CEO Kevin Kelly (Emerald Packaging): Big Brain, Fast Action & Compassion

“The night before Trump had given a speech that left me with the sense that we had to take action ourselves because he sounded so helpless.”

“We have to start social distancing, because if we don’t people are going to get sick,” he told them.

Two cleaners were hired for each shift to do nothing but keep surfaces clean.

The company has added two weeks to its regular 40-hour paid time off policy. “But if someone gets the virus it is totally open-ended. No one will lose their job, raise or seniority” if they’re infected, Kelly said.

He also advises against dangling bonuses to those who show up for work, as one business friend told Kelly he’d done. “Talk about moral hazard,” he said: that only encourages sick people to infect the healthy. Best to take care of sick employees but keep them away, he said.

“It would be foolish to send people back to work without knowing disease spread. We could be bringing people back only to make them sick or kill them,” Kelly said.

“It’s easy for Trump and [ex-Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd] Blankfein to suggest these things when they’re not on the front lines.

They’re like generals in the First World War: send the troops over the top only to get them maimed and killed.”

“He also advises against dangling bonuses to those who show up for work, as one business friend told Kelly he’d done. “Talk about moral hazard,” he said: that only encourages sick people to infect the healthy. Best to take care of sick employees but keep them away, he said.”

-CEO Kevin Kelly Emerald Packaging