The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing societal problems from hunger to homelessness to access to quality healthcare and education. Now, more than ever, we must commit to helping those who are most vulnerable in our communities.
Throughout history, companies have been a critical part of the communities they serve and stepped up when communities have been hit by devastation. This crisis has only underscored the important role that business has in supporting communities economically and philanthropically. Companies can work to fill the gaps and address needs by leveraging our People, resources and expertise.
At PwC, we were among the first to encourage our people, when they became available, to assist government initiatives aimed at alleviating the COVID-19 impact on companies and individuals. In a nutshell, we aligned what we do best to what is needed, and we are hoping to maximise the difference we can make as an organisation to Luxembourg’s response.
Helping out in COVID-19 times
We are proud to say that PwC Luxembourg worked together with the Luxembourgish government at the beginning of the crisis. Thanks to our volunteers, we were able to help ministries deal with the challenges that came with COVID-19.
Our collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, Labour and National Employment Agency (ADEM) consisted of a task force of 20 people on-site and 12 remotely, that worked pro bono during 9 days to sort out the 16,000 requests for unemployment compensation the government received in the first days of the crisis. There was a high level of complexity due to multiple data sources, documents in different formats and very short deadlines, but our team rose to the occasion by collecting and analysing data to enable the payment of partial unemployment. Thanks to their involvement, the allowance was paid on time for all complete requests and 116,340 employees were impacted.
Another important project was with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Health: one of our employees supported the Luxembourg crisis logistic team, worked with institutions and suppliers’ staff; advising, negotiating contracts, sorting customs and export problems. Her involvement contributed to the local distribution of over 8 million masks and the negotiation of 50 million euros in purchases.
We also helped the Ministry of Health in two projects. The first one was to develop a platform that organises doctors’ medical home visits for patients with COVID-19. In six days, our team of four employees structured the process, implemented it, coordinated the development of the dedicated platform and created a reporting tool for follow-up; securing medical home visits in the country. The second project was the management of the data streams of elderly care institutions, mobile care service networks and facilities for disabled people. Three of our consultants improved the management of the epidemic through dashboards allowing the government to take decisions based on their data. The support of our advisors consisted of:
- Set-up and maintenance of the data streams;
- Coherence checks of the data received and perform data cleaning;
- Definition of KPIs and the continuous improvement of dashboards.
My project (in COVID-19 times)
We promote My Project among our employees members so they can allocate time to socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable projects that revolve around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This year we had 12 requests filed and ready to be deployed, but due to the sanitary emergency, everything is on hold and postponed until further notice. Among the requests we got this year there were initiatives to teach English to kids, conservation and protection of sea turtles and general protection of their environment and helping out in a nursery for handicapped children.
Volunteering for COVID-19 related activities was in fact organised as a replacement for our My Project programme that we could unfortunately not carry out this year. Nevertheless, we believe that it is important for our employees to connect with different communities and experience real exchange; which is why we encouraged them to take part in local and regional COVID-19 projects instead. We proposed a variety of volunteering initiatives through GovJobs, Agence Benevolat, Ican and HelpCOVID-19.
Other contributions
We took part in different engagements organised by the Luxembourgish community, two where we have collaborated previously: From Crystal Park to the Moon and Relais pour la vie; and a new modality: donate the equivalent of the “End of the year gift” instead of getting one. This year we raised an amazing amount of 32,500€! The money was donated to six organisations: ELA Luxembourg, Fondation Cancer, Fondatioun Kriibskrank Kanner, Médecins du Monde ASBL, Ile aux clowns and Fondation Autisme Luxembourg.
Finally, we designed an exclusive website for our Corporate Responsibility activities where our People could participate. One of them was a crowdfunding campaign that we set up to support projects sourced and financed through the Fondation de Luxembourg, the donations raised went towards two projects:
- Caritas Luxembourg: Supporting families and individuals in acute distress who need additional help and support during confinement.
- UNICEF: Collecting funds in order to deliver tens of millions of essential items for personal protection, as well as medical equipment and hygiene supplies, to countries most affected.
