Supporting the frontliners of the covid-19 pandemic

The world is changing, but what stays constant is the human spirit of empathy and community that brings us together in the fight against COVID-19. No matter the threat, we have always found a way to get through the worst of times to rebuild the best of times.

Everyday we are hearing heroic stories of how people on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic are working around the clock to protect the public. Companies, governments, and organizations across the world are working with local heroes, including medical staff, first responders, warehouse workers, and delivery drivers, to navigate this pandemic. It would be a gross understatement to say our indispensable social systems that form the heart of the global operation to combat COVID-19 is under strain.

The UAE government has so far announced stimulus packages of well over Dh100 billion to bring relief to businesses impacted by the virus. Individual emirates are also aiding by easing utility bills and placing a stay on rent-related evictions. Some of the biggest names in the business such as Nakheel, Aldar, Al-Futtaim, Dubai Holding, and Meraas have announced economic relief packages aimed at supporting the existing business partners and customers across their portfolio of companies.

It’s clear, however, that more help is needed.

At LinkedIn we have the ability to do our part in mitigating the impact of the pandemic and we are doing it in the best possible way we know how: by helping to build greater capacity and efficacy and creating channels between supply and demand.

And that’s why we are launching a new initiative that will allow free hiring resources for critical industries who are suddenly seeing an unprecedented spike in urgent employment requirements.

Among those will be medical practice, healthcare companies, supply chains, supermarkets, disaster relief non-profits, and freight delivery services. We will make free mission-critical job postings available for these industries from April 1 – July 1, with an extendable period. Companies in these industries can reach out to LinkedIn here.

We will also help job seekers with the right skills to quickly find these open roles by promoting them on our Jobs page. For instance, frontline healthcare roles, such as doctors and nurses, will be automatically added to a list of ‘urgent’ jobs, which will be surfaced to members with relevant skills in healthcare so that they can apply immediately.

We will also be leveraging our RecruitingForGood program and scaling it to help meet the urgent needs of organizations who are managing the secondary effects of coronavirus, such as unemployment, childcare, and mental health issues. LinkedIn employees with recruiting expertise can volunteer their time to help organisations find talent to fill urgent paid and volunteer positions.  

We will be supporting healthcare staffing firms with access to LinkedIn Talent Insights for three months to give our customers the tools to identify critical healthcare professionals efficiently with access to real-time data and insights, while also removing the cap on InMails.

And finally, we have built and launched a new Navigating Coronavirus microsite that will be updated regularly to help people and businesses stay informed and connected. 

In addition to these efforts, our editorial team continues to work with governments and official sources to highlight calls for volunteers and how businesses can best support.  

We all have a part to play at this time of global emergency – no matter how big or small. We hope these measures bring some relief to those on the frontlines. We’re continuing to identify new ways to support the fight against this global pandemic and will continue to keep you posted.