Background information

E.Wedel is a Polish confectionery company producing a variety of chocolates, cakes and snacks. The company has been operating since 1851. Since 2010, the company has been part of Lotte Group, a South Korean-Japanese conglomerate. Currently, the company employs about 1,300 people at a factory located in Warsaw. To maintain continuous operation in the context of the COVID-19 sanitary restrictions, the company has established a special crisis team to implement health and sanitary measures.

Content of measure

The crisis team supports the management in the implementation of changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially health and safety issues. The team is also responsible for communication with the staff. Wedel's primary goals are to keep continuous, safe recruitment process and production operations, and to protect employees’ health. Under the new health and safety measures, the company has developed and implemented the following mechanisms:

• recruitment process, trainings and meetings are held remotely;
• the company has developed different scenarios to react on different situations accordingly;
• only the permanent team is involved in the production (temporary workers are not involved); the access to the units by the outsiders is as limited as possible; office staff works from home;
• strict zone divisions in the production departments and team rotation scheme to reduce contacts between teams; keeping social distance;
• additional transport for employees;
• operating according to the sanitary requirements and instructions of the Ministry of Health and the Main Sanitary Inspectorate;
• transparent, regular and two-way communication, including Q&A sessions and e-platform;
• Psychological Consultation Hotline to provide psychological support;
• trainings on effective remote work and related issues;
• supporting employees’ engagement in volunteering actions addressed, among others, to medical staff and NGOs.

Use of measure

All E.Wedel departments and employees.

Contents

• Health and safety
• Work organisation

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	Employer

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

Not available.

Views and reactions

Not available.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 19 May 2020: Koronawirus zmienił pracę w Wedlu. Gotowi na różne scenariusze, także negatywn (www.pulshr.pl)