We, at Doyensys, recognized that everybody may not be attuned to working from home. In the first week of lockdown, we organized training sessions for our talent who were working from home for the first time. The aim was to prepare them to manage their tasks while working remotely. One of our seniors volunteered for a session and explained everything right from having “ a dedicated desk and a chair that doesn’t trigger shoulder/back pain” to “how dressing up well, triggers the right mindset for work”. Leaders addressed the teams via video conferences in the first week. It helped the first-timers to pick up the nuances of being presentable in a video conferencing call.
Moreover, we understood that employees may need support from our IT department for establishing remote connections. Doyensys IT department was made available to offer help to these first-timers to handle their technology and IT-related needs.
We took a unique approach to onboard the new talent that was set to join us. As per our Doyen culture, we welcome the new employees with a bouquet and conduct a detailed induction. We quickly adopted a new approach where the HR team inducted the new employees through video conferences and introduced their respective managers and teams through virtual calls. The IT team also worked swiftly to offer an alternative arrangement to provide the new talent with secure access to our applications and instances for their day-to-day work.
We brought together all the support teams and innovated ideas to manage this crisis effectively without affecting the business.
We’re engaged to curb fear and anxiety
At Doyensys, we are proud of running our business like one large family unit. When we had to work from home, we were faced with the challenge of keeping our bond alive.
To manage this, the Doyensys COVID-19 Committee is taking periodical updates on the wellbeing of our team members and their family via regular virtual catch-up sessions. It has created a sense of bonding among the employees.
Doyensys has a multi-cultural population that comes from different states. Some of our employees, who were staying in bachelor accommodation, couldn’t travel to their home towns due to the sudden lockdown. The committee sprung to immediate action and offered moral support to our employees who were in need. We extended the accommodation facility at the official guest house with all groceries and essentials needed for cooking. It has helped our employees, who stay alone, to manage this situation more effectively. To reduce the social isolation, the committee conducts special, non-work related video chats with our talent who are alone at home.
Celebrating small successes and accomplishments of the day help us in boosting the positive vibe among the team. Moreover, it is also a good replacement for coffee conversations, lunch meetings etc. Our HR team recently announced the Monthly Star performer awards via video conferencing. Appreciations by managers are shot in small videos and circulated on social media and internal groups. All these initiatives have created good engagement and helped us in curbing possible anxiety due to COVID-19.
Channelize Energy & Equip!
We, at Doyensys, believe in seizing the opportunities and making the most of our time. We understood the potential of our talent and strategized around making this time more effective. Doyens were given a new challenge to complete their pending certifications and training. For instance, attending an English communication course online, completing OCP certification, attending fusion training etc. To make it more attractive, Doyensys sponsored the fees for certification & rewards for employees who complete this challenge. It has helped us to use this time productively and channelize our energy in the right form.
Doyensys also encouraged the employees to utilize free training provided by Oracle Corporation. We realised this is a great opportunity for our talent to take the course and get certified.
Flexibility and Customer Needs
We were sensitive to the needs of our employees and did not want our employees to replicate their office working style at home. At the same time, we wanted to ensure that the employees were able to manage their work and home more efficiently. For instance, we understood that employees may not start working at the regular time of 9 AM. With kids to look after and both husband and wife working from home, we knew it would be challenging. Mahila Manzil, our forum for Women, helped the team to understand the importance of family’s help at this time of crisis.
With schools closed, teams are allowed to have scheduled time slots to look after their kids and share work with their partners and ensure that we meet the customer expectations as well. This was the need of the hour for many of our employees as both partners were working from home and needed an effective way to engage the kids without disrupting work. We also allowed employees to have scheduled breaks for home chores during working hours. Our Women Forum first came out with the plan of taking turns in such scenarios and shared the work schedule upfront. This practice was extended to the entire organization later.
We, at Doyensys, have displayed flexibility to ensure that both our objectives were met – which was to ensure the safety of Doyens and also to deliver the work to our clients.
