myBurgerLab has announced that they will temporarily close ALL STORES for five days (26 to 30 July) to give their workers a break after 483 days of battling with the pandemic and how it has affected their business.
“This month, we would like to raise a Mental Health Awareness Red Flag,” Renyi, the co-founder, wrote in a Facebook post.
“Let’s forget about profitability and hustle culture for a moment. What good is profit/breakeven if our team suffers long term emotional damage from pushing too hard just to ‘stay alive’?”
“So, this 26th-30th July, we have decided as a team to close for 5 days to allow for every Geek from Store Operations to Central Kitchen to HQ Support Level to have a decent break since the pandemic began on 18 March 2020.”
Mentally defeated
Renyi added that when MCO 1.0 was introduced, their team came up with solutions and faced challenges head-on and came up with many different strategies to stay alive. They said that due to everyone’s hard work and support, they managed to pull through 2020.
Entering 2021 with “full hope and renewed vigour, the team was ready to “conquer the new post-Covid world”.
During the first two quarters of 2021, Renyi said that he drummed enthusiasm and the fighting spirit within the team and had meetings, plans and hopes for the business.
However, with Covid-19 cases hitting over 11,000 recently and the no dine-in rule still in place until Phase 3, Renyi shares that his team is mentally defeated.
483 days of holding on
“For the last 483 days since MCO1.0 started, we persevered and held on, but enough is enough. In the last 5-6 weeks, we observed cracks within our organisation. Even the toughest of us find it hard to hold our heads up on the best of days,” he said.
“For 483 days, the Store Operation team worked around the changing SOPs, they had to manage expectations of thousands of impatient riders and customers, while constantly adhering to tight SOPs and ‘dodging’ Covid cases left and right. They fought hard.”
“For 483 days, the Marketing and PR team, worked tirelessly to attend to all social media interactions, create fun and relevant content, address PR disasters, and are constantly on the phone fielding queries every day, day and night.”
“For 483 days, the Central Kitchen worked every day to ensure the stores have a constant supply of high-quality ingredients to meet the sales demand. They too are constantly seeking and negotiating with different suppliers as ingredient prices soar or go out of stock due to lockdowns.”
“For 483 days, the HR team had to address staff shortage issues, Covid close-contact tracing and quarantine, mental health issues among some Geeks, and also dealing with rogue enforcement trying to find issues with our Geeks while working or going past roadblocks.”
“For 483 days, the Finance team had to worry about payments being made and salary being issued on time. Every month, depending on the SOP and market sentiments, it’s like playing Russian Roulette when it comes to the PnL.”
“We can’t afford to lose our people”
Renyi shares that the pandemic has taken a huge toll on the team’s mental state, with no outlet for release. He also adds that closing their stories temporarily is not a long-term solution, but it’s the least they can do.
“We will also be taking time during this period to reassess how we will be moving forward as a company when it comes to taking care of our Geeks mental well being in a post-Covid world,” he said.
“Some might say: “Wow, you can afford to close when others want to open.” Here’s my answer:
“It’s not that we can afford to close. It’s that we can’t afford to lose our people.”
Until 26 July, do continue to support myBurgerLab by ordering from their website: order.myburgerlab.com or place a takeaway order at their stores.
We’re rooting for you, myBurgerLab! Stay strong!
Also read: “I’m stuck in a loop” Malaysians Share How They Are Coping With Burnout During Lockdown
