We’re back! Or are we?
As far as the Shared Services Industry is concerned, they actually never left. Though they did send their employees away to work from home, they were able to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic. This industry is one of those that was pretty resilient and have adapted through the extensive use of technology and have come out on top.
It all boils down to leadership.
Guest speakers from the Shared Services industry at the Weekly with JC shared how they were able to navigate the change and get their employees to maintain productivity—all while struggling through the pandemic.
First to speak was Sonny Bartido, Global Shared Services Head of Aurecon. As an overview, Aurecon is a global engineering and consulting company, which is very focused on safety. Their headquarters are in Australia, but operations are across New Zealand and Asia. The company is big on innovation as its tagline is “Bringing ideas to life.” One of their principles, “serious with fun intent”, is evident in their strategic planning, with slides filled will graphics, cartoons, and the like.
Sonny was hired in 2014 to set up the center. They started with 18 people, three leads and a service desk, and eventually added a few people for HR and finance. Back then, not many have heard of Manila as a hub, so it was important to show what they were capable of achieving. Three months after, they grew to 240 people.
When the pandemic hit, they sent everybody home with their desktops and everything. According to Sonny, it was scary for them because they would not be able to watch their employees work and they were concerned that efficiency and productivity would drop when they work at home. But they were forced to adapt because of the pandemic. They made sure that the right measures were in place and tracked everybody’s wellbeing, including their families. They gave every support possible, from communication allowance to connectivity and electricity allowance. He thinks that the greatest impact was that they gave their people trust and they embraced it. The company was managing the people not by watching them, but rather by ensuring that they were productive. And that was the key. Last year, 46 of their employees, including Sonny, contracted COVID and they needed to make sure that they demonstrated that they cared for them. He personally checked on each and every one of them, sent them Aurecon baskets, and provided wellness sessions. It was difficult, but eventually, everybody locked in.
They have been operating remotely for two years now and this had very little impact on their business. He was able to put around 90 people onboard, people who saw their office once or have met their team at least once, but they made do with the current situation. He shared that they will probably progressively open their office this month, implement a hybrid setup, and encourage people to come to the office because they miss it. They intend to give their employees the option to continue to work from home if they so desire. This, he feels, is the best approach towards being sensitive to everyone’s situation.
Up next was Jose Zaide, Head of GBS Center Manila at Boehringer Ingelheim, who entered the company towards the end of 2017 to set up HR services. Boehringer Ingelheim is a pharmaceutical company, with a strong presence in cardio, respiratory, and cancer medicine, but is also big on animal health. They are 50k-strong globally and is one of the biggest privately held pharmaceutical companies. In the beginning, they rented half a floor, with a seating capacity of around 165, to perform key services for the APAC Region. In 2018, they started with various services and immediately realized that they were able to find very good, capable, and flexible people; obviously very good English-speakers. This resulted in the expansion of the original roadmap and they now have over 400 people.
When the pandemic hit, their BCP was already triggered as a result of the Taal Volcano eruption, thus, it was a fairly easy transition. Although back then, they thought that it would only last for about three to four months. They invested and made an effort to make sure that their employees were well-equipped. They provided allowances, even ergonomic chairs and screens, doing it quite quickly in a span of a month. This paid off and, to the satisfaction of their management, they were able to deliver from home without problems. Jose also recognized the importance of the “trust” element, which created a bond even in the virtual environment. They are supposed to be back in the office 100% soon, but they, however, will not rush into it as they recognize that the change back to the office is at least equally, if not more difficult, than the change to work in a virtual setting. They will start inviting people back to the office in April, but there is no pressure and no mandatory direction as of this time.
Finally, Cris Soriano, Head of Global Delivery Center – People Services at Vestas, took his turn. Vestas, possibly the smallest and the youngest organization in this group, is an alternative energy company focused on building massive windmills and wind turbines. Their projects include the Ilocos Wind Farm and they are looking to put up wind turbines offshore or in and around the ocean. Their People Services started last year, right smack in the middle of the pandemic and because of this, it was critical for them to find the right talent—the right people with the right experience and the ability to actually step up and move. Cris shared that they started with 12 people and, in less than a year, have grown to 25.
Vestas did not encounter the same challenges as Aurecon and Boehringer Ingelheim, but they did have to make concessions. He further added that his team, while experienced, needed to undergo virtual training and insertions that proved to be difficult. To address this, during periods when restrictions were less strict, they decided to come to the office once a week, which did wonders for them. This removed certain barriers that helped them when they went back to their virtual sessions. Another thing they did was to focus on creating emotional bonds by reducing the number of virtual meetings, replacing these with more meaningful one-on-one sessions. These one-on-one sessions allowed them to understand their people, know how they felt, and effectively gauge how to support them. This, according to Cris, assured their people that they can count on him, their peers, the stakeholders, and building on that as part of the change management they put in place. Because of this approach, they were able to launch in all regions at the same time without encountering problems. During times when an issue popped up, they responded immediately and effectively. They were also able to manage the backlog of tickets and the approach they took allowed them to transition faster. By November of last year, they were already managing 40% of their global ticket volume. They have already started looking into potentially innovating some of their processes, leveraging technology and this forward action. Last but not the least, they took the health and safety of their people at heart. This is their top priority. While they realize the importance of working on-site, they are also looking into a more hybrid approach for work.
At the end of the discussion, it was very clear how leadership affects productivity. Someone in charge can whip the hell out of every member of the team, beat them into submission, and expect them to deliver more than the expected results. This pandemic has proven that this approach doesn’t work. Instead, a leader who puts himself in someone else’s shoes and understands their situation and their challenges gets the best results. An employee who feels that he is worth more than just a machine that provides output will do more than is expected and will be more than willing to go the extra mile.
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