It has been six months since WFH was forced upon millions of people worldwide. Even though people have gradually adapted to the new routine, the workplace is being sorely missed by many. There are several ‘soft’ aspects that the office environment presented us with. While such benefits were hardly noticed during the pre-COVID days, it is being recognised and missed now.

The Misses

A. Community: The loss of humanto-human, in-person, daily connect with colleagues has been the bane of this crisis. We all create bonds at the office and derive a sense of comfort and belonging in our groups, these relationships help us fulfil our need for social interaction. People everywhere are missing the water cooler conversations, coffee chats, and shared meals which formed part of our daily life at one time

B. Collaboration: Walking across to a colleague’s desk to seek a quick update, solving problems across the table, and meeting to brainstorm are no longer possible. The pace and efficacy of collaboration as was possible has been affected while working remotely,

C. Camaraderie: Team members are united by the sense of collective purpose, shared vision, and common goals. This fellowship ignites passions, drives performance, and delivers high impact results. It was easy to build this camaraderie onsite with practices that were embedded in our culture. With remote, all of us need to recreate these channels for building these professional relationships.

D. Celebrations: Awards, Events, and Outings in the workplace help raise the collective fervour, and kindles team and organisation spirits. Many of these physical celebrations are neither feasible nor safe in the current environment.

The true DNA of any organisation is palpable at the workplace and the culture and ethos of an organisation cannot be easily experienced in the WFH setting.

While we are all optimistic that normalcy will return sooner than later, and the workplaces will be throbbing with lifelike ever before, the pandemic has pressed the ‘Reset’ button. Organisations are putting in concrete plans to shift a significant part of their workforce to a permanent WFH arrangement to reduce costs and blunt the economic impact of the lockdown.

The Hits

A. Virtual Communication: Communication will be virtual and asynchronous. New channels will evolve for both formal and informal communication. Meetings will have to include an informal component to recreate the comfort of social connect and belonging. People will have to learn to establish a ‘connect’ with their colleagues and clients to collaborate effectively. Organisations will host virtual events, recognition programmes, and engage hobby groups to bridge the virtual divide and rebuild networks that existed in office.

B. Distributed Teams: Remote work models permit work from anywhere. People will shift homes to more suitable locations to save on commute time, pursue their passion and lead a better quality of life. At the same time, hiring will become location agnostic for organisations. As the workforce gets distributed across geographies and time zones, there will an imminent need to work synergistically while staying distributed.

C. Mental Health – While WFH, the lines between work and home get blurred. Remote workers tend to put in longer hours at work, stay in the always “ON” mode, and do not disconnect. This will impact people wellbeing with health issues and mental stress becoming common. Managers will have to learn to identify such signs early on and intervene proactively.

D. Learning agility: People will need to upskill and reskill themselves as technology rapidly transforms our job content. Organisations will need to create learning eco-systems that enable people to pursue learning at will.

People who attune themselves to these new ways of working will survive, sustain, and succeed in the post-COVID world.

The author is Yashmi Pujara, Chief Human Resources Officer, Cactus Communications.

Article originally published by People Matters on https://humancapitalonline.com/Talent/details/1767/hits-and-misses (December 3, 2020)

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Over the last 6 months, COVID-19 has compelled business leaders to move their workforce to working remotely, so that business could continue without compromising employee health and safety. This global WFH experiment has brought to the fore, benefits of working remotely for both organizations and people. It is a clear win-win. While people will benefit from eliminating office commute, greater flexibility and improved quality of life, the organizations see opportunities to reduce their real-estate investment and expand their talent pool beyond geographies they are physically present in.

This widespread trend of going remote will force HR functions to invent remote work models that best suit business needs. HR will have to rethink, reconstruct, and reimplement everything within its umbrella.

This article addresses 9 key questions that HR will have to answer in the new remote working era.

Which remote work model should be implemented?

