Why is it important for us to continue operating, where it is safe to do so?Our company is providing vital materials to keep essential UK services operational during the pandemic.

For example:

• Our concrete, Aggregates and Asphalt have been supplied to hospitals that are currently under construction to meet the growing demand, plus new medical centres and hospitals that are being created.
• We are helping to build car parks and foundations for oxygen tanks and heavy-duty storage containers.
• Damaged highways, train lines and bus routes – we have supported the repairs to tracks, central barriers and the road surfacing. This has ensured that medical staff can get to work and receive the supplies they need to do their jobs.
• Utilities companies have continued to dig up roads and pavements to repair cables and pipes. Our materials have filled in the holes to make it safe once again for cars and pedestrians.
• Our Cement plant is crucial to the waste management industry, processing domestic and sanitary waste and enabling our essential bin lorries to keep working.

• CEMEX is following UK Government guidance to the letter. Construction and building materials manufacturing operations are essential for society and our economy to continue to function – moreover the UK Government states in its guidelines that it is important for businesses to carry on working provided they meet all Public Health Guidelines.

What is going to happen in the coming weeks and months? 

• During the last two weeks demand for our materials has reduced in certain areas and markets. As we have all seen in the news, some contractors and housebuilders have closed sites because they are unable to guarantee safe physical distancing for their people.
• Every day our Rapid Response Team is reviewing demand for our materials, and it is likely that certain CEMEX sites will close in the near future. It may be that we have to move to a strategic network of priority sites to serve the UK economy.
• The Government has put in place a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). This provides support to UK employers who are severely affected by the pandemic and might otherwise have to make redundancies, enabling them to temporarily “furlough” employees who have little or no work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are currently reviewing how this scheme might work for our business and our employees and we will provide more information in the coming days.

Please do speak to your Line Manager, or relevant HR Business Partner, about any concerns. 

Returning to Work After Coronavirus-Related Absence 

As employees return to work at the end of their isolation period for suspected or confirmed Coronavirus, Line Managers should ensure that Return to Work Interviews are carried out and that an RTW form is completed in the usual way and sent to HR Admin. This includes employees who may not have experienced symptoms but who have isolated because household members had symptoms.

These meetings can be conducted remotely, by phone or Skype, but otherwise, please ensure that physical distancing protocols are used when discussing an employee’s absence with them.

Very importantly Managers must make sure that returning employees understand the importance of hygiene, implementing physical distancing and any other specific COVID-19 precautions and the absolute requirement to follow them.