It has been a very strange time for all since COVID-19 took hold of the world changing our ways of living and working like we have never seen before.
During this challenging time Treatt has proven that the business’ core values and behaviours shine through ensuring both the employees and the operation of the business are protected and cared for.
In the UK and US, staff who can work at home have been doing so since March. IT have been amazing by rolling out laptops with outstanding efficiency and ensuring all home-based staff are connected and fully operational – our thanks goes out to them. A big thanks to the onsite team who have helped get office chairs into boots of cars and even on a few occasions delivered desks to employees’ home to ensure all have suitable workstation setups at home.
By reducing the headcount on site, we are protecting those who are in business-critical areas such as operators, technical staff, and the logistics team. Treatt is so proud and thankful for their dedication and resilience. Their ‘can-do’ attitude has proven what can be achieved when teamwork is at its best. New ways of working have been introduced to ensure that the workplace is safe for our team. One-way systems have been put in place with a comprehensive system of temporary signage and spaces have been repurposed to assist with social distancing. Shift work and rotation has been introduced within more departments enabling the creation of ‘bubbles’ of employees. We have increased the frequency of cleaning, and installed Sanitiser stations. Treatt is making its own hand sanitiser, which we have happily been able to offer to local care homes and Hospices in our local community.
During the early days of the lockdown when supermarkets were hectic and bulk buying was at its worst Treatt procured food from a commercial food supplier. These deliveries were shared out amongst staff onsite to ensure they had some key essentials at home…this even included pasta and toilet rolls! At Easter goody bags were provided with some chocolate but also with some more elusive items such as baked beans. Boxes of fruit have also been delivered…to ensure staff are also enjoying healthy items.
Those working from home were not forgotten. There have been surprise deliveries of gingerbread men via the post. Sadly, some of us working from home had to share ours with children who are at home completing their schoolwork. A few weeks later there were brownie deliveries, with the opportunity to combine a sweet treat and cuppa in a team zoom meeting.
As we move towards lockdown being eased, we remain committed to protecting our staff and supporting our local community. Sometimes we miss our old version of ‘normal’ but know that all of us that work at Treatt continue to come together to create our own new version of what is ‘normal’. We have a lot to be thankful for and remain grateful for the outstanding commitment of our teams in the US, UK, and China.