By Steve Walls & Judith Walls

An invited updated version of the post originally published on March 25th, 2020, in the COVID-19 Insights Forum*

Are you a dating app, fast fashion business, or car company? Every business can help address society’s needs during the COVID-19 crisis.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may have noticed that many companies were following a very limited playbook when it came to how they connected with their customers.

Some raided their e-mail list and sent out broiler plate messages urging consumers (or stakeholders) to “Stay Home, Stay Safe.”

Others took to playing with their logos as a way to demonstrate a commitment to educating around social distancing, for example, Audi separating its rings, or McDonalds separating the Golden Arches.

Most though settled for informing their customers of the advice and instructing them on how to behave. Only a minority of messages described practical actions that companies were taking to help navigate the storm of COVID-19.

These types of company actions might have come across as “corona-washing” – a symbolic attempt to deal with the current situation that stops short of being useful to society. And yet, times of crisis are precisely when companies, especially large and influential companies who are rich in resources, can prove their mettle to show us if their purpose statements are marketing dressing or a real commitment to social and environmental causes.

For those looking to commit to action, we have identified six themes that are fundamental to our ability to function and move forward as a society. Our families and communities need to

Keep Calm, Keep Working, Keep Going, Stay Solvent, Stay Supplied, and Stay Safe.

Companies have a unique opportunity to contribute to these themes and, at the same time, walk the talk (Figure 1).

Help people keep calm under lockdown

How can companies help to keep stress levels low at this time? There are three simple areas within “Keep Calm” where companies can contribute.

• Fact Checking. The only thing spreading faster than the virus is misinformation about the virus and its spread. Companies can help fact check information and redirect people to trusted and reliable sources of information. For example, Mucinex has a campaign to “Spread Facts. Not Fear.” McDonalds has donated its advertising media space to those looking to spread official information further and faster.
• Providing Entertainment. Mandates of social isolation and quarantining means that many people have found themselves with limited distractions in a world that seems to have shrunk. Companies can provide momentary relief from relentless messages of bad news, anxiety, and fear. For example, museums are opening up their virtual doors. Newspapers have lowered their paywalls and opened up archives of articles. And, of course, the world has temporary, free access to Pornhub. However, where are the companies tapping into the pool of artists and performers who have nowhere to exhibit / play at the moment? Is there a way to give them a platform and some income while entertaining the world?
• Physical help. Could companies take at-home exercise, better eating, or mental health care as a starting point for action? Facebook has exploded with exercise groups, zoom yoga channels, shared meditations and a hundred other ways for people to come together and take a collective breath. Many early initiatives were grassroots, but we argued that companies could help people to find these groups or help groups organize more effectively. Since the first edition of this article, Headspace have provided free meditation under their “Weathering the Storm” initiative.

Help people keep working

By now, many people are using tools to connect virtually that they had not downloaded only a week or two ago. But, many of us are also in crisis management mode, balancing home life with work demands, and not making the most of those tools. How can companies help the world make the switch to digital working without an IT department at hand? Companies can help out in three areas:

• Offering IT support. Are companies prepared to offer free IT support not only to their employees but also their customers? Companies in the software business can expand their assistance, including to product offerings of competitors. Have companies increased the number of helplines, for instance?
• Home Schooling. As of April 2, 2020, UNESCO reports that school closures affect nearly 90% of students worldwide, or 1.5 billion learners across 188 countries. Many teachers were asked to invent digital activities literally overnight, with little to no help. Companies could help provide not only teacher-friendly, but also kid-friendly guides to connection online. Zoom famously provided free access to the K-12 education market and many kids found themselves connecting with teachers virtually. More apps could have been developed that allow parents to know what their kids are doing and what they should be doing. Could companies offer instant ‘teacher training’ to parents who are struggling to recall trigonometry? Could they sponsor a part of a new digital curriculum? And, how can companies ensure that kids stay safe online as many young children are suddenly made available and vulnerable to predators?
• Bandwidth. Not everyone can afford the data that this new way of working demands. How can companies help people to have the access they need? Can companies design loyalty points that could be traded for data? Could they offer access points to free WiFi? In addition, as literally billions of people boot up their computers, bandwidth constraints are becoming a reality. Netflix or Amazon could suspend their 4k streaming to relieve the strain on virtual networks. Companies like Zoom have also provided free platforms for the K-12 education market.

Help those on the frontlines to keep going

There are lots of people who get up every day and put themselves in danger in order to look after the sick, provide for the well, and keep essential services going. How can companies offer them the support that they need in order to get up and look after the world, as well as their own families?

