Innovating Employee-Centricity in Times of Global Crisis

The ongoing pandemic of Corona virus has not been easy on any industry and that has been true to MedGenome Labs as well. However, what it has spurred is innovation, in every area of work.

In a global crisis such as the COVID-19 scenario, our foremost priority was to keep our employees safe. Being a diagnostics organisation, we innovated very early in the way we function and swiftly re-designed our essential activities and related processes.

As we function under the category of essential services, we have continued to cater to business needs even during the pandemic times. Our operations (lab) and field sales teams who form the majority (over 70% of our staff) have been actively working on the frontline, ensuring no impact to business.

A few firsts we swiftly planned were:

- One of the crucial reassurances’ employees need at this point of time is that they are operating in an hygienic and safe environment. It is imperative to communicate well and listen to colleagues to improve and enhance our safety measures.

- Transportation can be a bigger challenge. Since the outbreak, company transport is provided to the employees working in the lab, the frequency of sanitization at workplace and common areas have been increased multi-fold, seating arrangements that support social distancing have been put in place, there’s a non-negotiable check on temperature & mask and hand sanitizers are provided at all entry points.

- All the goods / visitors are scanned before being allowed into a premise. The diagnostic facilities continue to follow all the safety protocols with mandatory PPE cover.

- Activities like onboarding and exit formalities which normally need physical presence of the employee to either collect company assets, connect with their managers and team members or get clearances from different departments during their exit, is now all moved to a remote mode.

- Employee connects today are mostly virtual and methods to engage have vastly changed. The administrative systems are created in such a manner that all these activities can be managed 100% remotely, without compromising on the employee’s experience and adhering to the process compliance.

- Creating an internal ‘Response Team’ to address any concerns employees would have and immediate actions are taken in their interest is a must to be better prepared

- Any crisis is a testing time for leaders of an organisation. Often, when a team that works in close coordination with each function and where every function is provided options to reengineer their crucial processes, comes out as a better machinery.

- There must be a focus on increased communication with the team as a routine, be it from the CEO or the HR to engage with the employees, updating them, collecting their feedback, or even keeping them informed.

- Existing organisational policies should be revised to support the current challenges; cut down on time behind approvals helps in quick implementation across the board.

- Other than providing the required infrastructure support like transportation, free accommodation for employees who are stuck due to lockdown, there is a constant flow of information on the financials which helps all the leaders to take quick and informed decisions.

It is equally crucial to adhere to the guidelines and protocol set by the council. Even if we have a situation in the future, all of the above will help us to navigate through the situation in tandem with the guidelines shared by MOH - isolation of the infected individual, identifying and quarantining the primary contacts (if any), thorough disinfection of the work area, transparent communication with all involved and providing complete support to the employees to handle the situation in addition to providing them with the group Mediclaim benefits.

As a firm, we started very early to ensure we contribute to the nation’s fight against COVID-19. While some of those measures helped us ensure safety of our employees, altering policies, compassion towards colleagues and continuously communicating with them to gather their feedback and improvise is something that has kept us going!