On Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, Typhoon Vamco made landfall in the Philippines, causing flooding and subsequent power and internet outages. The hardest hit region was the metro Manila area.
Most importantly, every Pickle is safe and accounted for. However, because of the typhoon, several Design Pickle teammates were without power, internet, or both.
Our Response
Even with several designers and production leaders out, our amazing team rallied to keep production going. Enlisting the help of all available designers, the production team was able to complete at least one request for every client on the night of Nov.11.
Over the ensuing days, we were elated to discover all of our Pickles were safe and sound, and we had 95% production capacity on Nov.12.
In addition, we activated our Design Pickle Calamity Fund, which is a cash reserve we save over the course of the year to disburse to teammates in need.
Lessons Learned
While no one can anticipate every emergency, you should do all you can to prepare for the unexpected.
We were able to swiftly respond to the typhoon, but we know that having more systems and procedures in place will allow us to be even more effective in these situations.
Moving Forward
We are taking active steps to ensure workflow efficiency during unprecedented times such as these. Here is a summary of the initiatives we are taking.
- We have created an Emergency Task Force and have begun fine-tuning and documenting every emergency procedure.
- We will fine-tune our client reporting system, allowing for more accurate and specific information to be shared.
- We will also set up a more robust, internal regional reporting system so we can access the most accurate information about our global team.
- In addition, we will also authorize the use of overtime pay to help our production team catch up when outages occur.
The support that our clients have shown our teammates has been noticed and is very much appreciated. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
While we hope that disasters never occur, we are prepared!
If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
