One Factory Owner Sets an Example

By now, you've heard of COVID-19, the coronavirus. You've read the articles, you've seen the news, you've scrolled through your social media and clicked on the links. Information on the coronavirus is changing so fast that even journalists and health experts are having issues keeping up. 

Major brands, celebrities, influencers, and world leaders are all urging us to stay home. In a way, we've all become part of this massive movement to stay alive, because at this point, it's the one issue that HAS to matter to everyone in the world. At the beginning, we were told that only older adults or those with compromised immune systems were at risk. We also thought at one point that the hotter weather would slow down the virus. And then, younger adults started getting sick, and countries with year-long hot weather started to see a rise in their numbers. 

Everyone is at risk. But not everyone confronts the same likelihood of getting the virus. 

Though we are being told to work from home and social distance, a great number of people in the world, don't have the luxury to do the same. They're called "essential workers." Like healthcare and public health workers, law enforcement and public safety officers, first responders, food and agriculture workers, and those in transportation.

What happens when you aren't an essential worker and your company can no longer operate? Over 10 million Americans answered that question by filing a jobless claim toward the end of March 2020. 

I spoke with Jason Wolfe, President and CEO of a manufacturing company operating on both sides of the border, on what it's like to have to make decisions that affect more than 2,000 employees amid the coronavirus.