Townhall: Connect to Communicate

It has been a couple of weeks since the implementation of Unlock 1, which has led to some relaxations in the lockdown restrictions imposed earlier. There is relaxation in local movements and businesses are slowly opening. I thought it would be appropriate to address any possible apprehensions, questions, and doubts among the employees and also share a mixed bag of news.

The current business outlook looks positive and steady as our major accounts are stable. Based on the current business position, various ongoing projects, and forecasts we took the decisions of salary increments for our employees. The management team members would be helping in rolling out this over the course of the next few days.

Even during the lockdown period, we have been fortunate to have onboarded 100+ new joiners into IVL. Thanks to our recruitment team, IT Team, Admin team and the Marketing teams for an effective virtual onboarding experience to our new joiners. The hiring challenges continue with last-minute dropouts, candidates unable to attend interviews from remote locations, etc. Our teams are working relentlessly to address these challenges continuously.

The slowdown in the global markets has impacted us to some extent, where we have seen some downsizing. Fortunately, we have been able to absorb some of the team members in other projects. We continue to identify new geographies, domains, and technologies that would help bring sustenance for the business.

We continue the WFH facility and operation, as the COVID-19 situation is going to be around for a foreseeable future. We have kept out offices opened to manage IT, HR, and Admin needs of the employees and are ready to welcome the employees if anyone wishes to come and work from the office. I have been going to the office since the last 3 weeks (of course, with all precautionary measures and following the guidelines) and would like to share some precautionary measures implemented at our offices,

?            Complete sanitization of the office is done

?            Seating arrangements have been changed to meet the social-distancing norms

?            Temperature checks are done at the checkpoints

?            Adequate sanitization of touched surfaces at frequent intervals

If an employee needs to visit the office, I urge the employee to exercise self-caution and follow the guidelines strictly. My request is to take a judicious call after discussing with your managers and continue to focus on the customers, the deliveries, the learning, and communication. Use the travel time saved by you, to learn and upskill.

Some of the operational challenges, that we have faced are - increased dependency on the emails, increased delivery time for the hardware deliveries, decreased productivities in pockets due to power failures, and internet issues. I would like to thank all the employees, who have been able to overcome the WFH challenges and meet the delivery goals of our customers.

In the end, I tried to answer the questions and concerns, employees had, with regards to the implementation of increments, reopening of offices, future growth, increase in the internet expenses, tackling long working hours, extensions of WFH, and referral bonus. The question of cultural events was raised to which my answer is to use the technology platforms and see how we can conduct some virtual events. There are teams who are already doing workout challenges and dance challenges. All suggestions are welcome, and I strongly feel WFH should not restrict people from having fun-time.

These broadcasts and interactions with all the employees have been extremely insightful for me and they help clear the doubts of the employees, first-hand. It gives me a chance to connect with the employees and answer their questions and concerns.

My message to the team is - keep the communication open, in the current times. Transparent Communication is the key to manage virtual teams and engagements.

My focus stays on being positive in personal and professional space and would urge everyone to reach out in case of any concerns. Like I mentioned previously, I am just a call away. 

Stay Safe, Stay Home, Stay Connected.