Reflections on lock down

I haven't posted for some time….. since lockdown started really. It’s been quite difficult to find the right time or words to say that have been appropriate when listening to the experiences of others which have been so broad, diverse and often personal. But now as we start to reset our business, I wanted to share some of my reflections on the last three months.

I had my first two weeks back in the business visiting some of our sites and was incredibly proud of how our management teams are implementing our new COVID ways of working.  It does feel very surreal in the businesses and very different in getting prepared for work (an extra bag with flask, cup, PPE kit) and remembering to pre-prepare lunch as I did forget last week that you can't just quickly pop in anywhere to get a sandwich.

Getting into our sites is a very different experience now for everyone.  I'm sure you can imagine the awkwardness of colleagues having to take the Group HR director’s temperature, however, by the second visit it felt quite normal! Setting up a desk to work from including wiping it down before I settle, regularly cleaning my workstation throughout the day, staying in designated areas when usually I would wander around freely talking to people, cleaning the desk before I leave, the constant hand sanitization, wearing masks and gloves…….the list is endless but it’s starting to feel part of a routine.

The level of resilience seen within our teams during this incredibly difficult time is something else I'm proud of. The way we have worked via Teams as an Executive group has further reinforced why I work at Jardine Motors. Knowing that you can say if you’re having a bad day and not feeling that you'll be judged for sharing how you really feel has made life so much easier. The openness, honesty and support every day for each other has got us through the crisis and made us even stronger as a team. 

I personally have a deeper level of understanding now through this crisis of the difference experiences that people have and the importance of taking even more time to truly listen. For example, when responding to the levels of anxiety that individuals feel in coming back to work has been varied and personal.

Reflecting on the ‘good’ bits of lockdown and working from home; I discovered that I actually enjoy walking, switching 6am drives down the M25 for 6am dog walks for 6 miles has been a great way to set up for the day and clear my head. Ensuring I retain this is going to be important when things return to the ‘new norm’. We need to actively encourage people to reflect on the good bits of their COVID experiences and help them retain these.

It’s not easy and without wanting to sound like a martyr for all the HR professionals out there, this has been and still is, the most testing and relentless time for all of us in supporting our business and colleagues through the crisis. My team has been amazing and stepped up even further. Whilst we are not quite out of it and on the other side yet, we need to reflect on the new learnings and the ability shown to adapt and respond quickly. ‘Furlough’ wasn’t even in my vocabulary back in March, now we talk about it every day.

During this time, it’s been a fine line to know what to engage with colleagues on and what messages to send, but we’ve navigated through this and the feedback from our colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive. Just some of the measures we put in place included weekly CEO bulletins to both furloughed and non-furloughed colleagues; regular Wellbeing Wednesday virtual care packs to reinforce and promote all the wellbeing and support services we have available for colleagues as well as launching new ones; regular video updates from the leadership team including personal welcome back video messages as colleagues return to work; manager support packs to help them feel equipped to lead their teams through change; and return-to-work packs to help colleagues understand our new ways of working through videos, online learning and virtual briefings.

We also continued to live our mantra of ‘feedback is a gift’, so those managers still left in the business through lockdown did regular wellbeing check-ins with colleagues to get a sense of how our teams were feeling and help identify anymore we could do to support them. We’ve also ran a special COVID pulse survey to understand how colleagues were feeling around returning to work. With more than 6,000 comments of feedback, it’s certainly given us an insight into the mood of our teams and what we need to do in supporting them moving forward.

Taking a final positive out of all of this and the new regime, it’s certainly been brilliant to be back in the business; I’ve felt energised from the experience. While having Microsoft Teams as a communications tool has meant we’ve stayed connected, become even closer, I have definitely missed the human contact of being around other people outside my home. I’ve learnt that to truly get the vibe of a business, you have to be in it, physically and we mustn’t under-estimate its importance. #jobswagger #newnorm