In January 2020, the coronavirus pandemic swept business globally into an unsure reality. With many countries going into lockdown, many companies were forced to close their business and almost immediately change their approach to their daily work routine. Companies faced the urgent need to keep revenues generating.
At Propay Partners, the team continued to act thoughtfully and courageously despite the disruption and uncertainty COVID-19 brought. We navigated the situation with nimbleness, learning and adapting as new information was made available.
The entire Propay Partners’ team, worked 10 to 12 hours extensively daily, synchronously operating from various locations to ensure that our Clients' workforce and payroll outsourcing needs were met on time and well. Even as work mounted and options were limited we ensured our Clients operations were our top priority despite these trying circumstances.
In light of this situation, we launched our BCP (Business Continuity Plan) on March 18 2020 and it was hands-on-deck functioning remotely since. Some of the measures taken include:
- A compliance rep was put in charge of collecting correct data and distributing this data to the team to allow a constant update to our Clients.
- An internal COVID19 task force was set up. The task force would meet every morning via a con call to ensure all information collected came from a reputable source to avoid distributing fake news.
- A check and balance was put in place to ensure the relevancy of certain benefits announced by the government.
- We connected with the right statutory parties who were able to assist us with immediate clarification and information.
To ensure transparency, the Propay Partners’ team ensured close communication with our Clients. This was our number one priority. Besides ensuring our Clients’ that their payroll was in good hands, the Propay team also took the time to listen to our Clients’ woes. This was important as it put us in a position to be able to help our Clients’ and to better understand the impact and state of their business. Empathy was more important now more than ever.
Prioritizing internal communication was key. Our team leaders ensured daily communication with their team to ensure morale and adaptability was stable. It was overall challenging for the team to go from seeing each other daily to being in lockdown at home. To keep the team engaged, Propay’s team leads made it their top priority to ensure open communication and company culture was kept alive while working remotely. Each team leader maintains a daily morning catch up before the day starts to ensure everyone is aligned and feeling like a star. Team members were encouraged to take care of themselves and their families through this tough time.
Tracking productivity and outcomes is much easier when you link to specific objectives. At the start of every week, each specific department would have a team meeting to outline their top priorities for the week. At the end of the week, they would meet again to ensure priorities were met and to ensure there was no misalignment of priorities. The Propay team set on track to ensure they were contributing to the most valuable work.
It is important to ensure that while working remotely, work remains constant during this pandemic. Team leaders need to make it a point to provide an anchor and reinforce what’s not changing to provide a much-need sense of stability. Announcements should communicate what your company is doing to prepare and protect their team. This will ensure that everybody is well-informed and on the same page.
