Merivale’s 5-Star COVID-19 HR plan

Last March, Merivale owner Justin Hemmes confirmed that all 70 Merivale venues across NSW would shut in the hopes of helping to stop the spread of COVID-19.

One year on, Merivale’s chief human resources officer Jessica Furolo spoke to HRD about the difficulty in operating in times of such uncertainty.

“We had never experienced anything like this before,” she said. “Our operations were closed and our workforce was stood down overnight. In addition, government policy was constantly evolving and changing in real time, making decision making challenging.

“To provide a framework to our own initiatives as a people team we anchored ourselves to two key objectives. The first priority was caring for and providing support to our employees. Secondly, we needed to enable business continuity and diversification in order to provide ongoing employment.”

Merivale offered tailored support to its international workers as they were ineligible to receive JobKeeper and had chosen to stay in Australia rather than return home.

They received a one off financial assistance payment of $550 and immediate access to their annual leave and the opportunity to also access leave in advance.

The Merivale Employee Hardship Programme was set up to distribute extra financial support to those employees in need and care packages were provided containing food staples.

All permanent staff members had returned to full-time employment by October.

Merivale’s HR program was robust and also included safety training on the company’s new COVID safe protocols. This was delivered online and in a face-to-face capacity, with focused training on how to keep staff and customers safe once venues reopened.

Looking back on the year that was, Furolo said she has learnt the power of communication during uncertain times.

“We were also reminded of what an amazing team we have who, in addition to our group-wide programs, went out of their way to care for and look out for each other,” Furolo said.

“This element of our team culture really has to be our proudest and most important reflection.”

Irit Jackson, 22nd April 2021