How We Responded to COVID-19
When confronted with a global crisis, Dentsply Sirona responded quickly to ensure the health of our employees around the globe, while also continuing to support our customers through this unpredictable time. Alongside our global partners, we worked to implement solutions and deliver essential services and products to individuals and communities around the world.
Dentsply Sirona’s COVID-19 Communications Program
We quickly developed a comprehensive plan of action, comprising a communications program, social media campaign, and Listening and Positivity strategy. The key features of each pillar included the following:
- Monthly, virtual town halls to encourage open communication. Our town halls’ intranet pages generated 28,000 views on average.
- Weekly COVID-19 all-employee newsletter that garnered a total of 65,000 views. Each newsletter included updates on the rapidly changing landscape, stories to support mental and physical health, a media briefing of relevant headlines, and updates from DS locations worldwide.
- Daily COVID-19 media briefing covering the most important information about our industry and beyond
- COVID-19 employee website to function as a central information channel that employees could access remotely, critically important for non-desk-based workers. In total, the website received close to 10,000 views.
- COVID-19 information section on our global intranet, DS Community, to act as a global internal hub for all COVID-19-related news and information, which gained over 30,000 views
- Regular CEO messages for customers to keep them informed about supply chain continuity and strengthen relationships with patients and dental suppliers throughout the pandemic
- COVID-19 guide for Dentsply Sirona offices and manufacturing sites, including Leadership Toolkits and Brochures on hygiene and safety measures. The quality of our COVID-19 guide measures was officially recognized by the Swiss authorities after a surprise audit at our site in Ballaigues, Switzerland.
- Our Bensheim site was commended for the measures taken during official mandatory checks by the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt Abteilung Arbeitsschutz (Department of Occupational Safety for the regional council of Darmstadt).
- Our site in Mexicali, Mexico received an award from the local health department for the site’s COVID-19 prevention program, recognizing that it was best in class during their review.
We created multiple videos to increase access to insights, information, and support, including:
To demonstrate the resilience of our industry and reiterate the importance of oral health for overall health, we launched a social media campaign, called, “Teeth Don’t Heal Themselves,” on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, reaching over 515,000 individuals.
We conducted a Pulse survey of 3,500 employees in select countries to gather feedback about COVID-19 communication throughout the Company and refine our outreach.
We utilized our podcast, DS Tunes, and live-chat, DS Chat, to give employees and customers a voice and keep them informed.
- DS tunes received in total over 76,000 listens. In total, the 6 COVID-19 DS Chat episodes had over 10,000 live participants, with over 100,000 total views.
A core part of the listening and positivity strategy was caring for our employees’ mental health. We created a Song of the Day Playlist where our CEO Don Casey shared a motivating song accompanied by a personal note for 49 consecutive days. The playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.
We launched numerous activity-based initiatives to promote good physical health and well-being among employees.
- In Mölndal, Sweden, we piloted “Step by Step To Midsummer,” an initiative that encouraged employees to form healthier habits by midsummer.
- In China, more than 100 staff utilized WeChat to organize virtual fitness sessions, with awards given to the most active members.
- The Manesar, India team rolled out a twice-daily, formal stretching program for staff on-site – Flexi Power Yoga – to reduce the risk of ergonomic injury. In July 2020, the program was extended to a second facility at Manesar, and by the end of 2020, nearly 120 employees had participated.
- Dentsply Sirona DACH launched the digital “Fit & Hungrig” (“Fit & Hungry”) campaign, which brought employees together to take part in virtual workouts. A series of qualified trainers ran biweekly, 60-minute workouts, helping employees of all ability levels stay healthy. Around 80 employees from the region participated in the 50 sports and yoga sessions, including two members of the DACH senior management team.
How We Looked After Our Customers During the Pandemic
Our focus on developing innovative products and integrated solutions that customers love and that make a difference in people’s lives became even more critical during the pandemic.
We adapted our clinical education offerings and expanded our digital clinical event platforms to allow customers to maintain access to education and training despite dental offices being closed and professional meetings postponed all over the world. Our team did this rapidly: the first digital customer event was rolled out in March 2020. In total, in 2020, we provided 7,289 training courses, training 1,029,000 dental professionals (up from 470,000 in 2019) from 80 countries.
In France, the team developed an extensive “restart” packet for dental practices. The packet included useful information on infection prevention, clinical appointment planning, developments in adhesive dentistry, a series of webinars with guest speakers, and informative videos with Dr. Inès Meisels. Within the first 5 days of publishing the first video, it had more than 3,600 views.
At the height of the crisis, much of our global supply chain shut down. Guided by our business continuity plan, and working closely with suppliers through the crisis, we were able to get infrastructure up and running again quickly and safely, as dental offices around the world began to reopen. Don Casey, CEO of Dentsply Sirona, was particularly proud of the way the team rose to the challenge and supported our customers throughout the year, stating that, “The global pandemic challenged both the world and Dentsply Sirona in a truly unprecedented way, and as a company, we had to navigate challenges we had never previously faced. We are proud of the way we have navigated the crisis, led by diverse and considerate thinking, to preserve the safety of our employees and customers and ensure business continuity.”
How We Supported Communities Around the World During the Pandemic
Guided by our mission to improve the lives of individuals and communities around the world, we worked diligently with our partners to provide key products, services, and support to communities around the world to help in the fight against the pandemic. Our teams across the world made meaningful donations to charitable organizations, dental practices, and individuals.
Explore Our Sustainability
