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Making the best
of a bad situation
How PUMA's employees in China were stuck inside their office for 48 hours
November 29, 2021How PUMA's employees in China were stuck inside their office for 48 hours
November 29, 2021Suddenly there was nowhere to go. On Thursday last week, the building that is home to PUMA’s China office in Shanghai was put on lockdown by authorities and all employees as well as dozens of customers were stuck inside. Nowhere to sleep, no food and even the heating in the building had to be cut off. But in line with our PUMA Family spirit, the team made the best out of a bad situation.
All the people who work in the building had to be called back and stay for 48 hours until they received two negative PCR tests.
The China P&O Team organised camping beds and blankets and sanitary kits, so people could brush their teeth and freshen up. They also organised 350 breakfasts, lunches and dinners. They made sure that everybody in the office was warm and had a place to sleep and enough to eat.
The team took it as an opportunity and saw it as a special team building event, turning it into a big and unexpected sleepover party! A lot of colleagues shared their Wechat moments and said they were thankful for having such positive and great colleagues around.
Philippe Bocquillon, General Manager of Greater China at PUMA, said he was amazed by the good spirits that prevailed during the lockdown.
At first, it came as an unpredictable hardship, a lockdown for 48 hours in a building with no shower, no space and potentially not enough beds and blankets for everyone. On top, this was decided by local authorities in an hour, all customers attending our tradeshow got caught in the same net.
But this didn't take into account the team's resilience, their creativity or even their willingness to spend a happy time together despite the conditions. They looked at the bottle half full and turned the whole spooky experience into an amazing endeavour! Believe me, as the captain, I remained very humble in front of such an attitude.
From all of us at PUMA: We are amazed at your resilience in such a difficult situation and are proud of you, that you kept up the PUMA Family spirit in such challenging circumstances!