Transformation of People Function during Pandemic – Part II

Editor’s Note: Poorna Pushkala, Head, Human Resources shares Samunnati’s journey of transformation during the Pandemic and how the People Function started learning from the various experiences when Samunnati decided to go on “Work from Home” mode. In Part 2 of this article, Poorna shares insights on ways Employee Communication as well as Employee Engagement was strengthened at Samunnati.

Click here to read Part 1 on the role played by Samunnati’s People Function in introducing new ways to work and getting the team to work completely online. While we still face challenges of poor connectivity, calls dropping off, team members not being able to see each other on video etc, we have also learnt to adapt and come out with other ways to overcome these challenges. Every day brings us a new opportunity to learn and we incorporate these into our routine fast.

After the lockdown, we realised that in addition to these online meetings, we also needed small group discussions. Employees were flooded with mixed messages about the industry and practices adopted by several companies. It was quite natural for everyone to feel anxious and think several possible scenarios and wonder what is relevant. To address these and to boost morale/ maintain enthusiasm and energy levels, in addition to the online townhalls, some of the initiatives around strengthening communication / engagement that we took are:

Our Founder & CEO connected with every region in smaller groups and gave them an assurance of how Samunnati’s business model will continue to be relevant despite changing industry scenarios and also gave an open assurance on compensation as well as job security. The small group interactions were structured to ensure that the communication could flow freely in the language(s) that the team members are comfortable in.

Being an outsider, I used to feel the lack of connection. But these sessions made me feel connected with all the teams in the Head Office as well as across the other states. Especially the session on “Living true North”, gave me an idea about why we exist which was the best. Now, I feel more connected and motivated.

– Namrata (FPO Business)

The leadership team made it their priority to start the day by connecting among the peer group to review major developments and also to ensure that the entire team is united on communication. Until recently, this team was connecting on a daily basis over a Zoom Call which now has a reduced frequency of alternate days. Consistent messaging during critical times is very important and this trend continues even now (despite us having settled into a newer online routine). These calls cuts across functions and takes an organisational view and alignment on all aspects of employee communication among the leadership team is now a norm.

In addition to the leadership team meeting, the engagement with our key stakeholders – Board of Directors also strengthened and they gave valuable insights by sharing their experiences. These interactions were important in such uncertain times as they not just reinforced the belief they had on Samunnati’s model, but also helped the team reconnect with the larger team and reiterate the strengths and drive positivity.

The Leadership Team’s engagement with the team at large improved substantially and the discussions while focused on business and day-day operations, also paved the way for the leadership team to think holistically and beyond boundaries of their function. This opened up a lot of new projects and initiatives for the team members to be engaged in. Team members from several functions across hierarchies were given an opportunity to present their ideas and share their thoughts with the leadership team and this boosted the employee morale considerably and also helped the team members see how strong the internal networks were.

Every team plays a crucial role in the organization and it is very important for each team to understand the role and responsibilities of other teams in order to appreciate and work together in synergy.

– Anurag Tiwari (Business)

These were bi-weekly until recently and now a weekly meet has been introduced to engage with all regional representatives together to exchange practical realities/ challenges as well as opportunities. These calls have strengthened employee communication across regions and driven consistency. At Samunnati, there is no corporate field divide and these regional coordinator meets are a great reinforcement of the same.

While working from the office, the team members always were connected outside their work through, adhoc breaks, small celebrations, and random group interactions during lunch/ tea break. To ensure that there is an informal reason for team members to connect, we came out with several online interventions – Health & fitness, Lockdown recipes, Book club, Throwback Thursday, Fun Friday, Saturday Stars and so on. While participation was always optional, we created several opportunities for interaction so that one can align their participation with their interests.

Another opportunity that opened up for us was to create platforms for functions to interact with each other while developing their presentation skills. We created a series called Lockdown Interactions where every function took turns to talk about their team and every team member got to present/ interact with a larger group. About 50% of the organisation participated in such interactions actively.

Through our Lockdown Interaction Series, we got to know whom to approach for our requirements. We learnt about what exactly happens in a function and understood the business and Samunnati as whole.

– Hajira (Collections & Risk Management)

Each of the member of the People Function is responsible for driving each of these initiatives and also have a set of employees mapped to them with whom they connect with at regular intervals. What started off as a lockdown initiative to offset offline communication is clearly emerging to be the new way of communication at Samunnati. Most of these are now beyond the initial launch phase and are still witnessing an interest and increased response rate. This way of communication is the new normal for the People Team as well as the team members at Samunnati.

Got to know the nature of work & contribution made by many of my peers. Learned about the work flow of different departments. Quiz/Q&A sessions were very informative.

– Hema R (Credit)