Insights
Elsevier Prioritises Health, Wellbeing & Authoritative Information During COVID-19
Glassdoor Team
Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | 30 Mar 2020
Businesses worldwide are having to quickly pivot their operations, ways of working and future business outlook in response to challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses are also helping to tackle the unprecedented situation by offering goods, services and support to frontline causes and areas of society negatively impacted by coronavirus.
Shining the light on one of these companies, we hear from Elsevier about how it’s powering its communities through clinical research and patient resources.
Elsevier describes itself as a global information analytics business that helps scientists and clinicians to find new answers, reshape human knowledge, and tackle the most urgent human crises. It is a business with a unique perspective:
- At the intersection between analysis and content
- In the place where information becomes knowledge
- At the point where research, healthcare and technology come together
Employees’ Health & Wellbeing at the Heart of Elsevier's Response to COVID-19
“At Elsevier, our employees’ health, safety and wellbeing during this pandemic period are paramount.” Catherine Adenle, Director, Employer Brand at Elsevier tells Glassdoor. Before governments worldwide advised that anyone who can work from home should work from home because of the outbreak, Elsevier had asked employees to work remotely and from the confines of their homes to help prevent the virus from spreading. “Although we asked all our employees to work from home, there’s also a strong moral responsibility on our part to ensure that all our employees feel safe and secure in their employment. We know that they will be concerned about the risk of infection and will need our reassurance.” Elsevier’s CEO and leadership team communicated several times and clearly to all employees in various geolocations that they need to take basic hygiene precautions, such as effective hand-washing, and avoid all non-essential travel and practice social distancing to help reduce the spread of the virus. Being a flexible employer, with the belief in work-life balance and helping the environment by already cutting down on commuting, meant Elsevier was already well-equipped to support employees to work from anywhere. Elsevier makes use of virtual environments with the use of Slack, Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams to maintain business and customer interaction through virtual conversations, with all key decisions on record for reference if required. But it’s not just keeping employees working which is important to Elsevier’s global business. With schools and childcare providers announcing closures, managers have been encouraged to provide maximum flexibility and understanding during this time with employees facing new demands on their time during the workday. Employees continue to have access to all their usual benefits, such as life insurance, sick pay and childcare support. Elsevier also provides access to a daily virtual MindLife 20-minute meditation, virtual team coffee breaks and there is a virtual gym session in development.Supporting the Global Fight Against COVID-19 Through Access to Knowledge
Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education. For 140 years, it has partnered with the research world to curate and verify scientific knowledge. During times of crisis, such as now, its research and resources play a vital role. Back in January 2020, three days before the WHO declared a global emergency, Elsevier created the Novel Coronavirus Information Center, providing free health and medical research on the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and COVID-19 for the research and health community. All resources are free to access and include guidelines for clinicians and patients. For Researchers there is the latest early-stage and peer-reviewed research on COVID-19 from journals including The Lancet and Cell Press as well as 20,000 related articles free to access on ScienceDirect. These articles are also available to download with rights for full text and data mining, re-use and analyses for as long as needed. For Clinicians there are evidence-based skill guides and care plans for treatment, safety and patient education, along with emergency prepared webinars by the CDC. For Patients there is a 3D4Medical coronavirus video, resources from the CDC and WHO, and information about Elsevier's Patient Access Program for research.Culture in Action
One element of Elsevier’s company culture is a sense of purpose: "how we come together to add value to science, research, healthcare, and technology. Using technology to inspire breakthrough thinking. To make knowledge accessible so that our customers can turn theory into action and facilitate discoveries that benefit humankind." - and this is clear in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re interested in working for Elsevier and aligning yourself to this culture, the good news is that it’s hiring! Find out what employees say about working at Elsevier and check out open jobs in London below.Glassdoor Team
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Tags:COVID-19Remote Working
