First Steps Towards The New Normal At Skeps

With work-from-home culture becoming the new normal, it is now time to re-evaluate old policies and introduce the new ones.

COVID-19 has changed the world and the work environment. These are confusing times for everyone around the world as the situation was unforeseen. But, now that we are in it, we need to gear up and make the best of it.

To survive and minimize the impact on business, companies are required to adopt policies and practices that align with the changing work environment. It is equally important to think strategically about all the aspects of the work and lives of the employees that will be affected.

A sudden shift to work-from-home can create a lot of stress, especially during such a gloomy time. To keep stress and other related illnesses at bay, we have taken necessary measures through a threefold strategy.

Communication

To ensure equanimity amongst employees by reinforcing the facts and letting employees know that we are prepared for the future.

Hygiene

To prevent the dissemination of the coronavirus, precautions like sanitizing the workspace were taken.

Isolation

We evaluated the degree of risk of continuing our operation in a physical space against the ongoing viability of remaining profitable and decided to offer work-from-home to our employees even before the government mandate came into effect.

However, with work-from-home culture becoming the new normal, it is now time to re-evaluate old policies and introduce the new ones. It is also imperative that the companies realize that, while the pandemic scare prevails, not only physical but the overall wellbeing of all employees is accounted for.

Here are some of the initiatives we have taken to help employees sail through these trying times.

The safety of our employees surpasses all the other efforts that have been or will be opted in the future.

A safety tracker with employees’ details, blood group, and emergency contact details is being maintained to arrange necessary help when needed.
Regular updates are taken from employees concerning any information of COVID-19 positive cases in their societies, neighborhood, or family members with dates to support them with time off without salary deduction. This is also to create a return-to-office-plan when the time is right while making sure no employees are at risk.

Remote work pulse surveys have been scheduled to understand what employees need on priority, which team needs more attention, and track how employees are feeling in the new remote world.

Virtual meetups with managers in setting work-from-home norms amongst their teams

Good health of the employees is a must, and to help them stay healthy at home, we have introduced weekly newsletters and digital fitness classes.

A weekly newsletter is being published with tips that focus on not just the physical but also the mental aspect of employee wellness (Topics include – Ergonomics for work-from-home space, help in setting daily work schedule, healthy snacks to munch on, sleep guide, immunity booster guide)
Logins for digital fitness classes have been arranged that includes something to suit every individual’s requirement from Yoga to Dance to Workout sessions where the families of the employees can also participate.

Communication is the key to success. We have advised our employees that all work-related communication be done through video calls to avoid any ambiguity.

Daily Team hurdles/check-ins with the teams to keep track of day-to-day developments
We make sure not to disrupt our custom of monthly business reviews which, gives everyone the visibility on our future goals.
To make sure the employees stay connected, virtual watercooler chat rooms have been created, where employees can take a break from work-related tasks and discuss other things.

Focus on culture and engagement has been prioritized as we navigate through this volatile time. To keep the spirits up among our employees, we are running a few contests.