AGGREKO ADAPTS TO THE NEW NORMAL

The following interviews provide insights into they way different departments within Aggreko are responding to the lingering effects of the pandemic. The interviewees also share their respective experiences in their roles within the organisation. Intervie

VIMAL NARSAI: The QHSE and leadership perspective

After the challenges and uncertainty brought about by the past two years, how has 2021 been as we come to the end of the year?

The challenges still remain, even though they may not be as intense as they were at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will indeed be what I call a new normal that many businesses, including Aggreko, will have to get used to. For example, supply chain constraints are still affecting everyone and we are still working through that. But in general, 2021 has been better than 2020. However, there are still some lingering challenges.

What were some of the challenges that your department faced and how did you overcome them?

An inherent part of what we do requires us to have “boots on the ground”. A physical presence enables us to observe behaviours, patterns, and rules being followed which became extremely difficult as a result of travel restrictions. We tried to overcome this with our remote working protocols, taking videos, listening to people, having more frequent conversations with them and seeing pictures that were being sent from the sites to get a sense of how quality, health, safety and the environment

(QHSE) management was functioning across our various locations.

Another challenge we faced is to do with fatigue as a result of getting used to a new way of work which required us to adjust to a lot of remote working, working from home, not visiting/meeting with people and not having face-to-face conversations. This new normal way of working requires what I call a “sustainable level of adjustment” in order for us to get used to it, because Covid is not going to go away, but will instead come in waves and cycles. We will have to adapt, mitigate the risk, and adapt our working practices in the years to come.

Aside from the expected support that employees and staff may have needed, are there any unique initiatives that you put in place for those in your department to support them in being able to effectively carry out their tasks and feel safe and secure during the pandemic?

What we found worked really well for us was connecting through having conversations more frequently. We initially set up daily check-in calls that worked extremely well, especially during the ramp-up phase of the pandemic. These then became weekly check-in calls to get a sense of the

“If I reflect on this year, a big lesson I have learned is about the mental health of employees. I would never want to underestimate the impact of Covid-19 on this area”

team’s mood, the challenges and risks being faced, and the support and intervention required. These weekly check-in calls are still continuing and have helped us to provide the level of support that is necessary.

Can you give some insight into diversity and inclusion within the QHSE department?

My QHSE team in Africa is made up of approximately 15 people. I am proud to say that we have a very diverse group – a predominantly African team and we have a fair representation of women as well. We have a very capable, competent, courageous woman as the senior coordinator in Angola, another one in South Africa and another one based on one of our sites in Burkina Faso.

What are you most looking forward to in 2022, within QHSE and within Aggreko as a whole?

We are embarking on a very ambitious energy transition journey where we are transitioning in a very organised and structured manner away from diesel to more renewable energy sources.

So, from a QHSE perspective, I’m really looking forward to contributing substantially to the energy transition journey that has been charted by Aggreko where we aim to contribute and play our part as a recognised industry player providing temporary power.

I am also looking forward to playing our role towards sustainably reducing our footprint. Our role withing QHSE will be to identify and develop new areas for reducing our energy footprint, reducing our scope [greenhouse gas] emissions and developing plans for these. These are not just short-term plans but plans that will take us through the next five to 10 years to sustainably reduce our energy and emissions footprints.

What was the biggest lesson that you learned in 2021 that will inform the way you lead, your approach to managing people and your outlook on work going forward?

If I reflect on this year, a big lesson I have learned is about the mental health of employees. I would never want to underestimate the impact of Covid-19 on this area. Going forward, we have to find ways to better manage the emotional and the mental wellbeing of our employees, those that work on locations, as well as those that work remotely. It is an area that will always need attention as we move forward in the years to come.

JESSICA OCHUKO: The HR perspective After the challenges and uncertainty brought about by the past two years, how has 2021 been as we come to the end of the year?

A lot changed last year. Aggreko has always been flexible, but in 2020 we had to be flexible and dynamic like never before in terms of taking care of our people, which became our top priority. We rolled out policies faster than we did in the past which worked well.