Remote work models could take 3 forms:

• Hybrid-Remote, where part of the workforce operates permanently from home and the rest from the office. However, this model has drawbacks since both groups may not be aligned and it may be difficult for a common culture to evolve.
• All-Remote, where the organization does not invest in any office infrastructure and the people “work from anywhere.” While this model is ideal, it requires a complete mind-set and culture shift to make this a success. Therefore, very few companies have implemented it.
• Near-Remote, which overcomes the negatives of the Hybrid-Remote model while serving as a stepping stone to an All-Remote model. Everyone works from home but comes to the office once or twice a week as per a predetermined roster. Since the entire workforce does not report to the office on the same day, infrastructure costs are trimmed by reducing office space. And the interpersonal connection is maintained, thus ensuring collaboration and allowing a common culture to evolve.

Why would people be willing to work from home?

The current WFH scenario is a forced phenomenon. With support systems out of bounds for households, employees are forced to juggle multiple responsibilities at a time. This has caused physical exhaustion and mental burnout.

WFH eliminates the stress of commute, reduces exposure to pollution and crowds, and saves valuable time for productive use. It permits people to relocate their homes to more suitable locations for better lifestyles, financial savings, social connect, etc. People unwilling to work from home will be exceptions and not the rule.

What are the prerequisites to implementing a successful remote work model?

• A remote work model needs complete buy-in from leadership. Executives need to lead by example
• Organizations must have a “Head of Remote” to lead this initiative
• A “Remote Task Force” with cross-functional representation from Business, HR, IT, and Admin must implement and tackle day-to-day challenges
• Organizations must have an online communication channel where people can seek help on remote working and share their experiences

What will change in the Recruitment & Onboarding processes?

The remote work model permits HR expand their search for talent beyond geographical boundaries.

For new recruits, assimilating with the company culture in the initial months is key.

Virtual interaction with immediate supervisors and leadership can go a long way in creating a feeling of warmth, and care.

How will Learning & Development be affected?

Organizations’ development teams across companies have been coming up with learning strategies to help employees transition to work from home in a seamless manner.

• L&D will have to train people in being effective while working remotely and creating a boundary between their work and home
• L&D will have to coach managers in remote people management
• L&D initiatives will have to be redesigned to retain the benefits a classroom setting offers

How will HR implement a good culture and value framework in the remote workplace?

By reposing trust in people who work from home! Monitoring them online is discouraged. If people do not feel trusted, it could negatively impact their morale and contribution.

In a physical office, it is relatively easy to ingrain the values of the organization and check for slips and omissions.

How will communication change in the remote workplace?

HR will have to evolve frameworks that include:

• Specifying which platforms should be used for formal and informal communication
• Defining do’s and don’ts to respect mutual time and space

How will HR ensure engagement virtually?

With the human-to-human connect diminishing, it is imperative for HR to devise ways to keep the workforce engaged by creating more touchpoints like:

• Encouraging participation on intranet
• Hosting virtual interest or hobby groups, team-bonding meets, town halls, where family is also invited to join
• Incorporating appreciation and recognition as a recurring agenda in staff meetings to allow people to talk about contribution of their colleagues and build stronger relationships
• Creating online channels for water cooler conversations and
• Deploying surveys and effectively using chatbots to capture people’s sentiments in regular intervals

What are potential negative implications that HR will have to watch out for?

People working from home tend to be in the “always on” mode, resulting in burnouts.

• It is important to encourage people to switch off their laptops when not at work, take periodical breaks during routine hours, and take days off
• Managers will have to look out for signs of breakdowns and feeling of isolation and neglect
• HR will have to provide structured interventions to keep the workforce physically and mentally fit. After all, the well-being of the organization depends solely on the well-being of its workforce

HR will be at the forefront of this tectonic shift in the way people work and how organizations function, and it will have to transform itself to deliver organizational success in the remote working era.

The author is Yashmi Pujara, Chief Human Resources Officer, Cactus Communications.

Article originally published by People Matters on https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/adjusting-in-a-remote-working-era-long-term-implications-for-hr-27649 (November 24, 2020)

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India has four public holidays when all offices, schools, banks, and government offices are required to be shut.

As a global organization with customers from over 100 countries, this was stopping us from being available to our customers. This rule of keeping operations shut during four public holidays was turning away many of our regular clients, who had come to depend on us for their recurring needs.