• Exclusive/Extended Hours & Services. Supermarkets, such as Tesco, have been quick to offer extended / exclusive shopping hours to those working in essential services. Can other companies offer similar services, such as a helpline that frontline warriors get through to faster? A banking service that opens a little longer? Delivery direct to hospital carparks / staff rooms? Chipotle provided free burritos to healthcare workers under a “buy one, give one” initiative.
• Safer Commutes. Many essential workers rely on public transport to get to and from their work. And yet that very transport puts them at risk every day. What can companies do to lower the risk of the daily commute? Could personal mobility companies that produce e-bikes, e-scooters offer them up for commutes? Could car rental companies offer lower priced, certified deep clean rental vehicles? Could companies sanitize, clean, and safeguard health on the public transport systems that are running? Could companies offer base personal protection equipment (PPE) to essential workers for their commute? Crocs provided footwear for hospital workers under their “Sharing a free pair for healthcare” initiative.

Help people stay solvent

The next mass wave coming in will be one of insolvency, as economies nosedive, unemployment skyrockets, and savings run out. The financial implications of a 10 – 15% drop in the world economy have yet to really be felt. How can companies help?

• Payment Holidays. Waiving fees, offering payment holidays, and extending access to credit are all moves companies can make that will lighten the load.
• Cheaper Basics. We’ve seen companies gouging on price for items like hand sanitizer, soaps, and the like. To date, almost no companies has come through with an offer to make the basics as cheap as possible. What are companies doing with their own label brands? How companies help lower the cost of living in the tough times ahead?

• Strengthening the Safety Net. Financial support for NGOs and charities dedicated to feeding the poor hasn’t really started to pour in, but these organizations are going to be flooded with demand. Could a supermarket company offer them produce? Could a transport company offer them logistics? Could a finance company offer them the money that they need to keep going?

• Supporting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Smaller companies face financial struggles, the longer the pandemic and related lock-downs go on. Companies like Unilever develop “speed payment” policies to their SME suppliers to help relief the credit crunch.

• Redirecting “Lost” Investments. Since large-scale events can no longer take place, some corporate investments are lost, but such investments can be redirected to help the pandemic. For example, Anheuser-Busch decided to use its investments into renting sports and entertainment stadiums for blood drives by the Red Cross.

Help people stay supplied

Can companies ensure that the old and vulnerable isolated at home can get food and medication? Business can provide the logistics to deliver medicines to people who can’t go out to pick them up, offer transport for the compromised to travel safely to essential places, and use technology to connect the more mobile and strong with the isolated.

• Support Neighbourliness. Many of us live in cities where we don’t know our neighbours or their needs. Yet, survey after survey shows that we’d be willing to help, if we just knew who to help and what they needed. Companies could help people to connect with their neighbor. For example, could Tinder switch its app from providing hook-ups between strangers towards providing connection between neighbours, for example? Could the call for a hook-up become a request to pick up a prescription? Since our original article, the app Nextdoor added Maps and Groups features to help neighbours support one another during the lock-down.
• Come Face-to-Face with Customers. Large sales forces suddenly find themselves with company cars and nowhere to go. Could they become the new delivery drivers? Could Pharma reps switch from taking samples to doctors into taking prescriptions to patients? Could insurance employees have their customers send them shopping lists and then drop off groceries?

Help people stay safe

Can companies provide the essentials to stop or slow the spread of COVID-19?
Companies can ask: How much of our production can be switched to make essential items like soaps, masks, and ventilators needed to stop the spread of the virus? Should we abandon our key business lines temporarily?

This is the most obvious, immediate way that some companies can help, so it’s heartening to see those who can manufacture at scale stepping into the fray. Tesla is providing masks and plans to manufacture ventilators. Ford is also onboard. LVMH is making hand sanitizers. Zara has committed to sewing masks and scrubs as protective gear for hospital workers.

Provide Material Aid, not Memes

The world needs help to navigate this crisis. So far, too many companies are responding with clever brand or logo treatments.

Businesses are creative, powerful forces in our society. By addressing their skills to our shared challenge, they can close the gap between symbolic and substantive action and live up to their full purpose.

*Endorsed by Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS), Group for Research on Organizations and the Natural Environment (GRONEN) , Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), Organizations and the Natural Environment Division of the Academy of Management (ONE), Responsible Research for Business and Management Network (RRBM), and Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management (SIM).