Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson further shared with his staff March 19 that revenues were expected to fall by 90% with travel coming to a halt. Sorenson, who had given up his yearly salary and slashed his executive team’s pay by 50%, told workers that day that 66% were going to be on furlough or put on a reduced work schedule.
“I have never had a more difficult moment than this one,” Sorenson previously said. “There is simply nothing worse than telling highly valued associates, people who are the very heart of this company, that their roles are being impacted by events completely outside of their control.”
But Marriott’s actions following Sorenson’s pronouncement helped placed the company on Forbes’ second annual ranking of America’s best employers by state. Marriott worked with more than 100 other companies ranging from Albertsons, Amazon, CVS, Home Depot, PepsiCo and Walmart, to help get their own employees jobs elsewhere.