Partner’s Continuity in the Face of COVID-19
Partner’s commitment to serving the commercial real estate industry with market-leading engineering, environmental and energy services is second only to our commitment to the health and wellbeing of our employees. In the midst of the rapidly evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we are taking steps to ensure we can continue providing services responsibly while protecting our staff, site contacts, tenants, clients and other business partners.
Our Commitment to Deliver Services
Partner is well placed to continue operating with over 900 local staff positioned throughout the U.S., as well as a large pool of local vetted contractors. We have redundancies in place for virtually all roles throughout the organization. These redundancies include geographic diversity, which may help mitigate business impact. Additionally, Partner has redundancies in place for our vendors and suppliers, including data providers, laboratories, field equipment, testing materials, safety apparel, etc.
As the situation evolves, Partner will bring our signature solutions-oriented approach to challenges this pandemic may impose on our operations such as turnaround times, travel to jobsites, and access to specific regions or facilities. We are committed to minimizing such impacts to our clients while acting responsibly to safeguard our employees’ health and wellbeing.
Mitigating COVID-19 Risk for Facility Owners
If you are a facility manager or property owner looking for help managing the risk of COVID-19 infection to your employees or occupants, please visit this webpage.
Protecting Our Staff, Site Contacts, Tenants and Others
Given that the nature of many of our services require travel and in-person interaction, we are taking measures to ensure that all our employees, clients, site contacts, and other business partners remain safe. These measures include (not an exhaustive list):
- Extensive communications to our staff and field teams about routine precautions as recommended by the CDC, particularly good hygiene practices while on-site, traveling, or in public places.
- We are asking our field team to affirm four criteria that reasonably decrease their chance of being exposed or having contracted COVID-19. These disclosure forms can be provided to clients and/or site occupants upon request.
- Advising staff to stay home if they are sick, and to follow CDC guidelines on what to do if they think they may have been exposed.
- If an employee has recently traveled to a high-risk area, we ask that they self-quarantine during the 14-day window following such travel.
- Partner has purchased subscriptions to virtual doctor visits via a phone app for our entire staff.
Technology Enhanced Site Assessments for Safety Purposes
Partner is prepared to offer alternative approaches to assessing facilities where access may be limited in order to safeguard sensitive occupants (ex. healthcare, senior living, etc.) or for other concerns. These approaches may include:
- Partner can work with an existing occupant of the building to conduct a video-call inspection (ex Facetime, WhatsApp or Zoom), or take specific interior photos. Check out a video of how this works!
- Partner’s assessor can conduct an exterior evaluation only.
- Completion of an interview and/or detailed questionnaire regarding interior conditions.
Accessing “Shelter In Place” Locations
In locations with “shelter in place” orders or similar ordinances, many of Partner’s field assessors fall under business exemptions and are able to conduct site assessments. Our field team is equipped with a letter indicating the purpose of their business on the site. We are staying in close contact with our clients to work through these location-specific challenges.
Overcoming Information Limitations
As some municipalities across the country scale back office operations, reduce public access or shut down offices entirely, Partner’s access to certain information may become limited or delayed. We are taking a creative approach to fill those gaps with other sources of information. We will communicate and address these challenges with our clients on a case by case basis.
Communication is Key
Throughout this evolving situation, Partner is committed to frequent, responsive, and open communications with our clients as we problem solve to enable your business continuity and ensure the wellbeing of our collective teams and business partners.
For More Information
To discuss your specific project needs, please reach out to your Partner relationship manager or contact us at info@partneresi.com.
Page Updated March 19, 2020 11:20 AM PDT
