Joe Czyzyk, CEO of Mercury Air Group, credits the hard working administrative and human resources staff for the continued employee safety and for shepherding the company through new regulations and paperwork.

“The entire team has done an outstanding job with personnel issues and ensuring that we abide by all health and safety measures,” says Czyzyk.

Vice President of Administrative Services Carolina Gutierrez remembers the challenges at the beginning of the pandemic – resulting in unexpected layoffs, the adherence to the state, county, and city “Stay at Home” orders that involved notification to the employees identified as “essential critical infrastructure workers,” as well as implementation of the new processes and policies for those employees assigned to work remotely. 

She says, “It’s not in the past, but I’m confident with the steps that company has taken to reduce the employee’s exposure at work. All I want is that the employees and their families are healthy and safe.  I’m also happy to report, that all employees affected by the layoff in March have been rehired or offered to be rehired and most are back to work.”

Lehua Gibb, Human Resources Director, concurs. “It has gone amazingly well considering COVID is new to all of us. We have a good, strong team and we support each other. That’s what gets us through these challenging times.”

The HR team made sure to provide as much COVID resource information available to address employee’s concerns and anxiety about COVID. They use the employee website to provide resources on health and safety, education about staying home if feeling ill, and information about telehealth

The team also stays consistently up to date on guidance and new legal requirements needed under multiple local, state and federal regulations, including the CDC, OSHA, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Mercury’s robust HR system is available through a mobile app so employees can receive alerts quickly.

Gutierrez says, “I have to say that in the last 90 days we have seen a decrease in COVID cases in the operations.  I attribute this to the diligent efforts of the operations managers, making sure the company’s and Public Health Protocols are followed.”

The HR Department has been working long hours creating processes for notifying employees who may have been exposed, making sure benefits have stayed in place, counseling employees if they need to take a leave of absence, and the changing on-boarding and training protocols to meet socially distance requirements. As Gibb points out, they have developed new policies and protocols for all worksites, all with their own needs.