In the face of the pandemic, Life Safety, a company operating in the nautical and maritime market providing 360° services in the field of safety, has rapidly developed an action plan that puts the health and integrity of employees and suppliers first.
By Cibele Lana
published in Anpecom on 09/04/2020
Anpecom interviewed Diógenes Monteiro, founder and CEO of the company Life Safety and a friend of the Economy of Communion.
Diogenes, how has your company been affected by the coronavirus crisis?
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From an economic point of view we have not suffered a great impact thanks to the great variety of our products and services, which ensures us a small turnover in various segments. Processes have become slower and take longer, but we have not stopped doing all our business. I think the crisis we are experiencing is an opportunity to test our creativity, adaptation, flexibility and commitment, which are minimum requirements for entrepreneurs».
Can you tell us how the company's culture and values have affected the decisions you have had to make in this time period with regard to employees and suppliers?
"Our company had to adapt to the new environment, and we quickly managed to send off 80% of the entire team to do smart working at home, and only a few employees and I stayed at work every day, with the necessary protection. At the beginning of March we quarantined the people in the risk group, distributing masks, gloves and hygiene products such as alcohol in gel form and 0.2% chlorhexidine to everyone.
We also express our solidarity with the drivers of the transport companies who visit us during the week and distribute hygiene products and masks to them (including some that we bought with another EoC company).
Finally, although they could have been good financial opportunities, we refused some services that would have put our employees at the risk of infection, because our priority is the lives of our employees. Every day I talk to both the employees of the group at risk and the other managers, to find out what they think, if they have financial difficulties, if they are able to eat well, and I try to help especially the most vulnerable.”
You have only met the Economy of Communion very recently. What did it arouse in you?
"I only got to know the EoC last year while attending a congress. On that occasion I felt touched because, listening to the experience of the EoC entrepreneurs presenting confirmed to me that I was not going crazy: the attitudes my company has taken on in recent years are in fact fully in line with the various movements of sustainable entrepreneurship and also with the EoC.
We respect our employees, creating an organic environment in which everyone is essential to the functioning of our organisation. So how can I exclude a part of our body without suffering the consequences? Some people ask me if we will survive and I answer with confidence that we have a responsibility to maintain all jobs, to continue to make profits without sacrificing our employees, and we will move forward, trusting in God in order to be instruments of providence for those in need who ask us for resources, food, protection and comfort.”
What would be your message to other entrepreneurs in the face of this crisis?
"To the companies I say that we must have faith because, if it is true that we reap what we sow, if the harvest is not good, this does not mean that we must give up. We must move forward and prepare the ground for new seeds. The time is always right to change those attitudes of ours, such as selfishness, consumerism, pride, among other flaws, that drive us away from the Creator.
The door of my company is always open to all those who knock on it for anything and, as far as possible, I try to help them. This is what I advise others to do as well."
