Grab Cares: our efforts against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
As the world tackles the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that suddenly took many countries by surprise, we are heartened to see how various Grab teams across the region took immediate action to help our partners (rider/driver/merchant) and Grabbers amidst the uncertain health situation.
The people behind the planning
Our Partner Experience teams in all operating cities have been in constant communication with respective driver/rider/merchant partners on their enquiries regarding Grab’s efforts to cope with the situation. “We have been continuously corresponding with our driver and delivery partners, providing on-the-ground support to ensure that the impact of the situation is cushioned and that the livelihood of our partners is not affected,” James Goh, Partner Experience Manager, Singapore.
“For Grab users, we are working closely with local authorities to ensure their safety and well-being as they continue using our services during this period. Tips to protect themselves are proactively communicated to our users via the app. We are also aware of our social responsibility as an everyday super-app and we have, in most countries, provided a direct link within the Grab app to official government sources to mitigate the spread of misinformation. For Singapore, precautionary measures have been put in place to safeguard our driver/merchant/rider-partners in Singapore.” Ranon Li, Regional Lead – Safety Operations.
For Singapore, Grabfood delivery partners who are hospitalized or quarantined will receive support packages such as one-off income support as well as the maintenance of their Emerald tier for the affected month. Singapore driver-partners who are renting their vehicles from GrabRentals and GrabRentals’ affiliated partners will be reimbursed their rental fee during the quarantine period. Our driver-partners have also been advised to clean and disinfect their vehicles more regularly and, for added safety, to wear a mask while ferrying passengers.
The Singapore team has also gone the extra mile by launching GrabCare, a dedicated 24-hour transport service type specifically to ferry healthcare professionals to/from hospitals in Singapore. Within 12 hours, 2,000 compassionate driver-partners also voluntarily committed towards being part of this new service.
Each country assembled local Crisis Management Teams (CMT), which manages all operations-related changes. “We will do our best to protect Grabbers, our dedicated partners and our users. Through the #OneGrab spirit, we are confident that we will overcome this situation,” Julian Tan, Head of Security, Occupational Health & Safety.
Caring for our people
We are thankful for the many Grabbers at the frontlines – addressing queries from our partners to help them navigate this uncertain situation.
To support Grabbers, we make sure Grabbers are kept in the loop of what’s happening through Grabber Care Communications emails. These emails provide updates on the situation and measures in place.
Grabbers who are sick or unwell can acquire a mask (for personal use) at each of their office’s reception. They can also work from home at their own discretion. We’re glad that our IT systems can support remote working for Grabbers when the need arises.
As China is the most affected by the situation, Grabbers from offices all around the world created a video collage to send our encouragement and well wishes to the team.
Grabbers in Vietnam came together to pack masks for our driver-partners.
In Thailand, hand sanitizers and alcohol gels are placed in prominent spots for Grabbers to disinfect regularly. Offices are also cleaned on a more frequent interval to ensure a higher standard of cleanliness.
Our Indonesian office invited an insurance provider to educate Indonesian Grabbers on COVID-19 and address questions through an interactive Q&A session. They have also collaborated with their various office buildings to provide more hand sanitizers in designated points, and provided a guideline in all restrooms on how to wash hands effectively.
One Grab
We’re super proud of all Grabbers who play a part to keep our partners and Grabbers healthy and safe amidst the virus outbreak! There are many more teams unrepresented here, including customer experience teams, driver centre teams, people teams and more. Thank you Grabbers for showing the #OneGrab spirit in coming together during adversity. There’s much to be thankful for.