To be able to keep our offices open on these four public holidays, we had to apply for special permission from the local government. And one of the prerequisites of securing this permission was to get at least 70% of our staff to declare that they agreed to working on these four holidays.

We always placed our customers first—we still do! This was the rationale we presented to our employees. Everybody knew that our customers were some of the busiest people working on critical research, some of it potentially lifesaving. Our national holidays were of no consequence to these researchers. We had to be available to them when they needed us.

There were a few voices who disagreed with the move. They said we were too customer-focused and growth-oriented and didn’t seem to care about the happiness of the employees. One employee was particularly vocal. “I am not going to sign this!” she said. She said that we should not force people to work on holidays. She, like most of us, looked forward to the holidays as welcome breaks where one can spend quality time with family, and she felt we were taking away their personal time.

I tried to explain our rationale to her but we failed to reach a mutual agreement. At a simplistic level, it was a choice between the customers’ need and our employees’ happiness, and we chose the former. Many thought this was unfair. Still, a majority of the people understood the rationale and gave us their consent. We managed to get the special permission to operate on the four public holidays. Our scale of operations was small back then, so keeping the office open on these days meant that the entire team had to be at work to be able to serve our customers.

Even today, we work on these four public holidays. But because our team is much bigger now, we can allow almost 70% of our team in India to take an off on these four days. The remaining 30% who work on these days are in client-facing roles and they get a compensatory holiday on another day. Besides, we actively communicate this arrangement to new recruits so that they are prepared and also understand the rationale for keeping the office open.

Having grown, we are now in a position to draft policies that take into account both our customers’ needs and our employees’ requirements, and we make concerted efforts to be more conscious of what makes our employees happy. But it took us a long time to get here. I feel if the employee had not challenged us back then, we would not have some of the people-friendly policies we have today.

Things are constantly changing around us, and we need to keep adapting. We need strong, passionate voices to keep us in check and force us to look at things from various perspectives. We may not always have a satisfactory solution in the moment, but these conversations help shape how we progress. If the employee had not shared her views as passionately as she did, we would have implemented our solutions considering they were the best and didn’t need any revision. Voicing your opinion is important. You never know how it could shape the future for you and many around you.

This writeup is part of a series called The CACTUS Way Leader Stories. The CACTUS Way is what we collectively call our 8 guiding principles. We asked the senior cadre at CACTUS to share personal experiences where they practiced or identified with these guiding principles. These stories of struggle and reinvention, despair and hope, conflict and collaboration, and self-doubt and self-discovery make for an interesting read.

Learn more about The CACTUS Way here: https://cactusglobal.com/about-us/culture-and-values/

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That said, some values discussed here assume greater significance since their practice is sine qua non for aiding and augmenting remote working.

1] Trust: People use formal and informal channels to stay abreast of developments in their organization. With onsite connect out of bounds, leaders will have to take time out to regularly interact with the organization through virtual townhalls, webinars, and email updates to appraise the workforce about the business. Transparency engenders trust. Encouraging people to ask questions, raise issues, and clarify doubts in open forums or in one-on-one discussions goes a long way in assuring people.

Managers need to trust people working from home across geographies and time zones. Monitoring and micromanaging people goes against developing a culture of mutual trust. Trust begets trust. When an organization reposes faith in its people, people reciprocate manifold.

2] Empathy: Every individual working from home will have a unique situation – a small home, a large family, a noisy neighborhood, children and elderly parents, pets, power failures, internet downtime, to name a few. Managers need to recognize these genuine challenges and provide team members with solutions. Allowing people flexible work routines, providing tech support, and reducing the number of meetings are some examples of helping coworkers adjust to the WFH setting.

Managers must also regularly interact with their team members individually and collectively. Signs of stress, burnout, isolation, team conflicts, and disengagement need to be addressed immediately.

A compassionate manager can more than make up for the absence of the human connect in the remote workplace.

