Disney CEO Bob Iger wrote in his book, The Ride of a Lifetime, “My rallying cry to the troops was that I wanted Walt Disney to be among the most admired and respected [companies] in the world. First, I wanted Disney to be admired and respected by the employees, cast members, as we call them fondly; because if we ultimately were going to be admired and respected by our shareholders and by our customers, it had to start at home.”

Does that attitude include an employee focus during crises, like the current coronavirus situation? In a word, yes.

In one example, when hurricanes Charlie, Frances and Jeanne hit central Florida in 2004, Disney did not push employees to work if they had situations at home to handle. The Mouse also, given that most of the region was without electrical power, set up ice distribution centers in the cast parking lots. These centers, run by transportation cast members, functioned as free-of-charge drive through ice pick up stations. They also put in place action teams to assist cast members in need.

Again, in his book Iger explained, We have a system that tracks employees whenever a disaster occurs. I get reports on who’s unaccounted for, who’s had to evacuate their homes, who lost a friend or relative or pet, whose property was damaged.”

The current coronavirus situation is one that Disney did not create and cannot not control. They were not forced to shut down park operations. They did it, as this snap showcases and their statement suggests, “in an abundance of caution and in the best interests of our guests and employees.” A lessor company would have been forced to shut down and then taken a “no work-no pay” attitude. Not the Mouse. They announced that they would continue to pay their cast members. True, those cast members who cannot work from home will likely be deployed in a massive cleansing effort, but they can dismiss the additional worry of not receiving a paychecks.

It’s an example we can all learn from.