ASDA has agreed to pay 12 weeks pay to all those in the vulnerable category and those caring for extremely vulnerable people from today. This is good news and GMB pressure has paid off. Thanks for all your hard work.
ASDA message from Anthony. As you know, over the weekend the Government changed its guidelines around vulnerable workers.
Previously they had said that both ‘extremely vulnerable’ and ‘vulnerable’ workers should self-isolate, but on Saturday they changed this to say that colleagues who fall into the ‘vulnerable’ group no longer needed to self-isolate. Instead they were advised to stringently adhere to the social distancing guidelines they had set out. This vulnerable group includes pregnant women, colleagues who are over 70 and colleagues who live with extremely vulnerable family or friends.
We are aware that adhering to social distancing guidelines was going to be quite challenging for our colleagues in stores and depots and as a result, we asked our vulnerable colleagues to stay at home for two weeks, at which point we said we would review our position.
Since then we have introduced far reaching measures that we are very confident will protect both our customers and colleagues, including restricting the number of customers in our stores but despite this, we know that some of our vulnerable colleagues still have some concerns about returning to work.
We have always said that protecting our colleagues and our customers is our number one priority and so, from today can you please contact those vulnerable colleagues in your teams, including colleagues who live with extremely vulnerable people and confirm that we will treat them in the same way as our extremely vulnerable colleagues, and will continue to pay them for 12 weeks.
We also know that some colleagues who fall into this category do still want to come to work because they know they do not need to self-isolate and we are putting a process in place for you to manage this.
The questions and answers documents and flow charts will all be updated on WalmartOne later today.
Thank you for all your support with this. I know that you will agree that it’s critical that we do the right thing for our colleagues in these worrying times.
ASDA message from Mark. Firstly, thank you for your patience as we react to a rapidly evolving situation. I want you to personally hear it from me that our priority first and foremost is the safety and well-being of our colleagues.
As you know, over the weekend the Government changed its guidelines around vulnerable workers.
Previously they had said that both ‘extremely vulnerable’ and ‘vulnerable’ workers should self-isolate, but on Saturday they changed this to say that colleagues who fall into the ‘vulnerable’ group no longer needed to self-isolate. Instead they were advised to stringently adhere to the social distancing guidelines they had set out. This vulnerable group includes pregnant women, those with serious conditions, colleagues who are over 70 and colleagues who live with extremely vulnerable family or friends.
Yesterday we communicated that we would like you to send our ‘vulnerable’ colleagues home while we put measures in place to ensure that social distancing could be achieved in our sites. I know you have all been working incredibly hard to ensure that your site was ready to welcome them back in the coming days.
However, even with the measures you have now put in place, we know that some of our vulnerable colleagues will still have some concerns about returning to work.
We have always said that protecting our colleagues is our number one priority and so, from today can you please contact those vulnerable colleagues in your teams, including colleagues who live with extremely vulnerable people and confirm that we will treat them in the same way as our extremely vulnerable colleagues, and will continue to pay them for 12 weeks.
We also know that some colleagues who fall into this category do still want to come to work because they know they do not need to self-isolate and we are putting a process in place for you to manage this. This has to be a colleague led decision, and I know you will all be supportive in those discussions.
The questions and answers documents and flow charts will all be updated on WalmartOne later today.
Thank you for all your support with this. I know that you will agree that it’s critical that we do the right thing for our colleagues in these worrying times.
