5 US employees at ad agency R/GA have tested positive for COVID-19. Read the internal memo confirming the first case to global staff.
- Ad agency R/GA, part of holding company IPG, has confirmed five cases of COVID-19 among US staff over the past two weeks.
- A March 19 memo notified all 2,000-plus global employees of the first case after leadership told staff in the agency's New York headquarters. It went out the same day that another IPG company, PR firm Weber Shandwick, confirmed its first case of the virus.
- An R/GA executive said four more New York employees have since tested positive since the first case and that all are currently resting at home.
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Ad holding company IPG-owned R/GA, a design firm and ad agency known for creating digital products like apps and chatbots for clients including Nike, Samsung, and Lego, confirmed five cases of coronavirus among its US staff.
An internal memo sent to all 2,000-plus employees March 19 by Global CEO Sean Lyons, Chief Talent Officer Angie Hannam, Chief Operating Officer Wes Harris, and CMO Jess Greenwood and obtained by Business Insider shows how the company told staff about the virus's spread.
Five R/GA employees in the US have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past two weeks
The memo went out in the early afternoon of March 19 - about two hours before another IPG company, PR firm Weber Shandwick, confirmed an employee in its New York headquarters had tested positive for the virus.
Greenwood told Business Insider that four additional R/GA New York employees have since tested positive and that all are currently resting at home.
The person who provided the memo said R/GA leaders have been in regular contact regarding the outbreak.
One office received an urgent email and Slack message the night of Thursday, March 5, stating that facilities would be deep-cleaned over the following weekend to minimize potential exposure. Staff were later told to begin working remotely starting the following Monday, about two weeks before the virus officially hit the agency and several days before IPG CEO Michael Roth recommended that employees in North America talk to managers about working from home.
Read the memo below.
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