Covid-19 Outbreak - our response
(updated 1 April 2020)
As a responsible business we take the well-being of our employees, customers, business associates, and fellow South Africans very seriously. We are very aware of the nature and speed of contagion of the COVID-19 and in this regard, we continue to follow the best scientific and medical advice of experts nationally and internationally. We also fully adhere to all the requests from our President Cyril Ramaphosa, as communicated in his speech to the nation on 23 March 2020 and all subsequent communication from the South African government. Our offices in Botswana and Namibia are also in lockdown and following the guidelines of their respective governments.
Our Response
All JVR employees, including Namibia and Botswana, and all our business partners and affiliates are working virtually from the safety of their homes. We are pleased to confirm that we are fully geared and positioned to provide all our services to you in a virtual or virtually supervised format. At JVR it is business as usual.
We therefore confirm:
Office hours: Our office hours on weekdays are, as usual, from 8.00 in the morning to 17.00 in the afternoon.
Contact numbers: You are still able to contact us by using our existing and longstanding phone numbers or the cellphone numbers you have of some of our staff members. All calls can be transferred to our laptops and cellphones at home.
Virtual products, services, workshops, and certification: We have strategically been busy over the last 18 months and more, to make sure that all our services are virtually available to our clients. All our consulting services, assessment products, skills development/certification training, and research options are virtually available to you. The only exception, given the President’s request, is that no personal and face-to-face work can be done.
How we will support you: In the next weeks we will continue to provide all our services in our normal efficient and supportive manner. Should you need to catch up with any of your people assessment or development initiatives or have any unique needs, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will do our best to support you and to find the best solution/s for you.
Prices and possible price changes: The cost of using our products and services will for the most part remain the same. However, we find ourselves in the midst of a “perfect storm” with the local currency being buffeted by the effects of COVID-19 and the fact that Moody’s has stripped the country of its investment-grade sovereign credit rating. Having begun the year at R 14 to the US$, the Rand has lost more than a fifth (20 per cent) of its value against the US$ to date. Once the local financial markets have settled down, we will reassess the prices of our imported assessments.
In summary
We are grateful that our staff and their families are all still in good health. Our hearts go out to those who have been affected by this pandemic on a personal level.
Should you have any additional questions you are more than welcome to contact jopie@jvrafrica.co.za
