Doing our part to fight Corona, are you?

An alternative approach to helping blue collar workers is important as most of them live hand to mouth - several of them on a daily wage - and they cannot be ignored because their services too are core to any company.

Never before has a disease frightened so many. The Corona virus has entire countries on lockdown causing a cascading affect on their economies.

The technology industry has categorically announced that their employees will work from home. Yes, everyone is avoiding social contact and it is the best thing to do today to fight the virus. It is a great gesture on behalf of these companies to protect their employees. But, what of the blue collar worker? This person has to work daily and without meaningful work they fall in to poverty rapidly. Who takes care of them? Most of these workers don't even belong to the rolls of many companies.

At AutoBrix we have taken every precaution to protect our field workers. While on the field, when servicing a car or a bike, they are mandated to wear gloves and masks. The payment made by the customer is digital and therby interaction with the customer is minimum, apart from collecting the keys to clean or fix their car or bike

The AutoBrix BioWipe

We have also ensured that customers, once they have signed up with our "deep cleaning" package, have the benefit of wiping clean the interiors of the car to fight any bacteria or virus.

We call this the AutoBrix BioWipe. The interior of the school bus, for example, is the best place to find bacteria and virus. Schools have to wake up and clean their fleet. Public buses should do the same. I know school's off, but, it's the best time to clean up the fleet. So, if you are a corporate or a school or a government department then get in touch with us, and we will ensure that your vehicles are germ free. The BioWipe is best for all types of vehicles, whether individual or corporate owned our wash executives can clean a single car in less than ten minutes. This product is great for schools which have several buses operating across the city.

The BioWipe package ensures that we use 100ml water mixed with car care shampoo for external wash and the whole car is dry vacuumed. An anti bacteria foam is used for germ cleaning.

Currently corporate that have several vehicles are using our services to ensure that their fleet is spick and span.

After work all our wash executives need to sanitize their hands. If they have taken ill, then, they are to stay at home and we take care of them.

In our office

We taken several measures to stop the spread of the virus. We have mandated the use of masks and sanitizers. Employees have to go through medical check ups conducted by us. We have finished one check up for all the employees and the next one is going to happen in a couple of weeks. This is free and it is our initiative to keep them healthy.

We have also provided infra red thermometers to ensure that those working from the office do not have temperature. If they do, we not only send them home, but, also follow up continuously on their road to recovery.

Bhavya knew very well that these comments did not mean anything to her because society, in her village, was yet to embrace women in the work force. The funny thing is that she was the first woman to have a post graduate degree from her family and one of the very few women who had a Master's from her village. This went unrecognized, but, she would not flutter away from her goals.

Perhaps the most important thing that we have done so far is to get rid of biometrics in the office. That system can spread the virus faster than anything else as most of us are touching the sensor one after another.

At work Bhavya is jovial and confident. As a customer support lead she believes handling men and their complaints is easier. "Men are sweet. Once someone understands that their problem will be heard they will quieten down. However I must add that women must support women openly and whole heartedly and in my experience I do not see it as yet. We have to create a mechanism to help each other. At Autobrix, the co-founder being a woman is very proactive in supporting our ideas and she trains us in to making independent decisions. May be that's what women need, a push to understand what it means to be sensitive, caring and not hesitating to make those hard leadership decisions," she adds.

Bhavya is now married and loves her in-laws because women there are highly independent and this makes her believe that she has more to achieve as a leader in order to give back in learning all that she has achieved so far.

We live in scary time and it is a very terrible situation to be in if one is a startup founder and it's employee. But, human ingenuity can fight this virus head on and I am sure we can work together as one to make a better future. I pledge my ever lasting support to my employees. Please let us join together and fight corona over the course of the next month and ensure that it is contained so that no one ever loses a loved one.