March 20, 2020
To:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Paradigm Employees
From:Â Â Â Mark Moran
RE:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â COVID-19 Emergency – Employee Update
As you have seen from news reports and our memo earlier in the week, COVID-19 is a dangerous disease that requires aggressive social distancing, use of PPE and cleaning of workstations and tools. I urge you to continue following the CDC guidelines that we outlined earlier in the week [see Paradigm Windows Emergency Conditions Policy and FAQ in the wake of COVID-19]. We have adopted these policies because we care about the health of you and your family and the safety of your co-workers. Please follow those practices diligently.
The spread of the virus and the growth in positive cases has affected our customers and our business. Most distributors have closed or restricted access to branches so our sales reps cannot call on them. Many job sites are closed, and most municipalities are not issuing building permits. Home installations have been postponed as consumers shelter in place during the crisis. We can already see a reduction in orders as jobs are delayed or cancelled. We believe the pullback will be short-lived, but it has affected our near-term business.
As a result, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily furlough some employees. Affected employees will be furloughed at the close of business today. Our expectation is that those employees will be recalled to work on April 20. During the furlough period we will continue to pay the employer portion of benefits. There is no waiting period for unemployment benefits, so replacement income can begin immediately.
We will communicate with all employees regularly through text messaging and our employee landing page. Please make sure Jenn Morin has your cell phone information. You can access employee announcements at https://employees.paradigmwindows.com , or visit www.paradigmwindows.com and click on “Employee Hub†located in the top right corner of the home page.
Employee Access – Enter how it appears (all lowercase)
User Name:Â Â paradigmwindows
Password:Â Â Â Â Â windows2020
We are confident in the fundamental strength of our business and in our ability to rebound from this setback. We understand and regret that this action creates uncertainty for those affected employees. Recovering our business and our employees as fast as possible is a high priority.