In 2021 we have gone back to the drawing board and rethought some of the status quo in our ways of working. Flexible/hybrid working has been at the forefront of the conversation, and we are pushing for more innovative ideas. This year has been more about putting structures in place to nurture flexibility for which we carried out a lot of surveys and rolled out policies such as working from home.

Several initiatives were put in place last year to ensure that staff felt supported. How successful have these initiatives been? Have a lot of employees taken advantage of them?

Yes, the initiatives have been successful, and people have taken advantage of them. Two initiatives from our employee wellbeing programme were particularly well received

– the dedicated counselling service for employees and their families and the virtual workout app WithU, which has several programmes including meditation.

Aggreko always has diversity and inclusion at the top of its agenda. Have you seen an increase in women applying for roles and or an increase in women within the business being promoted?

Definitely. We still have a long journey ahead of us, but we have made a lot of strides this year. We recently had our first female engineer successfully start her chartered engineering journey. We also launched a female network in Africa (Aggreko Africa

Female Community) successfully and a huge part of the agenda is to support our female employees to reach their potential as well as attract female talent in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] to join Aggreko Africa.

Reflecting on the last year, from an HR perspective, what could you have done better or differently that you will do in the year to come?

I believe that we are well placed to continue to support our people across the region. However, there is always room for improvement in the areas of diversity, talent acquisition, and employee engagement

What has been your biggest learning from this year and what are you most looking forward to in 2022?

My biggest learning from this year is that not one size fits all. We have to be flexible in our approach to policies and the procedures we roll out. I also learned that we have more in common than what differentiates us especially through the female network programme.

WILLIAM KOUAM: Adapting to change in a senior role What was it like taking on a new role in a new organisation and having to relocate during the pandemic? That must have been a considerable amount of change to adapt to.

It was both challenging and exciting. I deliberately chose to come back to Africa, versus other opportunities I might have had with other corporations in the USA. I strongly believed that I had the skills to help in the African continent especially in the energy sector, so I wanted to come and give back to the continent.

Aggreko was offering this opportunity to me. My decision to relocate was driven by my desire to be part of the energy solutions in Africa. Aggreko also has a unique energy and dynamism in the sense that they operate in large, developed vibrant cities as well as in extremely remote cities and villages, which appealed to me, so I was more than happy to embark on this journey.

In terms of my relocation, I had to move from Ohio to Senegal, which was a big change of environment. Aggreko did very well to help make the transition smoother for me. For example, they assigned a driver to me who knew the city very well and could help me get around locally. Accommodation was also taken care of so that I could easily settle in.

My onboarding plan was ready when I arrived and from day one

I had one-on-ones with different senior leadership and colleagues to be introduced and get acquainted.

What are some of the challenges you faced in your particular role and how did you overcome them?

My role requires me to change the continent and the company. Being new to the organisation, this meant that I had to adapt to new processes and tools and develop a new mindset.

Luckily, I was born in Cameroon, so even though I was joining Aggreko as the regional head of operations for West and Central Africa, I knew I would not struggle with a big cultural difference because I was coming from the States, so I could adapt easily. This also meant that I could bridge the gap between the cultural mindset in North America or Europe and the cultural mindset in Africa.

In terms of technical challenges, the tools are different, and I had not used them before. My colleagues were happy to discuss this with me and I felt comfortable to ask questions about how certain tools worked and when to use them. That is something that I have appreciated a lot even though the science of power engineering in itself remained the same.

I came from a very big power-driven company in the States, so whether you are in Asia, Europe, or in North America the science never changes but the processes and tools used may vary and probably the biggest challenge for me was adapting to the processes, which I overcame by asking questions and doing my best to adapt.

As someone in a senior position, what are you doing to ensure that women are represented in the operations teams and included in important discussions?

I come from a very big family where my mum had a strong personality and was the cornerstone of our house and as a result, I see women as such in our homes, societies, and organisations. My previous boss in my role in transmission and distribution prior to joining Aggreko was a woman and somebody who I learned a lot from and who mentored me. Because of these women in my life, it matters a lot to me that opportunities are given to women and that young girls are encouraged to go into STEM fields.

