Our Response to COVID-19

 

At Jamieson, we’ve been producing vitamins and supplements that have been trusted by consumers around the world for nearly 100 years. Now more than ever, we feel a great responsibility to demonstrate why we have earned that trust by supporting the health and wellness of our employees, consumers and communities throughout this global health emergency.

Since we first became aware of coronavirus in early January, we have had teams in place to monitor the situation and implement additional programs and safeguards in all aspects of our business aligned with our focus on health and safety.

Our manufacturing facilities and distribution centres remain open as we proudly work towards the same goal - ensuring shelves continue to be stocked with the trusted products consumers have come to rely on as part of their health and wellness routines.

To learn more about our actions to support our employees, communities and retail partners, please click on the sections below.

Health and Wellness of Our Employees

We have been regularly identifying all possible efforts, actions and plans to ensure health and safety in our facilities. Practices such as increased hygiene and sanitation, travel restrictions and social distancing procedures have been in place since early February. As of mid-March, office employees are working remotely wherever possible.

On March 23rd, we introduced a monthly TEAMWORK bonus for staff who are required to be present in our manufacturing and distribution facilities and cannot work remotely. We remain in operation to meet consumer need for our products. We could not do this without our frontline team members, and we are incredibly thankful to them for continuing to come to work every day. These dedicated employees are keeping our operations running and making it possible for people all over the world to continue to have access to the products they need for themselves and their families.

For our employees working remotely, we have put in place regular team communications via Teams and Skype and implemented a number of activities designed to help everyone feel connected. Health and wellness challenges, virtual gatherings and wellbeing surveys are occurring regularly. Beginning early April, Jamieson sponsored virtual yoga classes are being scheduled twice daily, with all employees encouraged to participate.

For a full list and timeline of activities in place related to ensuring the health and wellness of our people, please see the chart under the Activity Timeline tab.

Community Support

We are amazed by and grateful to the healthcare workers around the world who are working tirelessly in the fight against COVID-19. We remain committed to supporting these heroes as much as possible through donations of personal protective equipment and health and wellness products.

Support at Home

We have been a proud member of the community in Windsor, Ontario, since starting our business there nearly 100 years ago. In late March in conjunction with Windsor area hospitals, we arranged the donation of 58,000 surgical masks for the region’s frontline healthcare workers. We are also in the process of donating an additional 27,000 surgical masks to the hospitals in the Scarborough health network.

In Windsor, Scarborough and Toronto we are also supplying vitamins and nutritional supplements to help sustain frontline healthcare staff and their families through a time in which they have very little to devote to their own health and wellbeing. We have committed 30,000 units to this so far – products including B12, multivitamins, Essentials + Protein and Iron Vegan bars.

Across the country, we recognize the need for essential products remains high, especially in vulnerable populations. We are identifying consumers and groups in special need of assistance and doing as much as possible to support them on an individual basis throughout this uncertain time.

Support Abroad

In early February, we made a direct donation of vitamin C to designated hospitals in Wuhan, China, in support of frontline medical staff.

Supply Chain and Customer Support

When we first became aware of coronavirus in early 2020, we secured forward stocks of our most important raw materials that could potentially be affected and made alternate supply arrangements to ensure availability. We don’t foresee any supply issues at this point, and we continue to be proactive in identifying global procurement risks and finding solutions to our supply requirements.

Our manufacturing facilities remain open, and with every possible safety precaution for our employees in place we are continuing to produce high quality products according to our industry-leading quality control program. We are supporting our ability to ship and receive product and our distribution centre is fulfilling orders as effectively and efficiently as possible. Beginning in early April, we have brought in team members from other areas of the business to assist customer service throughout this influx.

There is a fair amount of complexity in all the changes to business flow as a result of COVID-19, but we can confidently say the following: consumers tend to put even more emphasis on their heath during times like this. Specifically, keeping their immune system strong, washing hands more frequently, getting better rest, and taking vitamins. This has resulted in a shift in demand for our products that we have been able to meet. We will continue to fulfill orders and provide our customers and consumers with the products they need for themselves and their families.

Today, and always, we are here for your health, and we’ll get through this, together.

Timeline of Actions

Worked to secure supply or raw materials	Commenced Jan 13
Weekly company-wide CEO update	Commenced Jan 25
Product donation to Wuhan front line hospital staff	Commenced Feb 10
Extra shifts from our sanitation staff beyond current GMP standards – all facilities	Commenced Feb 24
Situation Management Team formed	Commenced Feb 25
Suspended all commercial air travel	Commenced Feb 25
Employee personal travel tracking – plant personnel – all quarantines monitored with regular communications	Commenced Feb 25
Personal travel tracking – plant personnel – all quarantines monitored with regular communications	Commenced Feb 25
Jamieson immune product care package distributed to all employees	Feb 28
Operations Leadership team briefings	Commenced March 4
Postponing or cancelling large group meetings and non-essential meetings	Commenced March 4
Limiting external visitors to those persons who are deemed essential (trades people for example) to ensure the proper maintenance and operation of our facilities	Commenced March 6
New Visitor’s sign in log, and updated GMP orientation implemented – all locations	Commenced March 9
Proactively screening essential third parties in all environments. We are using our current GMP and visitor checklists to screen and potentially turn away individuals who pose a risk	Commenced March 10
Scheduling all meetings using technology like skype or face time	Commenced March 13
Securing temporary space in Windsor to move some staff out of our Rhodes facility to limit exposure	Commenced March 13
Executing remote work as much as possible - technical equipment distributed	Commenced March 13
Amending our attendance policy so that employees are not required to obtain doctor’s notes to return to work	Commenced March 16
Providing protected leaves for those who require to be off due to self isolation or quarantine, and for those that need to be off work for dependent care of family members	Commenced March 16
Changing shift start and end times to limit cross over exposure amongst shifts in all manufacturing and distribution centres	Commenced March 16
Assessment and changes on packaging lines to promote social distancing	Commenced March 16
Changing break schedules in all manufacturing and distribution centres to promote social distancing in break rooms	commenced March 16
Separation of breaks and break spaces - Plant office and production team	Commenced March 16
One-time Wellness Bonus ($150 per active employee)	March 20
Front-line TEAMWORK bonus implemented	Commenced March 23
Launch of Wellness Pulse Survey	March 25
Launch Jamieson employee health and wellness competition	March 27
Deploy field sales team members to support other areas of the business	Commenced April 6
Yoga JAM company sponsored 2x daily virtual yoga for all employees	Commenced April 6