How is everyone doing at this difficult time?
In view of the Covid-19 situation, en world had started a fully remote work policy for all our employees since the end of March.
While things are gradually going back to normal, it was a difficult transition for a lot of us to suddenly switch to work-from-home, a completely different paradigm.
From lack of equipment to maintaining motivation, to loneliness or not having enough time on your own, there were many barriers in a sudden shift to remote work.
To address these issues, many ideas were given and put in place during the last few weeks.
Here are some of the new initiatives:
☑ Online Company Meetings
All our in-office company meetings were transitioned to meetings via online streaming.
Our Kick-Off Meeting for FY2020 was originally scheduled in April in a large venue with all our employees, but of course this was cancelled and was converted to a 2-part online meeting.
Also, our weekly “Ring-a-Ding” event where we celebrate the achievements of our sales team has also been transitioned to a virtual event.
It has become a nice ritual to end the work-from-home week, where you are able to see some of your colleagues you haven’t seen in a while and find that they are doing well.
☑ Q&A Sessions with Management
In the first few weeks after the start of work-from-home, our management team took turns everyday to hold an online Q&A session.
They spoke about the effects of Covid-19, gave an outlook of what is going to happen next, and answering frankly about any questions that the employees had.
☑ Using Teams Channels
At en world, we use Microsoft Teams for our daily internal communication.
With the start of remote working this was accelerated, and many new channels have been created to support one another through the exchange of information both work related and non-work related.
For example, a new channel called【Mums & Dads】was launched recently, where tips/advice are posted on how to keep their children happy while staying at home.
☑ Virtual Lunches/Online Team Drinks
One of the biggest problems that people may face with remote working is the lack of communication within your own team.
To compensate for the casual conversations that would usually happen in an offline office environment, many of our employees have organized virtual team lunches and drink sessions.
☑ Online Trainings / Linkedin Learning
There have been many online trainings and teachback sessions hosted in the past few weeks, not just for new joiners but for management as well.
The great thing is that the training content is tailored to our current situation amidst Covid-19 (i.e. “How to Manage Remote Teams”).
Apart from the internal trainings, en world has made it possible for all employees to have access to Linkedin Learning during the work-from-home period.
☑ Online Yoga/Pilates
When you are cooped up at home for days on end, one of the biggest issues that comes up is the lack of exercise.
Some of our members are voluntarily getting together to do online Yoga together, while others are arranging to have actual instructors of Pilates/Yoga to do online classes.
These initiatives help keep our employees fit during our days of seclusion.
☑ enTV
This is a new Teams’ channel that is, as its name suggests, much like a TV Channel for internal broadcasting to all employees.
Online interviews of employees have been posted on this channel, where the host asks different questions, such as how the employee is working under the circumstances of Covid-19 and what aspects of life has changed since the work-from-home policy started.
As you can see from all the different initiatives that have come into play in the past few weeks, all of us at en world are getting creative to foster a working environment that is as close to our normal state as possible.