One may believe, the pillars of any company are its products or services, however, the fact remains – it is the employees.
When business is as usual – the priorities for leadership are Effective Communication, especially on organizational direction, employee motivation, innovation, and customer-centricity. During this new normal, employee communication has indeed taken a center stage. We were proactive when it came to planning on business continuity. Regular status updates from and to our stakeholders, patience, flexibility, lateral thinking, and the ability to make the right decisions kept our ship sailing to the right shores with confidence.
At Smart IMS, a Microsoft Gold Partner, Oracle Platinum Partner, and a Unified Communications Solutions Provider, we have a Leadership Team that understands and values employee engagement which has made our transition into a new-normal far more seamless.
Our Response during the Pandemic:
At Smart IMS, we strongly believe in employee safety and moved the entire ecosystem from the office to home. After a couple of months working from home, we have opened the office back up with safety measures in place. This includes staggering and limiting in-person shifts, practicing social distancing protocols as well as other advanced security measures such as mask detection technology and temperature scanning. There are indeed a few of us who prefer working from the office over working from home!
To maintain business continuity, it is necessary to ensure that our team members are motivated. We analyzed our infrastructure and employee bandwidth and then set specific goals for keeping employees engaged, motivated, and collaborating in this uncharted environment. Those goals include:
- Virtual meetings through MS Teams, Zoom, WebEx
- Effectively imploring employee feedback
- Informal engagement across departments including family activities such as Smart Fridays
- Virtual Reward & Recognition programs
- Global engagement events, including online sports tournaments
- Health & wellness programs to alleviate stress brought by changes in work structure
- Professional counseling for those in need
During this challenging time, it may seem difficult to maintain optimism However at Smart IMS, we have made sure that our employees are given the resources and structure to thrive. While it is imperative to keep business going, we must learn from this situation and come up with contingencies for similar crises in the future.
First and foremost, the health and safety of our employees is of utmost concern. Although we miss our usual lively offices, we have done all we can, to allow our employees to operate in a similar environment from the comfort of their own homes. A priority during this transition has been to maintain the same sense of camaraderie, enthusiasm, and teamwork as we move forward. The Team’s Positivity is Our Greatest Strength!
