Supporting Health, Safety, and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Grammarly has remained committed to supporting the health, safety, and well-being of our team members and their families. Since sharing the original version of this post on March 5, 2020, we’ve sought to keep everyone informed about the measures we’ve taken, resources we’ve offered, and protocols we’ve followed. We’ve shared consistent updates about the guidance our team members are following in San Francisco, Kyiv, New York, and Vancouver.

Today, we’re announcing a new remote-first hybrid working model. This approach will have our team members work primarily from home. To embrace the flexibility of this model, we have reimagined our offices as “hubs,” where—once it is safe to do so in all locations—team members will meet a few weeks each quarter to collaborate in person. While we will not continue updating this blog post beyond today, we recognize that the pandemic is not over, and many of our team members, users, and the wider global community are still impacted by this crisis. Grammarly will continue to support and protect our team members in this difficult time with empathy and open lines of communication.

This post’s final update was on June 14, 2021.

Our committment

As the spread of coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to affect lives all over the world, Grammarly remains committed to supporting the health, safety, and well-being of our team members and their families. We are also working to minimize any contribution to the spread of the virus and to take proactive measures in support of our communities. In the spirit of transparency and awareness, we want to share some information about these ongoing efforts as we continue to serve Grammarly’s users around the world.

Staying informed

We have shared several resources with our team across North America and in Ukraine to support access to reliable, up-to-date information about COVID-19 and its spread. Here are a few helpful resources we’ve circulated:

Supporting our team’s health and safety while minimizing risk

Grammarly has offices in San Francisco, New York City, Vancouver, and Kyiv, where we are following the below precautions. These measures are provisional and may change as new data and guidance emerge.

1 We’ve asked team members in all offices—San Francisco, New York City, Vancouver, and Kyiv—to work from home

On June 14 2021, we announced a new remote-first hybrid working model.

All team members are currently encouraged to work remotely. We had previously offered limited access to our Kyiv office for team members who expressed overwhelming need, but due to concerns about increased local cases, we have suspended access and are closely monitoring the situation.

The San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver offices are available at a limited capacity. We are doing so with an abundance of caution—team safety has been and continues to be our highest priority—and may once again need to suspend access if there are further outbreaks, additional governmental regulations, or other developments. Stringent health and safety protocols are in place. Grammarly has also established contact tracing protocols to be used if an individual who has been to one of our offices tests positive for COVID-19. All interviews and events will continue to be conducted remotely.

Grammarly values our partner staff, including our cleaning crews and caterers, who support us day in and day out. Our Workplace Experience teams have worked to limit the impact our temporary remote-work policy will have on all these partner staff members across all offices.

2 We’ve suspended all business travel and are strongly discouraging personal travel

Although Grammarly places a high value on community involvement and in-person interaction, we have canceled all interoffice travel and other business-related trips. This included canceling our 2020 global team offsite.

We originally asked for caution with personal international travel, and we updated that guidance to strongly discourage domestic air travel as well. As country-specific restrictions continue to evolve quickly, we cannot predict what further changes will be made or when. We may see additional border closings or openings as well as domestic travel restrictions. We are monitoring the situation closely and have asked team members everywhere to exercise extreme caution. If team members or members of their households do travel, we are continuing to ask the team member to quarantine for at least 14 days after returning home in order to ensure they do not develop any symptoms.

3 We’re working to reduce exposure and transmissions throughout our community

We canceled all in-person meetups and are conducting all meetings with vendors and business partners via video conferencing. We are also holding all interviews with prospective team members remotely, via video conferencing, to ensure that all candidates are able to take whatever precautions they feel are necessary for the health and safety of themselves and their families.

Following best health practices

We’ve encouraged all team members to follow responsible health procedures to protect themselves and the people they come into contact with. We have circulated information about available medical resources and, where possible, have provided free access to remote medical care, mental health resources, and telehealth. We are also providing resources to support physical fitness, including free access to remote exercise classes.

While we’ve established the above measures as a company, we have also circulated the below tips to promote safe practices among individuals.

Wear a mask when you’re outside your home.
Wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer throughout the day.
Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes. Sneeze or cough into your elbow, not your hands, and avoid shaking hands.
Stay home as much as you can—even if you have no symptoms—to protect against transmission.
Practice social distancing when leaving your home for essential activities by maintaining a distance of at least six feet (two meters) from others.

Promoting a positive and productive remote work experience

We have circulated remote-working tips for our team, including best practices for holding productive meetings over video conference and advice for communicating effectively and thoughtfully on Slack. We have created and continue to update a company-wide FAQ, hold regular virtual town halls with leadership, and maintain Slack channels specifically intended to facilitate situation-specific communication. We’re also reimbursing team members for purchases of office equipment that help them improve their workspaces at home. We’ve designated contacts throughout the organization on our People, IT, and Communications teams, among others, for team members to contact directly with needs, questions, and concerns.

We are aware that many schools and childcare facilities are temporarily closed, and we are working closely with parents and caretakers on our team to provide support during this period. We know that individual team members have varying needs, depending on their role or household situation, and we are working to address those needs for each individual, including by enabling people to be flexible in their work schedules. We are also providing subsidized access to on-demand childcare services, play sessions, and other activities.