Whenever we have opportunities in my team,

I make sure that my team circulates them to women in order to give them a chance to apply and compete for the positions – because they have the skills and qualifications. I think we will gain a lot by encouraging our daughters, sisters and mothers to come into the energy sector.

What are you most looking forward to in 2022?

This past year was about stabilising the region in terms of having strong availability of assets and also making sure that our safety standards were met, which we are achieving. In 2022, we want to operate more efficiently through using the data we have about our historical performance and analysing it to ensure that that we make improvements going forward and spending less while getting more revenues without sacrificing the safety of our people. I believe this can be achieved.

What has been your biggest learning from your time at Aggreko thus far?

My biggest learning is that people are different and do not do things at the same speed. There are processes in place which require training in order for people to perform their tasks and adhere to them. Coaching after initial training is also available to ensure continuous improvement. We need to take people’s individual aptitudes and speed for learning into consideration and adapt mentoring approaches to suit them. One of my key tasks for 2022 is to develop people and make sure that we strengthen and enhance our leadership and technical abilities.

DORIS RALULIMI: Commissioning projects during the pandemic

What has been your experience of working at Aggreko been like this past year?

I actually joined Aggreko during the pandemic and the only downside to this was not getting to meet people because everyone was working from home and there were so many travel restrictions. I only got to meet my boss last month after being with Aggreko for a year. It has been a very interesting experience though.

Prior to joining Aggreko, I was self-employed as a consultant, so I was already working remotely and when I started my current job, it was an easy transition because I was used to this way of working already. The only difference is that I couldn’t see people face-to-face. Currently, working from the office is only by choice, which I do from time to time for a change of scenery.

Having joined Aggreko during the pandemic, what kind of support did you need and receive in order to settle in comfortably?

Aggreko has a standard induction process that they carry out where new hires get to meet people in different departments as well as getting early exposure to clients. Within your first two weeks of working at Aggreko, you will have interacted with many people and get a better understanding of how each area of the business works.

How has this year been in terms of commissioning projects?

Commissioning projects has been quite challenging because of the travel bans and different restrictions in different countries which caused a lot of delays in getting things done. We had to manage our clients in this regard but thankfully, they are quite accommodating because every business is going through similar things because of the pandemic.

Time, cost and quality are the three major components of project management.

How were each of these affected by the pandemic?

We never compromise on quality. Whether we are facing delays or there are cost implications we always deliver quality services.

There are cost implications due to the pandemic. Cancelled flights (cancelled bookings due to people testing positive for Covid), quarantine/isolation costs (people staying in hotels longer than anticipated).

In terms of time – with all the travel bans, cancellations, we find ourselves delivering projects later than planned and this is something we are trying to work around without sacrificing quality.

What are some of the things that need to be considered when taking on new projects, particularly in recent times?

There is the possibility of the project not being delivered on time as well as fleet and manpower being delayed when mobilising. Travel restrictions also need to be considered due to allocated resources not being available because of travel bans or contracting the virus. Shipping lines are also not operating as per normal. Having contingency plans is especially important now to prepare for any of the delays and issues I have highlighted.

Do you get to work with a lot of other women in your team and the wider business? What is your experience as a woman working in Aggreko?

In the engineering fields in general, there aren’t many women. I got accustomed to this from my high school days and throughout my career. I went to a technical high school where there were only three women in a class and since then the highest number of women I have seen are the seven in the engineering department. At Aggreko I get to interact with other women from different departments or functions – but it would be great to have more women in the project management and engineering teams.

“There is the possibility of the project not being delivered on time as well as fleet and manpower being delayed when mobilising. Having contingency plans is especially important now”

What has been your biggest learning from your time at Aggreko?

While I have only been here for a year, it feels like I have been here for longer than that. The biggest lesson I have learned is to be adaptable and to try not to get overwhelmed by the pressure that we may encounter from time to time.