3] Acknowledgement: The cliché “out of sight, out of mind” applies very well to a remote work setting. Managers may fail to notice contributions made by their team members because it is not necessarily happening in front of them. And employees who are not acknowledged or recognized  may  start feeling sidelined and feel that their contribution is going unnoticed.  Managers need to use interaction more often to acknowledge their team members for their support and contribution. Appreciation is one of the deepest human cravings. When people are recognized, it creates a sense of engagement and belonging with the organization, which is crucial to maintain when working remotely.

4] Communication: While working virtually, the need to keep communicating cannot be undermined. In fact, overcommunicating is key. People must be encouraged to keep communicating fast, frequently, and completely to make up for the lost benefits of onsite interaction and collaboration. At the same time, it is important to specify channels for formal and informal interaction and allow people the flexibility to communicate outside work hours.

5] Fun: Working within the confines of a house can become dreary. Recreating the lively spirit of the workplace virtually will allow colleagues to interact informally, participate in events, share common interests, etc. and draw comfort from the “presence” of their coworkers around them.

To make remote working workable, it is up to leaders and HR to set the tone for implementing and actioning values, which will then cascade down to employees and help create an org-wide culture in the remote workplace.

Connect with Yashmi

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With this novel concept of ‘long-term WFH’ coming into the picture, the erstwhile model, which was all about physical presence in office and face-to-face communication, is being challenged. Leaders are summoned to reimagine work in a way that can fit into people’s lives seamlessly, without hampering their well-being and productivity. On the other hand, measures of performance and rewards are also undergoing a shift. Adapting to these changes will require efforts from both the employees’ and the employers’ side.

Though employees have now started adjusting to the concept of working remotely and meeting objectives without getting their personal lives hampered, it becomes imperative for organizations to prioritize the overall health of their employees during these challenging times. It is important for organizations to find ways to keep their employees engaged through constant communication by leaders/managers/HR, knowledge sharing sessions, orientations to mindfulness, regular appreciation and recognition to keep them motivated now that the line between office and home is losing its distinction. One of the keyways to keep people motivated while working from homes over a prolonged period is to focus on social connections and increase these meaningful employee engagements.

Many organizations are facing issues in creating a professional work environment at home for their employees. There are multiple challenges being faced regularly, the most important one being ensuring that their employees are well connected and fully engaged in this new WFH environment. In such uncertain times when business continuity and job security are at the top of everyone’s mind, stress and anxiety among employees is common and needs to be addressed with empathy. Collective efforts and timely decisions along with some innovative measures by the top management can help in ensuring that the workforce is equipped to continue businesses as usual and meet client expectations without obstacles. It is also critical for organizations to take measures for the mental health of their workforce and boost employee morale by providing them an open platform to communicate through which they can share their limitations and get help accordingly. Many of the employees have been struggling to maintain their work-life balance in this situation and this is the time for organizations to devise solutions that will help their employees, without impeding much of their routine. There is also a growing need to implement creative ideas through which companies can engage employees and their families together.

A part of the organization’s responsibility will also be to keep its employees updated on all relevant information on how COVID-19 is impacting their work and the larger business from time to time. With such updates, employees will be able to keep themselves away from rumours and false information and equip themselves for the changes adequately. This also serves as a discussion point for people to start sharing ideas and suggestions, ask questions, and support each other. Above all, trust and transparency in communication along with patience and empathy are much needed in times like these and organizations will do well if they imbibe these in the way they work and interact with employees.

The author, Yashmi Pujara, is CHRO at Cactus Communications.

Article originally published by The Economic Times on https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/workplace-4-0/employee-engagement/wfh-essentials-boosting-employee-engagement-is-the-key-mantra/76969885https://www.expresspharma.in/hr/leaders-need-to-embrace-uncertainty-explore-new-opportunities-that-any-crisis-brings-along/ (July 15, 2020)

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It is an unprecedented event which one can never be too prepared for. But a collective effort at CACTUS, timely decisions, and some exceptional measures outlined below helped us ensure the safety of our teams and equipped us to continue business as usual and serve our clients.

