MANAGING PEOPLE IN 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented changes in the workplace. To get a better understanding of how organisations have navigated these challenges, Tadiwa Mandivenga virtually interviewed four HR experts to find out about their experiences this year.
What has this year been like in your organisation during a global pandemic?
Fred Wasike: 2020 has been a year of unprecedented business challenges and opportunities. When Covid started, all our plans were put on hold but then progressively as we navigated through the year, the situation changed in the third and fourth quarters. Business picked up quite quickly and we actually started experiencing supply shortages as we had more orders for our products and services than we could supply. There were also some business opportunities for us in the areas of water and sanitation. There was a countrywide need for water tankers and sanitation trucks which gave us additional business.
Jennifer Padayatchy: At the onset, we had to close down our head office, the Qwetu Residences and even the construction sites. For the head office team, there was a transition to working from home and the sites and properties had to slowly re-open whilst we adapted to new hygiene and safety protocols. Today, as much as we are slowly starting to work in a hybrid model where some people come to the office and others work from home, the preference is to still work virtually as people have now adjusted to that method of working.
Can you share some of the ways in which you supported your employees during the pandemic in terms of their physical and mental wellbeing?
Stephen Tio Kauma: In addition to introducing remote working, we have international insurance with Allianz, so we made sure to lean into that to ensure that staff are able to access whatever help they need through a helpline on a 24-hour basis. Staff are also able to tune in to webinars hosted by our insurance which discussed how to manage mental health during Covid. We also have online courses that staff can access digitally which cover mental and physical health. Our communications events team also carry out virtual social events such as concerts performed by well-known musicians in an effort to encourage and enable socialisation.
Yves Mayilamene: We worked together with our staff to reorganise work in an effort to limit exposure to the virus through remote working for those who could do that, and rotating groups of employees who would work in the office every two weeks.
We also provide psychological support for our staff, especially those who live far from their families, to help them manage their anxiety. We organise webinars with doctors and continue to update staff about the pandemic, safety measures and regulations and the status of the pandemic within the organisation. We also make sure to reassure them and give them job security. All these measures have helped to maintain engagement and motivation to continue operating.
How has the pandemic informed your recruitment strategy for 2021?
Fred: In our case, the hiring model has not changed significantly other than just aligning our head count and skills requirements to the business. We will continue to employ staff on a long-term basis as we have not yet had to consider transitioning to short-term employment. The only thing that would be new for us is that we are considering entry into virtual business which would pave the way for us to enter the gig economy as a result of our learnings from this year.
Yves: There has been a total change in the way we organise work. In the past we used
to recruit talent and then take them to where the work is whereas in post-Covid, the work will be taken to where talent is.
How do you think leadership and management will change in the future based on what you have learnt this year?
Stephen: If leaders and managers were not doing it before, they will realise how important it is to know how to manage productivity by focusing on outcomes. In many ways we were already doing that in Afreximbank because we have a balance scorecard methodology wherein everyone knew what they were supposed to do as they had targets and clear objectives set. Leading in this way would allow managers to ensure that people are productive without being able to see them.
Yves: We need to rethink the need to have physical offices because moving forward, a lot of work will be done remotely. This means that there will be very little supervision as there is now. We will have to manage by objectives, i.e. managers set targets/deliverables each day for employees to accomplish without having to constantly monitor them, which will build confidence and autonomy.
What are some of the skills gaps that you have identified as a result of the changing work environment?
Jennifer: One of the things we had to do was to equip our teams with easy tools skills on how to collaborate remotely, enabled by technology. We also deployed various interventions to support our team members to adapt to the new lifestyle including raising awareness on mental health, personal finance management and how to run effective virtual meetings.
Yves: People were not used to working from home and organising their day around that. It requires a lot of self-discipline and self-organisation which not many people have. We are trying to give guidance, coaching and formal training on how employees can discipline themselves.
What would you say has been your biggest achievement of the year despite all the challenges and uncertainty it brought?
Fred: Our biggest achievement as a company is that we are actually set to exceed our business plan target for 2020 despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic. We are even looking to pay higher employee bonusses than we have in the last three years. We are very proud of this.
In the past we used to recruit talent and then take them to where the work is whereas in post-Covid, the work will be taken to where talent is
Jennifer: As we speak, even without universities opening, we are in the upper 60% of occupancy levels. Once our properties opened up again in June/July, students actually started coming back even without schools re-opening. This said a lot about our product and our brand was modified so that parents and students were confident enough to walk in and feel safe.
Stephen: At the beginning of the year, we had an asset target that we intended to put on our balance sheet. When Covid happened, we actually ended up lending more money than we had originally intended in an effort to respond to our shareholder needs. This proved that we are still relevant and needed by those we support. ■