Steps Being Taken
Across all of our locations, most employees are working on a staggered work-from-home schedule. This involves employees alternating weeks working at home and in office, which allows us to drastically reduce employee headcount in the office at one time. When in office, employees are required to wear face masks and respect social distancing guidelines. With the addition of our new 7-story building in Cincinnati, OH, and our new expanded facility in Dallas, TX, we’ve been able to utilize this extra space to spread out seating and allow effective social distancing. All locations are also seeing increased cleaning efforts, with disinfectant spray and sanitizers located in all common areas. Medpace has also distributed individual face masks and hand sanitizers to all associates in-office.
Should an employee have concerns or questions, we have both a dedicated internal site and email. The site is continuously updated with information on the status of our offices around the globe, FAQs in regard to safety, and other procedures and helpful information for remote working and what to do if an employee has concerns about COVID. The email allows for one-on-one communication with a Medpace HR member to answer questions or express concerns. Should an employee contract COVID-19, we immediately initiate an internal contact tracing and notify any employee(s) that could have been exposed. We are very proud to report that any potential community spread has been extremely well contained.
Employee Engagement Initiatives
Medpace has rolled out several new employee engagement initiatives during this time. In previous years, employees at our Cincinnati headquarters have enjoyed summer parties with live music and complimentary food trucks and drinks. This summer, we have opted for more socially distant options. This has included a complimentary ice cream truck, monthly healthy snacks, and most recently—a mobile drink cart. When the cart arrives to each employee’s desk, they can enjoy a free drink from a selection of local beers and seltzers.
Lastly, with the elimination of community coffee, we’ve partnered with local coffee vendors to have a weekly pop-up shop, where they make individual drinks to order. We’ve also partnered with other local restaurants to offer free food deliveries during lunch hours, as well as a daily food truck options on-campus.
With many of the previously planned Medpace sponsored run/walking events being cancelled in 2020, we have been able to offer two virtual events. The first event is the Madisonville 5K, which took place in early September. Employees were encouraged to run/walk the 5K course on their own time (not required), and then share their pictures or running log. For each employee that registered, Medpace donated $35 to the Madisonville Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation. Secondly, Medpace partnered with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Team in Training for an event called the Resilience Challenge. September is blood cancer awareness month, and Team in Training challenges everyone to a 30-day movement and fundraising challenge to complete 50 miles in whichever way they prefer (running, walking, cycling, etc.). There is no cost to register and employees are encouraged to share pictures throughout the month cataloguing their journey. Every employee that completes the challenge is entered into a raffle for a Medpace prize.
Working from home can certainly pose new challenges for our employees with children. At our Cincinnati campus, we have partnered with The Children’s House to provide preferred pricing on preschool daycare for Medpace employees, conveniently located adjacent to the Medpace campus. The Children’s House daycare will be in the newly renovated St. Paul’s School, which Medpace has supported through community outreach and charitable donations. We anticipate that the facility will be ready for enrollment this October.
Aside from on-campus activities, we also maintain relationships among employees on a global scale. In July, we held a companywide face mask contest. Employees put their creative skills to the test to compete across multiple categories—Medpace Spirit; Country, City, or Travel Theme; Most Creative; and Best Overall.
Moving Forward
Medpace continues to place employee health and safety as a top priority. We adhere to all local and state recommendations as it pertains to COVID-19 and plan on continuing to take innovative approaches to employee engagement and campus involvement. More than ever, we have the opportunity to “Make the Complex SeamGermless”.