A Letter to the Bumble Team From our Chief of Staff on Coronavirus

Bumble’s chief of staff Caroline Ellis Roche sent this letter to all employees worldwide via Slack on Friday, March 13 in an effort to reassure and update the team.

Hi Team,

Thank you all so much for your resilience during this time of uncertainty. It’s been a challenging few weeks but it’s been incredible to see everyone band together to help ensure we’re all safe and healthy, both mentally and physically. This is our number one priority!

There have been a lot of comms in regards to coronavirus (COVID-19) and I want to take a moment to summarize and reiterate all of the ways we’re currently responding — as well as the issues we’re still working to resolve in order to make things run as seamlessly as possible, both today and over the coming weeks.

Our response to date: 

• All work-related travel has been cancelled.
• Employees with household members who have traveled to affected areas recently will receive guidance from People & Culture to help mitigate risk.
• Our offices are closed to visitors.
• We’re mandating a work-from-home policy in some high risk areas.
• All Bumble events or public gatherings are cancelled until further notice.
• We’re doing additional, thorough cleaning of our offices, as well as an upcoming deep cleaning.
• We’re taking care of everyone who works for Bumble in any capacity: hourly colleagues, interns, ambassadors, security guards, and the team who provide HQ with glam services. We’re continuing to pay everyone in full at this time.
• We will not ask employees to use paid time off for any sick time due to COVID-19 related illness.
• We’re supporting employee wellness through our EAP (Employee Assistance Program) for those enrolled in US medical benefits. 
• We’re offering and encouraging working from home for anyone with any symptoms — or anyone who feels more comfortable working away from public areas right now.
• We’re surveying each of you individually and working to make sure you all have the tools, resources, and accommodations needed to effectively work from home.

Things we’re continuing to work on:

• Starting today (Friday, March 13) in Austin, New York, Germany, and France — and potentially next week in London and Moscow, as we’re constantly evaluating — we’ll be working from home. We ask everyone to take home all necessary equipment, including laptops, each night in case working from home becomes an urgent requirement.
• We’re investigating childcare options through, for example, babysitting apps for those with children in case schools and daycares are closed.
• We’re evaluating lunch options equivalent to those normally provided at the office should working at home become necessary. 
• We’re constantly evaluating Bumble best practices to make working from home as seamless and productive as possible. Please try to use video calls whenever you can. It makes communication much more effective.
• We’re working on Slack guidlines so there are specific channels for COVID-19 that you can choose to mute at any time.
• We’re updating our social good plan so that we can do our part to give back to our communities. We’ll have a plan by Monday, March 16. 

As the coronavirus has spread and become an official pandemic this past week, many on the Bumble team have understandably expressed anxiety and concern. During uncertain times like these, let’s all check in on each other, reach out for support when we need it, and take time to practice self-care. At Bumble, our priority is the safety, mental health, and wellbeing of our community — our 87 million users around the world and our team in 8 different countries.

Please stay connected with us via Slack, email, video chat, phone — whatever makes you feel most comfortable — and give us feedback. We want to be sure we’re taking care of you and our users as best we can as we prepare for possible outcomes. The Leadership and People & Culture teams are always here for your questions. 

We’re all taking this day by day. We’ll keep providing updates and guidelines when anything changes. Take care of yourselves and have a restful weekend. 

Best, 

Caroline