No pay cuts or lay-offs at Waldies owing to COVID-19

Amid a global pandemic that has hit the economy hard, job cuts are at the centre of discussion, and employees are understandably anxious about their future. Waldies has been firmly against pay cuts during the pandemic, and laying off employees in the middle of a global emergency is not what we stand for.

The Waldies brand, in existence since 1858, has come through many world emergencies, from the Spanish flu of 1918 to the First and Second World Wars. One thing has been common to us in every hard time: empathy.

When the lockdown was first imposed in March 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19, we were, like the rest of the world, uncertain about the future. Five months later, in August, we are still unsure about the recovery of inventory values, debt collections and other cash-flow factors.

Our newest brand, Virichem®, for non-toxic PVC and rubber chemicals, was due to launch in July. It too took a hit, and we deferred that milestone for everyone associated with Waldies.

The one thing we were, and remain, sure about is this: we will not force terminations or impose unwarranted pay cuts on any of our employees or workers, at any level of the managerial or operational hierarchy. We did defer salary payments in April and June, but that in no way meant reducing anyone's pay.

We are proud to stand by our team in this unprecedented time, and we urge our industry colleagues to do the same. In the words of John Medina, “Empathy doesn't require a solution, it just requires understanding.”