Vanilla’s response and work plans throughout the COVID-19 outbreak

How will the Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus effect Vanilla Recruitment and the work we do?

With the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, we want to reaffirm that the health and safety of our employees and customers is our top priority. We are actively monitoring the situation, and we have put in place a series of measures to help ensure the safety of our employees, the continuity of our business, and support for our customers during this time.

Vanilla Internal Continuity

Vanilla has always provided employees with the ability to work from home, this is afforded by the fact that we are a fully cloud-based business. All of our employees – regardless of department – will be able to work productively from their homes for an indefinite period of time. At present some our team are working from home, and we imagine that number will grow over the coming weeks and that will be the case for the foreseeable future.

Continuity of Business

A work-from-home policy does not impact the ability of Vanilla to deliver our core services. We do not anticipate significant reductions in productivity or interruptions to our recruitment service as a result of the spread of the virus. For the foreseeable future we will be conducting all our interviews via video conferencing technology and would recommend the same approach from our clients to ensure your recruitment needs can still be met.

Employee Safety

We have implemented policies to minimise employee exposure to the disease and to maximise remote flexibility to safeguard our employees’ and customers’ best interests. In addition to following all recommendations provided by the government, Vanilla has also rolled out numerous internal recommendations for its employees, including a work-from-home policy, increased sanitation measures, and restrictions on travel.

We are confident in our ability to navigate through the challenges ahead. We will be closely monitoring developments and will aim to act nimbly and in the best interest of customers and employees at all times.

We’ve highlighted below some useful advice and information to help us communicate and continue to work together over the coming weeks.

Our office opening hours and visiting restrictions:

  • Vanilla will continue to fully work throughout and our core office opening times will still be between 8.00AM and 5.30PM.
  • NO VISITORS will be allowed into our offices at this time. We will conduct all conversations, meetings and interviews via telephone, email or video conferencing technology.
  • Our main 01858 898 058 office number will continue to work, but a re-direct to a mobile phone may be in place at certain times (this will not affect the cost of your phone call).
  • If you are working or have been working with a specific member of the team previously we recommend you contact them directly and not use the main office number for the time being.

Contact details for Team Vanilla:

Useful recruitment advice and guidance for clients:

We are here to help and assist you throughout what is sure to be a very difficult time for most businesses. We understand that the coming weeks and months will be extremely challenging and recruitment may not be a priority for you. Our aim is to communicate with clients and help put plans and processes in place to minimise the impact to your business. As we move through the coming weeks we will do all we can to assist you by offering our skills, expertise, help and guidance in getting business back to normal as smooth and efficiently as possible.

Some things we can do together and some things that may help your business:

  • Talk to us about how we can assist with ideas about how to manage the crisis. Not as health experts but how to manage your workforce.
  • Discuss ongoing and future plans with regards to your employees and get some guidance on a variety of recruitment matters (sick leave, sick pay, employees coming back to work, holidays, temporary cover, employer and employee rights etc).
  • Talk to us about your future recruitment needs and how we can put a plan in place for a smooth transition out of these difficult times. You may find yourselves with time on your hands so use it to successfully plan the coming weeks and months and we can guide and help with your business and recruitment planning.
  • Read through our client resource documents and client blog posts, especially if you have some free time that you normally don’t have. Get in touch if you’d like to discuss in more detail any of the information and guidance that you read.

Useful recruitment advice and guidance for candidates:

The coming weeks and months are sure to be a very worrying time for many workers. It’s impossible to know what the future holds and we understand the concerns you may have for your current job or future job prospects. We are on hand to help you through this difficult time and will do all we can to listen, help and guide you through these unprecedented circumstances. We will be updating our social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn) regularly with help and advice and also sending out emails for anyone who is signed up to receive them from us.

Some things we can do together and some things that may help you through this:

  • Message us at any time if you have any questions, worries or concerns about your job or the employment market. We can help and advise as best we can and hopefully put your mind at ease if you’re worried about something work related.
  • Talk to us to discuss your current and future work options. Update us on your situation and see how we can help you get through these tough times and assist with your future plans.
  • Talk to us to discuss your current CV, your career planning or to have a salary benchmark chat. These are offered as free, no obligation discussions. If you’re at home and so are we why not take the opportunity to talk?
  • Let us help with your ‘online brand’. Use your time to write content, improve your online brand and tidy up your profiles. We can give you some tips if you get stuck or need some inspiration.
  • Join us for a video chat if you want to see a friendly face. This may be a lonely and isolating time for many so we’d be really happy to have an online face to face if you fancy it.
  • Read through our candidate resources and candidate blog posts. We have a load of really useful content and we are adding to it on a regular basis (especially if we end up with some time on our hands over the next few weeks).
  • Use this time to gain a new skill and improve your career prospects. We are working in partnership with New Skills Academy to bring you a range of over 200+ online courses to help improve your career prospects. Study in your own time and at your own pace to get a verifiable qualification, plus get a huge 65% discount. Click here for more info.

The whole Vanilla team are on hand to help you in any way we can. So even if it’s not listed above please feel free to get in touch for a chat, some advice and to let us know what we can do to help get you (and us) through this time.

If we work with one another with a positive mindset and kindness and consideration for others I’m confident we will all get through this together!

 

On behalf of everyone at Vanilla, we truly hope that all of you, your co-workers, and your families keep healthy through this difficult time.

Sincerely,
Eloise Shelton

Vanilla’s Founder & Director