Conversations with The People and Culture Group; An Interview with Kathy Mair, HR Business Partner – Child, Youth & Family @ The Benevolent Society

In this series of interviews, we ask executives and senior human resource professionals about the effects of Covid-19 and other cultural impacts, more generally, on their organisation and themselves.  

Recently, Kim Keating had the pleasure of talking to Kathy Mair, Human Resources Business Partner at the Benevolent Society. The Benevolent Society has approximately 1,100 employees. Approximately 63% are full-time, while 32% are part-time. In addition to approximately 40 casual staff, the Benevolent Society enjoys the support of an incredible number of volunteers across Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia.

In talking with Kathy, it was clear that the people at the Benevolent Society were committed to being able to continue to provide high-quality service delivery to their clients throughout Covid. Despite having to juggle home-schooling and managing teams remotely in NSW, Kathy found a new sense of connectivity, adaptability and resilience, with staff and the Executive team all rising to the occasion.

Find out what Kathy had to say below and read more about Kathy's background in her short 'bio' following this story.

Our conversation with Kathy: 

Kim Keating (KK): Regarding its people, what in your opinion were the biggest learnings for the Benevolent Society during Covid-19?  

Kathy Mair (KM): Even in the most uncertain of times, our wonderful staff at all levels are extremely committed to ensuring our clients continue to be supported and receive a high-quality service. The creativity and adaptability within teams was amazing to see as well, as they adapted to delivering their services in a COVID safe way via a remote environment literally in a matter of days.

We were incredibly impressed with how teams came together and stepped up. It was always our priority to ensure that we’d continue supporting the people we work with in the community. It was extremely heart-warming and we were proud to see how our teams rose to the occasion, particularly as this was also a time of great personal stress for most as well.

KK: How prepared was the Benevolent Society for managing a “working from home” workforce at such short notice? What were the greatest challenges and obstacles? What did you do that you are proud of??

KM: We were very fortunate that the organisation had invested in hardware and systems that enabled a mobile workforce a couple of years ago. This made the very quick transition to working exclusively from home much, much easier than it would have otherwise been. The majority of our Team Leaders and Managers were already experienced in managing a mobile workforce and were able to guide this transition very quickly to ensure our teams were supported in working in a fully remote context.

Greatest challenge – ensuring all team members felt connected and not isolated from their teams. This varied greatly, depending on many factors, but across the board we’ve been very mindful to encourage connection when people have been physically distant from their teams.

One initiative that worked extremely well was a very quick move of the Executive team to set up weekly “Town Hall” talks, these would be broadcast live and were a forum to update everyone. In fact, the communication from the Executive level was excellent throughout – that made the people feel very safe and informed.

It really was of tremendous value that the Executive had already invested in having a truly mobile staff, and that this aligned with our staff engagement strategy across the organisation – the impetus for this had been the integration of a large number of DSS staff in NSW which had highlighted our need (pre- Covid) for a mobile workforce strategy.

KK: Did the Benevolent Society need to “stand down” or make redundant any employees? 

KM: Yes, unfortunately we did initially, but sought to reverse that as quickly as possible.

We were able to provide mainly partial stand-downs, these were predominantly across our Corporate and Administration functions, as it was our focus to preserve frontline teams and maintain service delivery as much as possible.

KK: Did the Benevolent Society qualify for JobKeeper and if so, did this scheme “save jobs”?

KM: Yes – it’s difficult to know exact numbers but without it there would no doubt have been a greater impact on our workforce. 

KK: Did the Benevolent Society have to reduce the hours/salaries of any employees? If so, all or just some roles and by how much?

KM: Yes, as mentioned previously, initially in some of our Corporate and Administrative functions partial stand-downs were made. We tried to make it as fair as possible, but despite best intentions, stand-downs in any form were tough, and that was extremely hard to do.

KK: Were people able to still work effectively on reduced hours or were there many instances of people working longer hours whilst on reduced salary? 

KM: No, we had no expectation that staff would work longer hours on a reduced salary. 

KK: Have those affected by reduced hours/salary returned to normal hours yet – if not do you have any idea when they may be returned to full-time hours?   

KM: Yes, any full or partial stand-downs for Covid-19 ended at the beginning of June.

KK: What are the Benevolent Society's current workplace arrangements?   

KM: Open for all employees - but part work from home, part in office. Which is a space thing – we have a green team and a blue team.

KK: What issues has the Benevolent Society experienced or are you expecting to see as people return to the workplace?  

KM: Employee reluctance to return to the workplace - (not widespread) but some people have been comfortable with working from home - and we have seen productivity increase across the board.

Getting people to use their personal leave, and some pockets where people still feel isolated from their teams for example: Our workforce in NSW hotspots are still fully working remotely. 

On a more personal note: 

KK: What were the highlights of working from home for you? 

KM: I feel more engaged with my team than ever before. My team are largely based in NSW, so communicating virtually has always been the norm. When we moved to working remotely, we stepped up the virtual catch-ups, and it’s been fantastic for our team. We have become closer and this has continued even with a relaxation in restrictions.

KK: What are the biggest challenges for you while working from home? 

KM: I have a young son and so home schooling was tough – when it was happening (like almost every other working parent!!) the juggle was very difficult, even with an incredibly flexible and family-friendly workplace.

I also find when working from home that the intensity of work is greater, but I think that’s perhaps because I feel I need to overcompensate when working from home.

All in all, the whole experience has been an unprecedented challenge from both a personal and work perspective – our families (and work teams) ability to rally has not been without challenges, which I am sure is in-line with many people’s experience.

KK: Would you prefer to work from home, the office or a mixture of both?    

KM: A mixture of both. I get so much more work done from home, but the in-person human connection is important too. I have learned that having people working from home can be extremely effective and can even improve workflow.

KK: What did you learn about your own work style and preferences during this time?

KM: A dedicated workspace (separate from living areas) when working from home is very important for me to feel organised. On reflection, I’m glad, I set that up early on. After a month or so of WFH, I got quite strict with myself around the boundaries of a workday, and because throughout the time in isolation I maintained a heavy workload, I needed to ensure that work didn’t bleed into family time unless it was absolutely urgent.

KK: Were you or anyone close to you affected directly by Covid-19? If so, how? 

KM: Thank goodness, no-one I know has contracted COVID-19, but I do have several friends living in Melbourne who are experiencing this pandemic in a very different way to us here in Qld. 

KK: Is there anything you will miss about “lock-down”?

KM: That life seemed to slow down – trying to hang onto that wherever possible. 

KK: Overall, which of the following best describes your Covid-19 experience: 

KM: 'Better than anticipated' - except for the home-schooling part!! :)

KK: Thanks so much for your time Kathy – we really appreciate the insight of your experience over the past few months.  

About Kathy Mair, Human Resources Business Partner - Child, Youth & Family at the Benevolent Society 

We have had the privilege of working with Kathy both on individual and project assignments over the past years. Kathy Mair is an experienced HR professional with almost 20 years of human resources experience across health and community services and various jurisdictions in the public sector. With an Honours degree in Psychology and a Professional Diploma of Human Resources, Kathy was drawn to Human Resources as a profession that focuses on the employee experience and the intrinsic link between motivation, human behaviour and performance. With a belief that relationships are at the core of our experience at work, Kathy is currently the HR Business Partner for The Benevolent Society’s considerable Child, Youth & Family Services. Outside of work, Kathy is kept busy being the mum to an energetic 6 year old and dreaming of hypothetical travel plans with her family.