Illinois Sleep Products, a Chicago-based mattress producer, offered the Covid-19 vaccine for free to all of its employees. On March 10, a total of 113 people received the first dose at the plant, with the second dose scheduled to be administered in April.
“It has been difficult this past year navigating this pandemic,” said Edward Ciolkosz, principal of Illinois Sleep Products, along with his wife Susan Ciolkosz. “To say the past year has been challenging is an understatement — from weak supply chains to rapidly changing retail. But our focus has always been on our people. We wanted to find a way to give back to our employees, especially after finding out how difficult and what an arduous process it is to schedule a vaccine appointment — even for the computer literate. So, we began networking with other local businesses to find a solution.”
After considerable research, the Ciolkoszes discovered they could sponsor an on-site vaccination clinic administered by a private health care provider. While the vaccine was free, the company paid all costs (more than $10,000) associated with having it administered in their factory to all interested staff members.
“While we know this will not solve all the issues brought on by this terrible pandemic, we believe it will play a big role in terms of the health and overall emotional wellbeing of all our employees,” Ciolkosz added. “We feel blessed to be able to offer this benefit to our staff, as they work so hard for us. Providing peace of mind on such a mass scale in our factory makes us all feel more comfortable and safe.”