Role of country heads and local HR

Country heads in each location had an eye on the situation and took proactive measures of morally preparing the team and moving to telecommuting, much before local governments made it a mandate. In Seoul, Tokyo, and London, complete lockdown was never announced, but we proactively moved our teams to work from home to minimize anxiety and ensure their safety. In Mumbai, which houses around 60% of our workforce, we started work-from-home pilots almost two weeks before lockdown was announced.

Intranet as communication channel

We created a dedicated section on the office intranet, which hosted all relevant information about COVID-19, updates from across the world, and the latest advisories from credible sources like the WHO and CDC. This ensured that people had one official channel they could refer to for credible information, keep away from fake news and negative campaigns, and get regular tips from the organization on how they should equip themselves to deal with this crisis. It also served as a discussion forum where people could share ideas/suggestions, ask questions, and support each other.

Role played by senior leaders

Throughout this crisis, our CEO and senior leaders have been engaging our teams through blog posts and video messages on the intranet. A global advisory—including status updates from each location, tips on personal safety, work-from-home tools, and support mechanisms—is shared daily. Since this crisis unfolded in China, South Korea, and Japan before it hit other locations, we got to learn a lot from their experience.

Role of HR

A crisis management team within HR, specifically created for this purpose, is spearheading measures; this involves tracking the latest developments, its impact on our offices and teams in each country, collaborating with internal stakeholders, driving communication, anticipating issues, reaching decisions, and providing solutions.

The engagement team within HR shares curated content: tips to work from home; online resources for physical exercise, nutrition tips, and managing children; recipes for quick meals; and quiz and contests to keep people engaged and connected.

In addition, CACTUS’s Learning & Development team has made mindfulness articles, videos, and webinars available to help people address anxiety and stress, as well as skill-building courses which people can access to spend time productively over the weekends. Separately, resources for managers to engage with and manage their teams remotely are also being shared.

Safety and wellbeing

• Masks were couriered from the US and India offices to our teams and their family members in China and South Korea in help them tide over the shortage there.
• We made travel arrangements for all trainees who had relocated from outside Mumbai to go back to their families before the lockdown.
• Company guesthouses were made available to employees who either did not have a proper work-from-home setup or power/internet issues at home.
• Employees in India received their salaries for the month of March early to ease financial pressure imposed by the lockdown.
• Even before the lockout began in India, expats working in India were instructed to stay at home for their safety. Our Admin team procured special permission during the lockdown to deliver groceries for all expats living in Mumbai.
• A counsellor was made available to employees in India so that they could talk to a professional if they were feeling anxious.

Technology readiness

Our IT team piloted a global work-from-home scenario much before a lockdown was called for in different countries. In India, the IT team collected intelligence at an individual level and provided backup to each employee. This ensured that people could continue to work and remain connected with colleagues.

Role of frontline leaders

Our frontline leaders have played an exemplary role in making sure the morale of their teams remains unaffected. They have implemented creative ideas like including family members in icebreakers, introducing children and pets to team members in meetings, playing online games with teams, and even watching movies together to strengthen the feeling of optimism and togetherness.

With most of our employees still operating from home and the threat of infection at bay, we have shifted our focus to their mental wellbeing. Managers have been encouraged to check in with their team members more frequently than before and flag any signs of distress.

At CACTUS, this crisis has brought to life our core values of integrity, trust, and communication and united us as an organization. I am confident we will only emerge stronger at the end of it.

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What were the support systems provided to employees as they transition to working remotely due to the COVID-19 lockdown?

As soon as we realised that the number of (COVID-19) cases were on the rise globally, we took the following measures:
· We created a BCP team to monitor developments on a daily basis and deploy measures as required.
· A dedicated page was created on the organisation’s intranet to create awareness and provide updates on the situation and our offices. Email updates are shared twice a week with the entire organisation.
· All international and domestic travel has been curbed across the organisation. This decision was taken even before government mandates in India, Japan, Denmark, the US, and the UK.
· We gradually and systematically moved to work-from-home, starting with our Shanghai and Beijing offices and followed by Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, London, Princeton, Aarhus, and all India offices.
· We have been operating business as usual with the support of strong communication, admin, and IT support systems. In India, where we have our largest office operations, we had conducted a function-wise work-from-home pilot from the beginning of March as a proactive measure to test our preparedness. Additional infrastructure like external monitors for design teams, internet dongles, IP phones for employees in client-facing roles, and work desks/chairs (for those who needed them) were arranged well in advance

How do HR personnel train themselves to anticipate the motivational and emotional needs of a workforce, many of whom they may have never met in person?

