Before COVID-19, I received an average of 20-30 emails a day! At the time of COVID-19, my mailbox became flooded with all sorts of communications on how to navigate the current situation. Reading through all these materials could have taken days! While there were some helpful suggestions, a lot of them were too generic to be valuable. A message around support and useful tips are helpful and kind but something seemed lacking that didn’t really speak directly to the individual.

What Did we Come up With at AC3?

We wanted to cover all angles and make sure we reach everyone in one way or another - focusing on physical health as much as on mental wellbeing for individuals and also, of course, those they care about. The initiatives that proved to most impactful were those that were interactive and inclusive. Here are examples of ideas to consider that were most successful - while easy to implement.

Flexibility

In times like now, having the ability to make a choice and the flexibility to be able to work from home has become the ‘new normal’. . Being able to choose what works best for our employees and their families is our top consideration especially during these times of isolation and restrictions. Our approach to flexible ways of working allowed anyone to work from home, as needed.

Continuous Communication

With almost 300 employees across Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world, we overcame the challenge of keeping everyone in the loop via weekly Q&A’s with our CEO. These weekly catchups enabled anyone to ask those questions that weighed on their minds to decrease the overthinking and anxiety that comes with uncertainty.

Peer-to-Peer Support

While we are all in this together, everyone is faced with varying challenges. There is no “one size fits all” best practice and no one has all the answers. But collaboratively, we could crowdsource everyone’s trial and error approved tips via our knowledge base. A special section on “Working Remotely” formed a portal where you could find and share advice and tips on topics such as “Juggling Working at Home While Home-schooling Your Kids”, “Managing a Remote Team”, “Virtual Meeting Etiquette”, and more.

Social While Distant

In line with our ways of working, virtual team rooms fostered continuous collaboration. These virtual rooms allowed people to keep Zoom open in the background and jump in and out while going about their work from home. This encourages impromptu brainstorming as well as continuous team bonding.

Fun Laughs and Pick-me-Ups

Not forgetting that work should be fun, various activities and initiatives bring an element of laughter and fun back to our work lives. An AC3’s got Talent Show, a collaborative Cookbook(promoting healthy Isolation Degustation recipes) and Who’s Got the Cutest Pet competition inspired everyone’s contributions. Feel-good Friday stories, along with guided meditations helped us be mindful when our minds were full. Additional support for mental wellbeing were unexpected care packets in the shape of some wine, beer or chocolates accompanied by an uplifting animated video, conveying the message that we care!

Shifting Perspectives

Making the best of the situation, we saw it as an opportunity. We promoted cross-functional working via an internal task board, which allowed one team, that’s overloaded, receive help from another team that has capacity. Additionally, we encouraged everyone to complete valuable training courses and achieve business and technical certifications via our online learning platforms.

Overall, the most important message seems to be that we are all in this together. And together each week we come up with new ideas, inspired by our people who don’t wait for anyone to implement an initiative but who actively reach out to their peers to check that they’re doing okay.

And while we’re proud of the initiatives we’ve been able to implement so far, we know there is so much more we will continue to do. So, let’s all be in this together and collaborate to come up with even more and innovative ideas of what’s valuable support, not just in these times but for the future!

What’s your idea?