Our response to the current COVID-19 pandemic started with a simple premise—protect what matters most.
Protecting the health and safety of our employees and agents has been a top priority. We have taken a series of actions that include implementing a work-at-home approach for nearly all employees and agents, suspending all business travel, and broadly increasing the use of virtual communication capabilities across the company to ensure that we are able to continue to support our clients and policy owners in the U.S. and globally.
As a mutual company, accountable only to our policy owners, New York Life has also taken steps to ensure that we remain committed to providing the best service and support to our policy owners. This includes maintaining all our operations globally, providing advice and guidance through our agents and customer service professionals, and fulfilling our promises by paying claims. It also includes introducing payment flexibility and accommodations for those who may need it, which is described in greater detail in the policy and service questions below, as well as self-service enhancements that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And our commitment to protecting what matters most extends to our communities. The New York Life Foundation has pledged $1.7 million to local and national non-profits to help our communities impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.