekstedt for sending us this article that highlights the very important work of Volvo Group in times of the Coronacrisis.

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A vast majority of Volvo's 100 000 employees in the company's manufacturing global operations are laid off due to the world wide Coronacrisis. A number of measures are made in order to help customers,  employees and society. ”Many of our employees in all markets are voluntary working with non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross International”, says to Spanaren Newsletter Mr. Claes Eliasson, Senior Vice President at Volvo Group headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.

”During times of uncertainty it’s more important than ever to do what we can to make a real difference. We are working in real time to keep our employees safe, limit the impact for society, support our customers and protect our business,” Claes Eliasson says and adds: ”We are also planning activities with a wide range of authorities and companies to see how we can work together to solve problems where the needs are greatest”. 

Some of Volvos actions made are:
Protecting their employees
Suspended production in their global manufacturing operations.
Where possible the company's working employees are performing their duties from home in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus.

Supporting their customers
Prioritizing the workshop and spare parts operation to keep our customers rolling.
”In Poland we hand out food boxes to drivers who have difficulties finding food as restaurants are closed”, says Claes Eliasson and continues, ”We are helping our customers manage their financial needs”.
During the outbreak Volvo provides a free online medical service through a clinic app for all 30,000,000 truck drivers in China.

Helping the society
The company is making 3D printing and assembly capability available for employees voluntary production of face masks. In the Tuve plant alone, in Gothenburg, Sweden, 2000 shields per day will be produced for Swedish health care.

Collaborating with Ica, a Swedish food wholesale and retailer, to help secure the Swedish food supply. Ica will use  Volvo´s freight trains to transport food from Gent in Belgium to Sweden.
”We have donated 2MSEK to the Red Cross International appeal, says Mr. Eliasson and adds
”We have sourced 100 000 face masks, 20 000 protection glasses and 50 000 face shields to the health care in Sweden and in France”.

Other measures taken:
Sponsoring Hack the crisis, a hackathon to design, test and develop ideas to fight the crisis.

Working together with the Swedish Armed Forces to transport medical supplies within Sweden.
Sourced 3 000 excess PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) in Volvo's facilities locally to support the local health care systems across the globe.

Funding loaner refurbished laptops and Wi-Fi support to a local school in North Carolina, USA, where over 70 per cent of students come from low-income homes.

Planning to donating 100 used laptops for children to help them with their on-line schooling/learning. The laptops will be distributed to poor or foster families through municipality institutions in Poland.

Food donations to schools in the US
Conducting local food donations in North America as the school lunch may be the only reliable source of cooked food for many students that now can’t go to school.
Distributed 1,000 disposable masks, several dozen N95 masks and about 500 pairs of disposable gloves to be delivered to Cone Health Medical Center in USA.
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Protective eyewear for emergency rooms in Brazil
Supporting the production of 35,000 liters of hand sanitizer as well as several dozen masks, protective eyewear and vests for emergency rooms in Curitiba and Parana State in Brazil.

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Article written by GÖRAN EKSTEDT (Spanaren),
with the support of Mr. Claes Eliasson, Volvo Group Media Relations.