Kimball International Announces Two New Programs to Assist Manufacturing Employees

 "We have been taking swift action to proactively safeguard and support our people whose normal way of life is being impacted by COVID-19," the company said in a statement Wednesday.   "We have set up an internal task force to manage both our proactive approach and our company-wide response plan, and last week launched a global hotline and a dedicated internal website to direct employees’ questions, provide easily accessible facts and escalate issues."

The company also announced two programs to assist manufacturing employees, who are still working during the COVID-19 outbreak.  The include "a Special Care Program to provide up to two weeks of paid leave for employees that are considered higher risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 and a Manufacturing Employee Fund that will provide financial support to employees facing hardships caused by this issue."   

Company officials have asked all professional roles capable of working from home to do so, and have temporarily closed their showroom locations for at least the next two weeks.  

Kimball International has begun to restrict all non-essential business travel, and, Wednesday, encouraged employees to limit personal travel based on new CDC guidelines in addition to introducing more stringent guidelines to limit visitors at the Jasper-based company's many locations.

Read the company's full statement below....

At Kimball International, there is nothing more important than the health and safety of our employees, our customers and the communities in which we operate. As we face this time of unprecedented uncertainty, we have been taking swift action to proactively safeguard and support our people whose normal way of life is being impacted by COVID-19.

  For our employees

 We have set up an internal task force to manage both our proactive approach and our company-wide response plan, and last week launched a global hotline and a dedicated internal website to direct employees’ questions, provide easily accessible facts and escalate issues.

 Across the company, we have instituted new policies, including:

 • We have asked all professional roles capable of working from home to do so, and have temporarily closed our showroom locations for at least the next two weeks.

 • We have restricted all non-essential business travel, and today encouraged employees to limit personal travel based on new CDC guidelines.

 • We have introduced more stringent guidelines to limit visitors at our many locations.

For our valued manufacturing employees, today we announced two programs to support them:

 • A Special Care Program to provide up to two weeks of paid leave for employees that are considered higher risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.

 • A Manufacturing Employee Fund that will provide financial support to employees facing hardships caused by this issue.

We have also educated all employees on health and safety measures to keep themselves safe based on CDC guidelines, and have enhanced cleaning procedures at our facilities across the globe. We will continue to evaluate and implement measures to best support all of our employees as this issue develops.

For our customers 

Our customer relationships are at the core of what we do, and we will continue to work diligently to keep communication open and honest, and to work through any unique customer situations. We have quickly activated our business continuity plans to minimize the impact customers will experience in the day-to-day operations of our business.

For the community 

We are also deeply committed to supporting the local community as we face this crisis together, and we're working with local authorities. Giving back to our communities is an integral part of our value system, and we intend to lead by example in caring for the community we serve. 

At this time, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 within our company, but we are taking these actions now because we feel it is it the right thing to do. We're working as quickly as possible, despite the rapidly changing environment, to make thoughtful, informed decisions that best support our employees, our customers and our community, and hope to be able to share additional updates on that as soon as we can. This company has a rich history of banding together to help each other through crisis, and we are confident together we will once again rise to that challenge.

About the Special Care Program 

Kimball International is allowing manufacturing employees who are considered to have a higher risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 to stay home from work for up to two weeks. To ease financial concerns over this time away from work, qualifying KII employees will be granted paid leave for up to two weeks with pay and benefits. 

About the Manufacturing Employee Fund 

For employees that do not fall into higher risk categories, we want to encourage them to stay home if they are sick, and to self-isolate as recommended by CDC. Today we announced the Manufacturing Employee Fund, a dedicated fund that will provide financial support to employees facing hardships caused by this issue.