COVID-19: Aligning Customer Experiences in a Remote World

We speak to Aviva Asia's People Director on how their leadership team helped them manage the impact of COVID-19 on the many functions at their office.

COVID-19: Insights for Leaders - #SGunited #SEAunited

 

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Anuradha Purbey has over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, human resources and change management. Some of Anuradha's previous roles include Director of HR Change in Aviva's Asia Regional Office, HR Director for Aviva India and Talent Manager for Cargill Inc, USA.

Currently People Director at Aviva Asia, Anuradha has had a long spanning career at the British multinational insurance firm. 

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How has COVID-19 impacted staff at Aviva? 

  • Aviva has several types of staff - from advisors who lead sales through face-to-face meetings to office workers. Anuradha Purbey, People Director at Aviva shares with EngageRocket on how the coronavirus spread impacted the day to day developments at Aviva.


  • With insurance firms being reliant on meetings between clients and financial advisors for matters of authorisation, communication and financial decision-making - the impact of COVID-19 has disrupted the ability to transition between direct contact and digital means of communication. However, Anuradha shares that this process of changing their normal way of working has been made easier through early investments in digital infrastructure. 

  • Understanding how to balance the line between meeting regulatory needs and preserving the safety of both advisors and clients has been the most difficult aspect of the transition. Anuradha shares that in the early days of outbreak, before the circuit-breaker was mandated in Singapore, the decision to shift to an entirely remote basis was one lead by their human resources team, with advice from the business continuity experts. 

How did the business continuity plans at Aviva help them prepare for COVID-19?

 

  • Anuradha shares that Aviva Asia had made many early investments in their business continuity - aside from having a manager for BCP specific for each team, the organisation had many learnings from the SARS outbreak in 2003. With documentation in place, the Aviva team had a playbook to respond to health crises.

  • However, Anuradha also shares that there were many uncertainties, and teams had no experience in handling the dynamism of responding to a crisis. Using chat functions of mobile applications like WhatsApp was the first communication channel that the Aviva Team started to keep track on developments on the virus in early 2020, involving leadership teams from different entities, managers for health and safety and BCP. Within a two week timeframe, Aviva's team transitioned to implementing split team arrangements and remote work for non-essential staff - ahead of the curve of other organisations. 

     
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PULSE OF THE SINGAPORE WORKFORCE
We’ve analysed over thousands of employee answers from companies of all sizes and industries in Singapore to dig into the factors that are impacting employee well-being and engagement through this crisis and beyond.
We've found that the amount of communication an organisation has over their efforts in responding to the crisis has a close relationship with the level of confidence in the future of the organisation by their employees.
Learn more about our findings here.

 



 

What were the considerations at Aviva to respond so quickly to the risk of the virus, before it was declared a pandemic?


  • The decision to switch to an all-remote working arrangement is difficult, and cancelling scheduled events was difficult - but ultimately, Aviva's leadership team identified that China's health crisis in Wuhan was indicative of how quickly the virus could spread through global networks.

  • With a business continuity plan in hand, responding to the risk to health and safety of all advisors, employees and clients was prioritised. Studying the medical literature on other types of coronaviruses also helped leaders make their decision. In the absence of a standard practice to respond to a crisis, leaders at Aviva had to make a decision for themselves on the basis of safety. 

  • Anuradha stresses the importance of trust and compassion in their employees when making difficult decisions. The risk of the virus created a situation where there was a lot of fear and uncertainty among employees on what the risks were to their health and family, from continuing to work at the office. On the other hand, concerns over productivity and impact on compensation is another concern - that leaders had to take into account while making this decision.

What is one lesson you have for leaders battling the same issues in remote work?

 

  • Leaders should be compassionate to the encroaching struggles of the coronavirus - beyond the health risks, people are bracing for an economic recession at a scale that hasn't been encountered since the Great Depression. Compassion will guide leaders to build stronger relationships with their employees in this period of risk and uncertainty. 

     

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Additional Resources: 

 

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Business Continuity Plan

While a BCP is focused on bringing operational processes set in place, a People Continuity Plan  focuses on developing an environment that is supportive of your employee's emotional health, as well as developing procedures to manage critical business functions from 

Here are some resources for building psychological resilience for your teams, developing your people strategy and introducing succession planning for your teams.

Read our resources about PCP
WP Resilience Social Media

 

2020 Research Report | The Resilience of the Singapore Workforce

The pulse of the Singapore workforce through the crisis of a generation. This study represents the most comprehensive comparable dataset on workplace sentiment through the start of the pandemic.

We will uncover clear indicators that will help business leaders better prepare and plan for the months ahead. Hear from HR leaders and experts across various industries such as Samsung Asia Pte Ltd, Singtel, Under Armour, OCBC Bank and many more.

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