Advisers recall guiding life during lockdown

Liu Guojun: member of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, and CEO of Xiaomi's headquarters in Wuhan

On Jan 20, Liu Guojun held an emergency meeting at Xiaomi's offices in Wuhan to announce that the company would start its Spring Festival holiday early－five days before Lunar New Year－because of the "unknown pneumonia" spreading across the city.

"We may have been the first company in Wuhan to voluntarily start the holiday early because of the virus," he said.

Having lived through the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Liu paid close attention when the new illness emerged in late December, and he began handing out face masks and flu medication to employees.

Despite the early start to the holiday, some employees wanted to stay in the company compound for the sake of convenience. "We encouraged them to leave, saying we had to cut off the water and electricity to ensure their safety," Liu said.

On Jan 23, the day Wuhan was locked down, he began checking warehouses belonging to Xiaomiyoupin, the company's e-commerce platform, looking for protective materials such as face masks, medical alcohol and thermometers.

"The problem was that some drivers for logistics companies refused to enter Wuhan for fear of becoming trapped in the city by the lockdown before Spring Festival," Liu said.

Wuhan suspended local transportation services and private vehicles were banned from entering or exiting the city.

While drivers transporting medical supplies were given the green light to enter, they were still concerned about getting permission to leave the city with an empty car.

The first batch of medical supplies transported from four warehouses nationwide was stored in Xiantao, a neighboring city, on Jan 25. Later, the goods were distributed to the Wuhan branch of the Red Cross Society and makeshift hospitals, according to Liu.

The company has applied high-tech measures to the prevention and control of the epidemic, he said.

The Artificial Intelligence team has cooperated with other technology groups to develop an infrared thermometer, while medical and epidemic-related information has been added to the database of its digital speaker products.

"In mid-March, 94 percent of our employees started working remotely. We organized online activities to ease their anxiety," Liu said, adding that the company delivered more than 100 laptops to employees who usually worked on desktop computers in its Wuhan offices.

Nearly 200 employees resumed work at the headquarters on March 30 after testing negative for the coronavirus. "So far, none of the 2,000 staff members has become infected," he said, speaking two weeks ago.

Many companies were forced to lose large numbers of employees or reduce salaries as business stalled.

However, in a May 9 interview with Leinews, an online media outlet, Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said the Wuhan headquarters would recruit 1,000 workers this year to solve the problem of local youth unemployment and boost production.

Liu said, "If two job applicants have the same qualifications and qualities, we always give preference to the children and relatives of medical workers."

He added that the company recently employed eight research and development personnel who are the children of medics.

"We maintained full salaries and didn't cut any jobs during the epidemic," he said.

Last month, Xiaomiyoupin opened a special section to sell agricultural produce and specialties from Hubei, including the well-known local crawfish, in an effort to help drive consumption and aid the city's economic recovery.