GSM continues to monitor reports by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about the rapidly evolving developments with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The health and safety of our associates, customers, suppliers and our community is of utmost importance to us. As such, we believe it’s important to share what we are doing to respond to the outbreak.
Remote Work
- As of March 16, our Houston HQ office has transitioned to a remote work strategy for most functions, as we continue to support our customers.
- Louisville office associates are being encouraged to work from home, in an effort to reduce risk for the safety of our print production team.
- All other remote associates are being asked to conduct their meetings virtually, unless business essential.
- We’re leveraging all of our cloud-based tools such as Slack, Go To Meeting, soft phones and more to ensure business as usual even though we’re remote.
- We’re providing regular tips and tricks to our associates to stay engaged with remote work, including a detailed IT preparedness guide.
Large Business Conferences & Meetings
- Associates have been asked to cancel or postpone attendance to conferences, trade shows, networking events and other non-essential events until further notice.
- Large in-person Company gatherings will be conducted virtually, whenever possible.
- Our GSM campuses will continue the increased number of aggressive cleanings of our offices and work locations daily – including additional protocols and rigorous steps - based on CDC guidelines.
Associate Travel
- All Company-related business travel has been suspended to countries listed by the CDC with level 2 or 3 travel advisories, which includes China, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Iran.
- All associates planning domestic business airfare or out of state travel are required to conduct their meetings virtually, unless it is business essential.
- Any associate who has traveled to these countries, including any personal travel, or has come in close contact with an individual who has traveled to these countries with level 2 or level 3 advisories, will be asked to work from home (if not working remotely already), monitor their symptoms for 14 days and will only be able to return to work after that time period, if symptom free. Close contact is defined as individuals in the same household, including individuals who may not live in the household but may be staying there or are otherwise present in the household on a regular basis, including family, friends, contractors, etc.
Candidates, Vendors & Suppliers
- Please confirm with your GSM host before moving forward with any in-person meetings or visits. Such meetings should be limited to essential business needs only and the use of video conferencing technology is encouraged.
- If by extenuating circumstance you meet a GSMer face-to-face, they will not plan on shaking hands and won’t expect you to either.
- We may ask visitors to disclose whether or not they have recently traveled to or from a country listed by the CDC with a level 2 or level 3 advisory or been in close contact with someone who has.
- Those who have will be asked not to visit until after a 14-day period with no symptoms since date of travel.
Business Continuity & Communications
GSM proactively maintains business continuity plans to prevent the outage of our services and products. Our cloud-based systems and robust business continuity program allow our associates to work from anywhere. While we are adopting a remote work strategy for many functions, GSM remains fully operational.
We hope these details put you at ease knowing we are putting the health and wellbeing of our communities first.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected].