The HR team undergoes various programs designed to understand our employees better. These include daily standups in all HR hubs, weekly HR leadership meetings and monthly HR team meetings where the team shares past experiences and plans to address the anticipated needs of our people. There are periodic learning sessions where an external perspective is built to help us understand the needs and psyche of both onsite and remote workers.

We have dedicated HR Business Partners who already have a relationship with each employee since they are involved in the hiring process and they conduct regular surveys and one-on-ones. They also ensure our remote workforce remains integrated with their teams and the organisation through regular video calls, planned office visits, and quick turnaround on queries.

HR has also helped leaders share their perspective through our intranet using videos/blogs, sharing tips with people and leaders on working virtually. The ensuing feedback and comments help the HR anticipate the motivational drivers and provide further softer engagement through initiatives like exercise videos, tips for managing children at home, and ergonomics.

A survey through the IT team to understand the state of infrastructure of everyone in client-facing roles also helped us in gauging the pain points and pulse of teams and address these quickly.

How does HR train line function leaders to create the same teamwork across virtual teams? What are the red flags to watch out for?

Our function leaders go through a comprehensive training programme with specific modules designed to manage and integrate virtual teams. HR also trains them on the functional aspects of managing remote teams in addition to sharing best practices by mail, through intranet posts, and in meetings. Most of our team is already trained to work virtually; however, the biggest red flag to watch out for is the feeling of isolation. HR drives managers to conduct daily standups with their teams, including fun virtual meetings to break the monotony and the feeling of isolation.

As an ongoing process, HR Business Partners conduct a quarterly team health check with all people managers to understand team dynamics, work stress indicators, learning and career progression, recognition opportunities, and physical and mental wellbeing. Learnings allow both managers and HR to calibrate on next steps for any focus areas and execute them in a timely fashion. We have created a special interest group called Alive@CACTUS that has a group of volunteers from within a cross-section of the entire organisation that routinely comes up with initiatives related to physical and mental well being.

What should be the role of CEOs and other senior management at a time when a pandemic throws up the possibilities of layoffs, downsizing?

The role of CEOs and other senior management becomes very crucial in testing times like the one we are facing right now. Amongst other challenges, there is a lot of emotional upheaval they undergo. They need to first develop emotional balance so that they are able to work with clarity and do what is right for customers, employees, and stakeholders.

Leaders need to constantly communicate with their teams through the organisation and increase their visibility through messages, videos etc. They also need to maintain a fine balance in motivating employees that there is light at the end of the tunnel and at the same time not lose grip of the reality/macro indicators that are likely to impact their business.

Leaders need to embrace the uncertainty and explore new ideas/opportunities that any crisis brings along. Being emotionally stable also allows them to guide employees with transparency and increases their ability to engage and drive change that may be necessary for the business to outlive the crisis and discover new opportunities.

Not all functions of the pharmaceuticals sector or the healthcare sector can work remotely. How does HR deal with the fallout of some team members having to work at site, while others have the choice to work remotely?

One of CACTUS’s USPs is flexible work location. Most of our employees are comfortable working from home and have had home offices already set up. We proactively provide infrastructure for those with specific requirements, like external monitors, internet dongles, phones or work stations. This agility and readiness have allowed us to move completely to a work-from-home model and continue to execute business seamlessly.

Many more organisations have the ability to work from home but not the will—as a result, they don’t think about it deep enough to set up processes and systems that allow them to work from home. Trusting that the team will do what needs to be done is the biggest cultural change that many organisations will need to deal with.

Article originally published by Express Pharma on https://www.expresspharma.in/hr/leaders-need-to-embrace-uncertainty-explore-new-opportunities-that-any-crisis-brings-along/ (08 April 2020)

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