Wywiad z Markiem Piechockim, prezesem firmy odzieżowej LPP

From one day to the next, our employees stopped meeting customers—they lost direct contact. This happened on March 13th. All retail outlets and restaurants were shut down, not only in Poland but across most countries. Unfortunately, this means we've been deprived of revenues while still having to meet our obligations—to our employees and to our suppliers who produced our collections. The biggest challenge today is managing our people in this context to preserve as many jobs as possible. Non-functioning outlets generate costs on all sides, including the employee side. We now have a law that helps somewhat, and we're examining carefully how to apply it across our retail locations. This is our greatest challenge—protecting as many jobs as possible for both immediate survival and future development. There's a broad awareness that we're all fighting to protect health and life. At the same time, we know the entire world—not just Poland—will face a major recession after the pandemic. It's being described as potentially the largest in history, bigger than the 2008–2009 recession, which was called the worst since the Great Depression of 1929. Governments are trying to support economies through stimulus, but it's crucial to preserve jobs. We founded the Union of Polish Employers in Trade and Services to discuss with lawmakers how the regulations from March 13th affect our sector. In the longer term, we're preparing for recession. It's widely said that you must protect cash flow. As CEO and as someone who represents our shareholders, it's clear we won't be paying dividends this year—we want to protect that money to maintain liquidity. We're preparing for the worst. We've never experienced a situation like this—every restaurant closed, airlines grounded, all shops shut. It's the first time all of Europe and the United States are locked down simultaneously.

My approach is that it's best for everyone to focus on what they do best—that makes the help more effective. We've been working in China for 30 years, so we have deep knowledge of what to do and where. Back when the coronavirus wasn't yet widely known—late January and early February—we helped our consumers, office employees, and Chinese partners by sending 500,000 masks. Now over a million masks are returning from China. The first 300,000 will arrive within days, by April 5th to 10th. We've already distributed tens of thousands, and another 700,000 is on the way, arriving around April 20th. These masks will go to Polish hospitals—we want to distribute them to as many hospitals as possible. At the same time, through the Union of Polish Employers, we've mobilized to start production in Poland—both masks and coveralls. The Industrial Development Agency contacted us, and together we're establishing production capacities to begin this week. We're also helping the Prime Minister's office procure equipment from China—coveralls, masks, various gear. I'm glad it's not just us. Many Polish companies with sewing capacity—like Ochnik, Tatuum, Monnari, and others—will also produce coveralls, masks, and gowns that hospitals urgently need. We're working with Leszek Czarnecki's foundation as well. I'm happy that so many Poles have gotten involved. The situation is unprecedented, and we're full of concerns at many levels.

What's really positive is that many initiatives have appeared to help—that we want to help each other, that we've become solidary and partnership-oriented, all of us beyond political, cultural, and geographical divisions. We've also learned to work remotely using various media that let us see someone 500 or 1,000 kilometers away on a computer screen and conduct activities quite smoothly. The best thing is seeing these initiatives—mostly for healthcare, which needs help the most in the form of coveralls, equipment, and supplies. There's a lot of social mobilization. Not just our company, but many firms and individuals—whether doing someone's shopping or delivering goods. It's a general social mobilization. What makes me happy is this social awareness of the threat. At least here on the coast, everyone is refraining from going out, everyone stays home. Remote work—that's probably comforting. I think that's very comforting. We as entrepreneurs from the trade and services sector have managed to unite in these difficult moments. Despite competing in shopping malls and on merchandise, within seven days we came together. The Union of Polish Employers has over 150 companies directly employing 200,000 people—and including suppliers, roughly a million. These positive elements sometimes make you think how great it is that we can be active and help people.

Thank you very much.