The Molson Coors Beverage Company is taking steps to protect its employees and the public during the coronavirus crisis, while ensuring the stability of the business.
The Progress contacted a corporate representative to find out if there were any changes of note happening on the ground at the Molson Coors Fraser Valley Brewery in Chilliwack, such as staff layoffs or production changes.
“Like many other global businesses, we have been closely monitoring the spread of the coronavirus,” according to Matt Hargarten, corporate affairs senior director for Molson Coors Beverage Company.
They have a pandemic action plan in place, he said.
But given the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic, and based on public health recommendations, they opted to move quickly on some fronts.
“We cancelled tours at all of our North American brewery locations, including craft breweries, until the end of March,” he said.“Our brewing, supply chain and sales teams will continue operations, though we have recommended all employees and contractors across North America who are not doing business-critical on-site activities work remotely through March 31 if they are able to do so.”
They have implemented more rigorous cleaning, sanitizing and hygiene processes in brewery production areas.
Early it was clear they took decisive steps, but the Molson Coors official did not answer the question about layoffs directly in his emailed statement to The Progress.
“With the outbreak of the coronavirus, we established cross-functional crisis management and business continuity teams to ensure the safety of our people, and to make any necessary adjustments to our marketing plans, sales practices and supply chain operations,” Hargarten said.
“Over the past few weeks these teams have led us through a series of steps to protect our employees and ensure the stability of our business, based on the guidance of federal, state and provincial public health experts.”
The focus has also been on educating employees about the signs and symptoms of coronavirus, as well as ways to help avoid it.
“We limited visitor and contractor access to our facilities, heightened cleaning measures, and developed new protocols in the event anyone with a confirmed or presumed positive case of coronavirus enters one of our locations.
“Additionally, we placed restrictions on all travel and all large meetings.”
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