When the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the U.S. in late January, no one could have predicted what would happen next. By mid-March, workplaces around the world shuttered and life as we knew it changed. But just because offices closed doesn’t mean the work stopped. To respond to the needs of team members, their clients and the community, Rocket Mortgage® got to work like never before.
Preparation And Protection
Over a matter of days, Rocket Mortgage® gathered the necessary tech equipment to transition nearly 20,000 team members to full-time remote work. The company had the foresight to get all the items needed for remote work before many other companies even started ordering more equipment for their teams, and set up a drive-thru for team members to pick up what they needed. All team members had to do was pull up in line and the equipment was loaded into their car. If a team member was just starting at the company, they received all their equipment in the mail and they went through virtual training. Thousands were hired and trained remotely during the pandemic.
Rest And Relaxation When Everyone Needed It Most
While the COVID-19 situation wore on, team members continued to work remotely, some working even more than they would have in the office. Full-time remote work combined with the stress of COVID-19 led some team members to struggle to unwind at the end of the day. To help them focus on their mental health and wellness, Rocket Mortgage® launched the Rest And Relaxation (R&R) Program, which features flexible schedules to adapt to new responsibilities at home, breaks in the workday and a paid day off solely dedicated to recharging (in addition to any PTO already given). All of these things helped team members stay centered during these stressful and uncertain times.
Building And Facilitating Drive-Thru Testing In 5 Days
As Detroit’s largest employer, Rocket Mortgage® is in a unique position to help the community and they’ve stepped up to do just that. In March, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called Rocket Mortgage® with a need and a request. Detroit was experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases, placing great strain on local hospitals. Mayor Duggan asked how Rocket Mortgage® could help. David Juan, Director of Engineering at Rocket Mortgage®, led a team to help build and facilitate mobile testing through the development of scheduling tools, logistics and call scripting.
While Juan’s team initially planned on a 10-day timeline to create the solution, the COVID-19 situation worsened. Testing was needed urgently and the delivery date needed to be expedited. Juan and his team worked around the clock, leveraging existing tools they were already using and breaking up the work into 1-day sprints. “The infrastructure as code that we had already been leveraging was a huge advantage to get all the security, monitoring and alerting set up,” explains Juan.
On the first day of the rollout of the testing program, 200 tests were administered. Just over a week later, the program was processing more than 1,000 tests per day. In 5 days, Juan and his team built a system that has the potential to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save countless lives.
The tools didn’t stay in Detroit. To help communities in need, wherever they might be, the team made their work accessible online and open source. From a mass testing runback to call scripts to data orchestration, the entire plan is available on GitHub.
The company’s mobile testing effort is just one contribution in a long list of efforts Rocket Mortgage® has made to help Detroiters in the fight against COVID-19. Since March, the Rock Family of Companies has contributed more than $6 million in funds and support. While the health crisis is far from over, the impact of the work Rocket Mortgage® has done, creating the capability to test more than 1,500 people per day, will continue to be felt.
To learn more about our sponsored deals and sponsored posts opportunities, please email sponsored@bgr.com.
