Digitized Processes To Ensure Employee Safety At Home
The Agency Business That Was
How that world was so different! It was less than 2 years ago, that our lives were completely another world, where we spent our time stuck in traffic and commutes, we planned time with our families and friends.
For work, our jobs centered around helping brands & companies connect to their customers and create value, and their products and services to customers through content, campaigns and digital assets. We create that special laugh that makes you smile when watching IPL in between the overs, we create the campaigns that educate you about investing for your future, and many other things.
We did those things the old-fashioned way. We went to office, we met our teams, we made plans, we decoded briefs, we brainstormed in teams together! We ran from one part of the city, to the other, to the client’s office, signed in through security, drank that bad coffee, and presented our ideas.
All of that while being ants in the mammoth country of 120 crores! Living and breathing, not knowing what was around the corner. The virus that would change us all.
The World We Live In Today
Everything has changed, and nothing has changed! We still help our customer’s brands add value to the world, but today we do it from our homes, temporary offices. We do it as our children run around us, as our loved ones sacrifice all around us.
Many of us have gone from a cozy and comfortable office chair, to having to do calls from cramped homes, talking outside of open windows, and most of us today spend hours and hours a day staring at a screen.
Working From Home Safely
Any company like ours, today, in the current pandemic world, one of our main priorities is to ensure that our stakeholders can work as safely as possible from home. For this our teams have ensured that, all the necessary technologies, have been transported to their homes, all our processes are 100% digital, and by using remote desktop support, unless there is a breakdown of the hardware, our IT support teams don’t need to visit the homes of our stakeholders!
The Home Water Cooler
We have also realized that the water cooler conversation, the “Chai pe charcha”, is such an important part of work culture, and its value is immense to our stakeholders feeling the love from their colleagues and friends. Many of our teams special ‘Cocktails sessions’ where there is absolutely nothing done, but chatting with colleagues, gossiping about their lives, sharing & laughing and caring about each other. At an HR level, our leadership team encourages this, and we have placed specific focus on prioritizing this over the daily calls.
Busting Stress & Promoting Mental Health
The reality is that stress, and mental health has never been more of a concern for many of us. The second surge has sent so many of us reeling, with almost everyone that we know in some way or the other caught in the impact.
For us, especially now, the number one focus is the mental health of our stakeholders.
The great thing about being part of a network agency is the incredible support provided to us at the global level, where our counterparts have offered to take the workload off and support their friends in India. The reality though is that while the offer exists, our incredible team here, has worked so hard to ensure that we deliver successfully on all our projects.
Today, we focus on spending as much time as possible with our teams keeping our conversations around topics that calm us down, we have ensured that work can take a back seat, and that together we can figure the future.
Everybody Gets It, Including Our Customers
This would not be fair if we were not to mention how understanding our customers i.e., the brands have been. They have understood that this pandemic affects everyone, and each of them have given us the necessary time, and space that’s needed for delivering great and successful work.
There have been customers who have fought with their bosses for us, who have stayed up and burnt the midnight oil with us; and been on call with us early in the AM! So here is a toast to our customers, who have played such an important role in helping us maintain health and safety for our stakeholders.
Our Goal For 2021 Is About Listening, Being Open, Agile & Flexible
The most important thing about working today is listening to our teams. Making changes for their betterment, and figuring out this uncertain world. It’s about realizing that how we may have done something even 1 year ago, may not be feasible today.
So, to ensure that we remain agile, and we regularly speak to our teams, and ask them to share their thoughts and ideas, on how our business, which we run together needs to be continuously transforming itself for the betterment of all of us.
The author is Srikant Subramanian - Director Of Business Development of Mirum India
