Rise, Re-enter and Recover: CMDA Cleaning Services COVID-19 Story
At the start of the pandemic
At the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic here in the Philippines and the implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine, a lot of companies are worried about business and how to go about doing transactions in what would be the new norm of, not just the Philippine society, but the whole world. Aside from the economic impact, there is a health risk posing against all – rich or poor, employee or employer, a small business owner or a mega corporation.
Thankfully, the full brunt of these fears and implications did not totally impact our company (though still affected with the decrease in inquiries and sales). There were measures already in place for something like this prior to the crisis, however, not meant for this length of time:
- Emergency Savings Fund
- SOP for Human Resource coordinator
When news arrived that the Enhance Community Quarantine was to be imposed in the entire nation, internal measures were arranged:
- “Work from Home” set up for administrators
- “Stand-by for transport” for custodians
- Provided full salary at the end of March
- Provided pro-rated 13th month pay plus cash assistance on April 15th payroll
- Provided comprehensive Salary loan on the start of May
- All health monitoring was based through communications via sms and chat
Need something cleaned?
The financial assistance from concerned government agencies haven’t arrived yet as of this posting, but the company knew that compassion is also part of growing a business, especially in a service industry that relies on manpower. Thankfully, the government released some memorandum that enables CMDA Cleaning Services to do a unique and rising type of service – Disinfection. Our Disinfection officers were still able to work but operates on special and strict guidelines:
- Wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), gloves, masks and face shield (provided by CMDA)
- Operate and transport 1:1 disinfection officer to vehicle
ECQ to MECQ
At the beginning of May, thankfully, government agencies has relaxed some measures to recover the economy, and so we slowly restored our other services like office cleaning and home sanitation. However, certain guidelines were needed to follow and so we used appropriate and recommended measures to slowly return to work:
- We picked up each employee from their homes to staff house
- The company provided board and lodging for employees through a rented unit near the office (one for male employees, one for female employees)
- Provided a dedicated transport vehicle when servicing clients to avoid contamination
- Imposing strict health measures such as always wearing face masks and observing proper physical distancing
- Provided vitamins and ensuring they get 6-8 hours of sleep
- Direct approach of health monitoring by visually and directly checking for symptoms by the health officer
- Provided PPEs for each custodian to protect them and the clients every time there are projects
- Comprehensive training and seminar on our company’s recovery plan to identify the role of each team member
- Testings will be done twice a month on all CMDA employees to ensure their safety considering the line of work we do
Prior to the pandemic, safety of everyone has always been the company’s top priority, and it has emphasized it more now by further augmenting it with the additional protocols placed in our Standard Operating Procedures. With the government slowly modifying the community quarantine guidelines on each regions, CMDA Cleaning Services will surely be there to help everyone to rise and recover through a cleaner and safer place. As a start, we offer our recovery plan template on all companies that we are in partnership with to help them kick start their back to work program and place a robust health protocol for all of their employees.
GCQ and the “New Normal”
Finally on June 01, 2020, the government has declared that the National Capital Region be placed on General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Althought we have been operating already at a limited capacity, this gave our clients more flexibility in terms of getting our services before they resume back to office. Since the pandemic has affected life and business, our services has been in demand for the “new normal” as more and more require disinfection.
Though not mandated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Health (DoH), nor the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), we opted to test all our staff for the Rapid Anti-Body COVID-19 test, and last June 12, 2020, we all had our test made and thankfully, from the transport team, to the custodians and up to our admin team are all COVID-19 NEGATIVE. This gave us, including our families, especially our clients, peace of mind. We know we can always be true to our virtue on “providing a clean and safe place for everyone”.
Back to MECQ and the fight for COVID-19 goes on
As the metro and surrounding provinces return back to MECQ, we have already gone through our 3rd monthly Rapid Anti-Body COVID-19 test for all our employees. Knowing that we are all still negative for covid, it goes to show that our safety measures are working, but still, we remain vigilant and continue our efforts in ensuring we, and our clients are free from infection. We have had a lot of occassions as well that we have come to rescue our clients from their cancelled cleaning service because our competitors were limited and challenged by the MECQ guidelines. Our training has always involved quick response to our customers, with safety as the priority, to make sure their place is clean and disinfected immediately.
COVID-19 Check Up and Test Results
First Posted on: May 16, 2020
Updated: August 15 2020
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