To Our Valued Clients and Partners:
First and foremost, nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees, clients, and partners. With that in mind, I hope this letter finds you, your family and your work team healthy and well. We have worked with many of you throughout this crisis adapting together to the challenges presented by COVID-19, and we have continued our progress on the essential infrastructure projects that keep our country moving forward. Most importantly, we have done so while keeping one another safe.
Since mid-March many SAM team members have been working remotely. And while the significant investment we had already made in our technology backbone allowed our transition to remote work to be seamless for clients, we also recognize that we benefit greatly from the shared team experiences built by in-person interactions. Like many companies across the country, we are now in the process of returning our office personnel from remote work, back to work in our office locations. As we return staff to our offices, we want you to know that safety remains at the forefront of our planning, and we would like to share with you the processes and protocols we will have in place to keep our employees, clients and partners safe.
Our Plan For A Safe Return to Offices
SAM developed a comprehensive plan to safely guide our return to office work. We call it our “SAM Roadmap 2020 & Beyond.” Every SAM employee has been provided with the document and was also invited to a CEO Business Update to review and discuss the Roadmap. The safety measures in our plan include the following.
- A multi-tiered approach for our employees returning to offices, with approximately 25% of the workforce reporting to offices beginning on May 18, and approximately 25% more personnel reporting back to offices every two weeks thereafter with our full office staffing expected by June 29.
- Health checks, including a COVID-19 Employee Health Assessment prior to returning to an office, daily temperature checks, and daily self-assessments will be required.
- Face coverings will be required in all SAM offices, and social distancing protocols will be in place for all areas of our offices.
- Limitations will be in place for visitation and business travel for a short period of time.
- We will conduct weekly deep cleaning of offices, including electro-static spraying where available. Signage will remind our personnel to wash and disinfect hands and equipment frequently.
- Visitors will be asked to complete a Visitor Covid-19 Questionnaire.
In addition, the Infectious Disease Response Plan (IDRP) we enacted in March remains in force, and our Infectious Disease Response Team (IDRT) remains intact, and continues to meet frequently to adapt policies and practices to maintain safe and effective operations, and keep our team informed of any changes.
Business Moving Forward
Throughout this crisis our business operations have continued, and our Business Continuity and Emergency Response Plan remains in effect. Our field teams have remained actively engaged on client projects across the country and we continue to provide them with COVID-19-related Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), updates and guidance for safe work practices.
SAM has been in business for over 25 years, and we have a track record of successfully navigating formidable challenges in the past. While this crisis has been like no other, our team has quickly adapted to the circumstances. We have adopted new safety measures and new ways to communicate and have worked in close partnership with our clients to ensure project success. Our size, market and geographic diversity along with our broad service capabilities have been an asset in our response to the COVID-19 crisis. We have been agile in shifting resources as needed to respond to market conditions and client needs, and we have continued to invest in and deploy the new technology that allows us to serve you more effectively and efficiently.
Throughout these times we have grown stronger and more resilient through the engagement and partnership we share with our clients. We will continue to make safety a priority, and we look forward growing our relationship with you, and finding the best ways to serve you.
Be safe and best regards,
Chris Solomon
President and CEO, SAM Companies