Sodexo has confirmed its support for all its employees and continues to redeploy teams to support the NHS during the COVID-19 outbreak.
As one of the government’s strategic suppliers, Sodexo is part of an industry-wide response and is stepping up to provide a range of services to help fight the virus.
Sodexo has been involved from the early stages of the outbreak. The group's teams mobilised within 48 hours to provide bespoke catering, concierge and security services for the first British coronavirus evacuees returning from Wuhan, China.
Sodexo was one of NHS England’s partner organisations supporting the guests 24 hours a day throughout their 14-day quarantine at Arrowe Park hospital near Liverpool, working closely with the NHS team, Public Health England, the local authority and the police.
With other partners, Sodexo is now helping the Department for Health and Social Care to set up COVID-19 testing centres that offer drive-through testing for NHS and other key workers.
Sodexo is recruiting and onboarding the teams needed to conduct the tests at all COVID-19 testing centres on behalf of the NHS. This new pool of employees is being drawn from companies who have staff with medical experience, from volunteers with a medical background and through a targeted recruitment campaign.
As part of our priority to keep colleagues safe and working, we are also redeploying from parts of the business that have slowed down owing to COVID-19 to support its busy NHS hospitals with valued cleaning, portering and catering roles.
Sean Haley, regional chair, Sodexo UK & Ireland, said, “I am immensely proud of how our teams and the wider industry have come together to share our expertise and work in partnership with the NHS to fight the threat posed by COVID-19. It has never been more apparent that our business lives and breathes its values.
'I applaud colleagues who had previously worked at a racecourse serving hospitality packages or had cleaned busy offices, for moving across to use their skills in a hospital or other healthcare environments that urgently needs their help right now.
'Today, we are all working together to help in the effort to fight COVID-19. We stand ready to respond to further requests for support as the pandemic unfolds.”