Offering support and resources

We believe it’s important to support our communities in the ways we can. We’ve engaged in several initiatives to date and will continue to update this section as we take further action.

Free product access for nonprofits and NGOs worldwide through 2021

We’ve made key Grammarly Business features free for qualifying nonprofit organizations and NGOs around the world. Originally planned through 2020, this initiative has been extended through 2021. The tailored offering includes access to all Premium-level writing suggestions, an administrator dashboard, centralized reporting, and integrations with key workplace tools.

Nonprofits and NGOs around the world are essential in delivering crucial services to people in need during the pandemic—demands that continue to grow. So far, more than 5,000 organizations from 146 countries have taken advantage of this Grammarly program to achieve clearer and more effective communication in support of their missions. These organizations include The Water Project, Techbridge Girls, Learning Disabilities Society of Canada, and Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, among many more.

Leaders of nonprofits or NGOs can sign up for the offering at grammarly.com/nonprofits-ngos.

Community donations

We’ve donated to COVID-19 relief efforts based where we are—in San Francisco, New York City, Vancouver, and Kyiv. In North America, we donated to these local initiatives: Give2SF COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, the New York Community Trust Emergency Fund, and the Vancouver Foundation Community Response Fund. In Kyiv, we donated to the Tvoya Opora Charitable Fund, the Happy Old Charitable Fund, the Tabletochki Fund, and the Krab Fund.

Updating our product

We strive to support conscientious writing and discourage bias in our product. We’ve released a new suggestion that flags the phrase “Chinese virus”—along with similar terminology—and recommends the writer instead use official nomenclature from the World Health Organization: either “coronavirus” or “COVID-19,” the name of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. This follows guidelines put in place by WHO in 2015, which discourage naming diseases using geographic locations, group names, and other nomenclature that can lead to cultural stigmatization.

We are out to support people’s communication—and part of this is helping them feel they can get started in the first place. On March 30, we added small messages of support and encouragement in the Grammarly Editor for users to encounter when they open up the application to begin to write.

Offering communication advice

We know that many in our communities—including people who use our product—are struggling right now to find the right words to say and ways to communicate. As a gesture of support, we’re including here some articles we’ve published that might be helpful for people navigating this confusing and difficult time.

On March 24, 2020, we published “Letter from the Editor: Supporting Our Community with Communication Resources,” for which our senior content strategy manager collected advice to help us stay connected digitally while we distance ourselves physically.
On March 25, 2020, we published “Supportive Resources for Leading with Empathy and Care” to assist business leaders as they guide their teams through new communication norms. This includes advice on navigating tone, communicating at a distance, and showing appreciation.
On June 12, 2020, we published “Tips for Building Professional Connections While Working Remotely” to provide guidance for managers about staying connected with one’s team and developing positive workplace communication habits.
On July 10, 2020, we published “How to Improve Your Focus While Working from Home” to support our community through the difficult task of creating healthy boundaries during a sustained period of remote work.
On August 6, 2020, we published “How to Build Routines into Your Work Schedule” with tips about creating necessary space to get work done while staying at home.
On August 11, 2020, we published “Can You Truly Focus When Current Events Distract You?” with tips for concentrating during a period of fast-changing and difficult-to-process world events.
On August 18, 2020, we published “How to Structure the Distance Learning School Day” with tips for families on how to take a balanced approach to at-home learning.
On September 4, 2020, we published “6 Resources for Parents to Help Build Students’ Writing Skills” in partnership with 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the country.
On October 7, 2020, we published “4 Ways to Express Empathy and Support in Writing” to support our community in showing empathy to their loved ones.
On November 11, 2020, we published “How to Start an Email Empathetically During Difficult Times” to support people in communicating with care amid a turbulent period.
On December 11, 2020, we published “How to Stay Connected with Teachers During Distance Learning” to support productive parent-teacher communication.
On December 17, 2020, we published “Rethinking Our Self-Care Wins During the Pandemic” to encourage people to appreciate that they are doing the best they can.
On February 22, 2021, we published “The Dos and Don’ts of Remote Work Etiquette” to support healthy workplace communication practices.
On April 12, 2021, we published “Less Casual, More Digital Everything” to give insight into how work communication has changed due to the pandemic.
On May 3, 2021, we published “A Pandemic Thank You Letter to Teachers” to give appreciation for educators who weathered an extremely challenging school year.

Letter to California leadership

On March 13, 2020, joining CEOs from more than 170 other technology companies, Grammarly CEO Brad Hoover signed a letter asking California state leadership to provide free drive-through or walk-up COVID-19 testing. The signatories offered assistance in the effort of making testing widely available.

Being transparent about our efforts

We want to keep our Grammarly team—including their families—and our communities safe. We believe it’s important to be prepared and to be transparent about these actions in case they are useful to others trying to do the same.

If you are looking for resources to create your own response plan, you might find it helpful to review the additional recommended strategies for businesses and employers by the CDC.