Barloworld Limited: Leading Brands

Our response to the global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the threat landscape for all organisations and forced large numbers of people to work from home which was not anticipated. In light of the negative impact on business operations, there was a need to revisit what we do and how we do it, without compromising the quality of the outcome, and still be able to deliver in line with our mandate.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

This required a swift and coordinated response which led to a formalised crisis management plan and process being introduced across the Group to provide effective leadership under the authority of the board.

The diagram below depicts the framework put in place to guide the function of the committee and mitigate the risks emanating from the negative impact of the pandemic.

LEADERSHIP

 

Group EXCO met twice a day to review progress and make decisions regarding timeous corrective action. This ensured business operations were managed and directed at the highest level on a daily basis and enabled:

• implementation and monitoring of COVID-19 protocols
• daily review of operations
• ensuring the safety of employees

Return to work protocols have since been developed and implemented to align with the requirements of the business.

Link to material matters and key risks

Responding to COVID-19 impacts

9, 10

We have weathered the COVID-19 storm through navigating the following phases through the pandemic:

 

Throughout this journey, we focused on the following measures to ensure continuity, stability, recovery and adapting to a new role:

Health, safety and well-being Introducing strict safety measures Providing staff support within existing employee well-being programmes Defining remote working practices Co-creating the new normal for employees Communicating honestly and openly Creating a two-way staff engagement channels to share business updates and provide opportunities for improvement through staff feedback Creating clear direction and a vision for the future Recognising efforts and sacrifices Introducing post-retrenchment support and career transition programmes		Effective communication and decisionmaking Identify core communication and reporting team Implementing real-time monitoring and reporting processess Activating internal and external communication channels Ongoing refinement of community strategy Monitoring and reacting to media to protect and build brand reputation Centralising stakeholder communications		HIGHLIGHTS  R112m paid in salaries to employees who were not able to work from home during lockdown in April and May. TERS subsidy reduced this by R44.3m   Barloworld Siyakhula small and medium enterprise beneficiaries receiving COVID-19 relief: 0% interest loan repayment holiday for six months, R1.8m deferred R22.4m six-month relief fund, awarded to 41 businesses and 800 jobs saved   South African Solidarity fund partnership: goods and services worth R8.8m
Information security Focusing efforts on cyber security awareness initiatives Improving remote access security Redefining cyber incident response processes Revising IT security and risk roadmap Collaborating closely with all IT departments to exploit synergies and lessons learnt		Understand stakeholder needs and challenges Engage with stakeholders within industries and value chains facing common challenges Underscoring Barloworld's potential as a social partner Collaborating with stakeholders on policy issues Managing perceptions of decision-makers Becoming a force within the industry to drive change