2020, a year on the front line - measures taken in response to the pandemic
Jun 2021
Early in 2020, as the pandemic became a settled feature in our lives, the Mersen teams intensified their inventiveness and solidarity to keep going.
Mutual support above all
While the crisis struck everywhere, it did not hit all countries at the same time and with the same intensity.
Solidarity quickly came to the fore at Group level, with protective equipment, especially masks, exchanged between sites and countries to make sure everyone stayed safe. Two central stocks were set up in Europe and North America, and managers at each site regularly exchanged information to ensure that no one was caught out – despite stockouts and requisitions in the spring.
The right attitudes in a video
6 minutes to learn all about the right attitudes to adopt in workshops or offices to limit the spread of Covid-19: the educational video produced by the Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure site in France, using golden glitter to illustrate the spread of the virus, was widely shared.
Distance learning
Thanks to Mersen Academy, the Group’s e-learning platform, which played its role to the full and was a great success in 2020, over 23,000 hours of training were provided. Numbers peaked during the first period of lockdown.
The most popular subjects among employees in the new environment naturally included good remote working practices and remote team management. Mersen also adapted some of its training courses and set up new virtual classes, led by Group experts and enabling intercontinental exchanges.
New daily ways of working
To beat the pandemic, each site and the Group as a whole profoundly changed the way they operate:
- temperatures were taken at the entrance to several plants
- special “Covid Kits” were distributed in Amiens (France), Juarez (Mexico) fitted a disinfection tunnel and provided transport on a "health bus",
- other sites encouraged people to use webcams for informal discussions to help stave off loneliness among people working remotely.