How Companies are Responding to COVID-19 Crisis in their Communities

Yes, you already know this is an unprecedented time and different companies are responding to this pandemic in different ways. Some already had a contingency plan for business continuity, and some did not have.

According to research done by Mercer, 51% of the companies don’t have a business continuity plan to handle such type of crisis. However, this means that after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, all of the businesses would have at least some form of preparedness and experience.

During the challenging times how we as a community come together and help each other will define how we mitigate the crisis. This reminds me of a wonderful quote from Coretta Scott King.

A timeless pearl of wisdom! pic.twitter.com/zhytLgg3b3

— Tribe Community Platform (@TribePlatform) March 8, 2020

In the case of companies, since they already have an audience, it makes it relatively easier for them to reach out to people and offer help. We have already seen many businesses come up with generous offers.

In this article, we’ll only cover different ways companies are responding to the COVID-19 crisis in their communities. There are so many companies doing the right thing that it is impossible to include all, so a big shout out all the businesses. However, I’ve included enough examples to inspire and probably improve your community approach during the crisis.

Shameless plug — Check out Tribe’s free plan with unlimited members for non-profits fighting the pandemic.

Let’s get started now!

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is one of the most popular SaaS solutions in the sales and CRM space. They recently launched their community with Tribe to bring sales & marketing people together to share knowledge, discuss, connect, and help each other.

Pipedrive conducted an online event on “Sales and Marketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic” by bringing in experts and uploaded the recorded video to the community to continue the discussion after the event.

They also conducted an interesting poll on this topic by asking questions such as when the sales crisis will end and if companies are modifying the offering to better meet the need. Check out the results here.

AppJobs

AppJobs is the largest marketplace for those working in the gig economy and employers such as Uber, Foodora, TaskRabbit. In their community, AppJobs’ team has created posts for different countries listing different companies that are hiring gig workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Multifunding

Founder of Multifunding launched an online community with Tribe within a few days to help business owners connect with each and create a secure space to discuss topics surrounding SBA (Small Business Administration) loans and PPP (Paycheck Protection Plans).

Compass employees

Philip Lakin and volunteers from Compass (a real estate platform) built a private community for those who were affected by downsizing to help each other, share resources, job opportunities, and referrals.

European Hematology Association (EHA)

The EHA launched a COVID-19 Hematology Hub (a private community) with Tribe to collect research ideas, share and find helpful resources from different organizations and journals, cope with stress, a subcommunity for nurses and doctors to connect with each other.

Microsoft

Microsoft launched a brand new community solely dedicated to remote work. Since the pandemic has forced millions to work from home, Microsoft’s community is designed to address the new challenges. This community space is sharing best practices, guidance, and experiences around enabling remote work. And, not to forget they are collecting feedback from the community as well.

Duolingo

Duolingo, the popular app for learning new languages has a vibrant community. Because of the pandemic and surge in posts around this topic, their moderator published a dedicated post on the pandemic. The post has guidance on what the member should do in general, a sense of solidarity, and how the posts related to COVID-19 created by the members would be treated on the forum.

Takeaway

We covered some great examples but what should be the takeaway? Just to make it easier, I’m sharing a general practice for such situations:

• Craft a straightforward message on the approach your team is taking to stay safe.
• Showcase the updated community guidelines. For example, like Duolingo, you must mention the type of post you would allow.
• A certain segment in your community might want to discuss a topic that you might not want to allow. However, take a step back and consider the fact that people find solace in a community and reconsider if you can provide a space for such a discussion.
• If it is logical for your community, create a section fully dedicated to the crisis.
• Allow members to share different resources.
• Understand that people are having a hard time and they are stressed. Hence, it is not the time to have blanket policies — be considerate before executing any rules.

That’s it! Let us know what you did in your community and the example you liked the most.