The key takeaway from the recent virtual group discussions was that supporting employee welfare is a holistic process that involves not only a reachout, but also developing programs and initiatives to help upskill and reassure the employee and support their families in the process. Read till the end to find out how you can be a more empathetic leader with a super productive team. 

Huge shout out to Peter Law for this awesome visual from our last set of sessions!

Each week, we are joined by global HR leaders to brainstorm, share learnings, and collect insights on how organizations can come out on top of this crisis. You can also be a part of one of our upcoming virtual group discussions. Check out our upcoming events here!

Here's what we've learnt from our most recent sessions: 

#1 Identify and Work with Team "Champions" to Keep Engagement Levels High

Establishing strong relationships with non-leadership employees can help amplify leadership decisions and make members of the company feel engaged and consulted in big decisions. Further, upskilling them can allow you to groom future leaders within the organization. How about you teach them these five skills?

#2 Allow Flexible Working Hours for Employees to Measure and Work when Most Productive

Our attendees emphasized that since allowing flexible working hours productivity has actually spiked. Rather than forcing noctural employees to conform to traditional office timings they're finding success allowing those employees to work when works for them, in turn boosting engagement as well. Just make sure you're using these tools to help make remote work, regardless of time, streamlined.

#3 Create a Hybrid Work from Home/In-Office Model to Reduce Overhead Moving Forward

Look to the future now and start planning your post-COVID-19 strategy. While crisis control is paramount, thinking a few steps ahead will reap rewards. Working with your HR team to create a hybrid work from home/from office model that will keep productivity up, lower overhead, and in turn increase margins.

#4 Build Holisitic Policies to Engage Employees and Show that You Care 

Think about your employees as people, not resources. Follow the lead of our attendees and activate bonus relief funds, provide mental health resources for employees, make sure their families are getting the care they need, and share resources such as trainings or online learning subscriptions to ensure a holistic L&D program during this crisis. It's not only the ethical thing to do, but the financially responsible one as well as you will see as the crisis subsides.

Deep dive into this piece for more ways to be an ethical leader during a crisis. And find out how this can reap huge rewards in terms of productivity, bottom line, and the overall org culture. 

These sessions have so far been a treasure trove in terms of learnings and we will ensure the word gets out for every organization to implement and navigate this stressful, changing period together. 

We would love to thank the HR leaders who make time to do their bit for their people and business as we cope with COVID-19 together.

• Mitansh Sanawar, Zonal Head HR- North at Pramerica Life Insurance 
• Krishnamoorthy Kumar, Sr GM HR at Dalmia Cement
• Shreya Kumar, HRLP, SE ASIA at GE Healthcare 
• Anurag Rana, Head of Human Resources & Talent Acquisition at SirionLabs 
• Gaurav Kamra, Director HR, India at MobileIron
• Ranjini Chakrobarty, Director HR at G+D Mobile Solutions 
• Ragini Rao, Head-HRBP at Space Matrix
• Richa Sinha, Director, HR Transformation at Oyo
• Nilansh Verma, Lead: Rewards & Organization Development at Bharti Group Corporate
• Shreyansh Sanghani, Founder at SKS Enterprises
• Siddhesh Karnik, Ex Director HR at Livspace 
• Amol Salunkhe, Head HR at TATA Voltas Bahrain  
• Deepti Bhanot, Head - Human Resources at Tagit
• Chloe Gan, HR Director at Arvato Systems Malaysia
• Ireneus Mushongi, Regional Human Resources Manager at 7up Bottling Company Tanzania Ltd.
• Jacob Jacob, CHRO at Columbia Asia Healthcare
• Lillian Ngala, Head of Human Resources at Diamond Trust Bank
• Loo Leap Han, Head of Group Human Resources at KMU Eiscon Holding Sdn Bhd
• Esha Bhuttan, Talent Partner-Product & Technology at PropertyGuru Group
• Susan Mwangi, HR Manager at Sheffield Steel Systems Limited 

Participate and share your insights and learnings in our Virtual Group Discussions. We would LOVE to hear and learn from you. Check out our upcoming events here!