Henkel North America Announces COVID-19 Support for Employees and Communities

Henkel, a leader in laundry and home care, beauty care and adhesives, announced COVID-19 support for its employees and communities throughout North America.

“Our highest priority is the well-being of our employees.” said Mike Olosky, Regional President Henkel North America.  “Since the start of the pandemic, we have remained committed to do everything we can to ensure their safety and health, be it on site or in the home office. We also have offered additional programs to support them and their families as well as their communities.

“Currently, the majority of our production lines are running as essential businesses, and we are committed to meet our customers’ needs. Our special thanks go to all of our Henkel North America team members who are doing a tremendous job under increased safety protocols in our production sites, our warehouses, and labs,” said Mike Olosky. “Their work is crucial, and we don’t take it for granted.”

Supporting our communities

As part of the worldwide Henkel global solidarity program, the company is donating €2million to the WHO/UN COVID-19 Fund and selected aid organizations around the world as well as 5 million units of personal and household hygiene products.
The North America region is doing its part. To date, in the region, over $600,000 has been donated and 1.2 million units of essential household hygiene product donations have been allocated to organizations that provide medical supplies, basic needs for food and hygiene, and disaster relief within the United States and Canada.

The monetary donations span national organizations such as Feeding America, Americares, the Red Cross and United Way as they reach communities in need across the region.

Henkel also cares for its industry partners. In the professional beauty sector, the closing of beauty salons due to the virus has left many without work. Henkel’s Beauty Care Hair Professional business donated $200,000 to the Professional Beauty Association ‏(PBA) COVID-19 relief fund to help licensed hair stylists who are unable to work and experiencing financial hardship.

Protecting our employees

“Protecting the health and safety of our employees is paramount.  In these extraordinary times, we continue to follow evolving government requirements and best practices recommended by health experts,” said Olosky. “We are supporting work from home arrangements for many of our colleagues and have banned travel and large meetings. In our essential operating sites and labs, we have established robust cleaning routines, implemented social distancing measures, adjusted shift changes, enhanced personal protective equipment for our team members, and are conducting entrance health screenings as well as hygiene campaigns.

“Henkel safety protocols are robust, but they are only effective when all team members are caring for each other by adhering to these protocols. We count on our team members to comply with all safety protocols, for their own safety and the safety of the people around all of us.” 

On top of strong measures to safeguard employees, Henkel has enhanced benefits for employees enrolled in the Company’s U.S. health plans, including waiving coronavirus testing costs, free tele-medicine, and free 24-hour support and counseling services under Henkel’s U.S. and Canada Employee Assistance Plans. Henkel is also providing an additional two weeks of paid time off for North America employees who are impacted by the coronavirus, without reducing their vacation, holiday or sick-time pay.

Henkel North America is also continuing pay and benefits for its employees, for up to 12 weeks, in the event an employee is impacted by schedule changes or business interruptions related to the current COVID-19 pandemic that are beyond employee control.