Taking the Helm
As we continue to sail the rough waters of the COVID-19 crisis, HR leaders are challenged to help remote teams navigate through uncharted territory. Globe’s Ato Jiao explains how employee engagement and digital innovation are lifesavers
Words by JOY ROJAS and AN MERCADO-ALCANTARA
There are a number of things Globe Telecom, Inc.’s Chief Human Resource Officer Renato Manuel “Ato” Jiao misses since he and over 8,000 fellow Globe employees were instructed to work from home in the advent of COVID-19. One is going to the gym, a routine he maintained two to three times a week. Another is having a relaxing massage. “Of course, going out with my family and meeting up with friends,” he adds. “I also miss my shoes. I haven’t worn shoes in the last four months.”
What he doesn’t miss are the long, tiring drives to and from his home in Quezon City and the Globe Telecom head office in Bonifacio Global City. “That’s four hours of daily commute, which I now turn into productive time for work or for my loved ones,” he said. “I think COVID-19 has given me the opportunity to have more quality time with my family. I’m happy to be able to spend more time with them, especially with my two grandchildren.”
““I also miss my shoes. I haven’t worn shoes in the last four months.” ”
Named 2015 People Manager of the Year by the People Management Association of the Philippines for leading Globe’s cultural transformation into one of the best workplaces in the country, Ato is now facing his greatest challenge yet as a human resource specialist. The pandemic, with no end in sight for now, has unleashed sweeping changes in his organization.
From his vantage point, he could already see that the way we work now—from home, connected to remote teams and customers digitally—is not just a temporary life raft but a ship that we might have to sail on, perhaps, permanently. “There is a mindshift taking place,” Ato says. “In the past, working away from each other, outside the office structure, seemed unrealistic. It was a future scenario we did not seem ready to take on yet,” Ato reflects. “But because of COVID-19 and the sudden move to working from home, we now ask: ‘Why do I have to be beside you? Why do I have to be in an office, if I can do this anyway in some other location?’ So when this all blows over, I can assure you that we probably won’t need as much office space at the headquarters. Many of us won’t see a need to go back to the way we used to work.”
Tracking the shifting winds closely, Ato and his team could see how employees needed support as they navigated through the sudden shift in paradigm. They had to help teams transition in sustainable, enriching, and productive ways.
Teamwork: Before and After COVID-19. Globe’s Wonderful Experience Team (WEX) have always worked closely —either shoulder to shoulder, or screen to screen. The challenge of the New Workplace is how to bond and collaborate even when it’s no longer a “place” but a digital space.
Transitioning
In the first few weeks of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), Ato met daily and for hours on end with Globe Chief Finance Officer (CFO) and Chief Risk Officer Rizza Maniego-Eala and Nicolette “Nico” Bambao, director for Globe’s Wonderful Employee Experience Team, to constantly assess the state of employees.
“We had to think more long term,” he said. “If this becomes protracted, how do we make sure that our employees are actually doing well in an extended period of time—and how can we make it even better for them to work from home?”
An internal survey conducted days after the proclamation of what international media now refers to as “the world’s longest and strictest lockdown” revealed employees’ pain points about working remotely. Many were feeling fatigue from online meetings that tended to happen frequently and stretched well beyond the usual office hours.
Best seat in the house. Ayala citizens were provided with tools and support to continue working efficiently (and comfortably) from home—including Herman Miller chairs, at discounted prices and payable through salary deduction or converting unused leaves into cash. (Video source: Design Craft, “Express 2 chair adjustment video”. August 9, 2019)
Covering all bases
Globe responded by covering all bases of its employees’ concerns, beginning with providing them with the right tools for an ideal work environment at home. iPads, headphones, monitors, keyboards, smart watches, and other gadgets were offered at discounted prices. So too were award-winning ergonomic Herman Miller chairs for work at home spaces, payable within 12 months. Employees could purchase these tools by converting unused 2020 vacation leaves into cash.
Having provided physical resources for employees’ to work comfortably, they then looked at the intangible walls that defined their new work spaces. “I guess the long meetings became taxing because we, as leaders, would tend to forget our employees are at home with their family,” Ato admits. The Wonderful Employee Experience team stepped in by setting common ground rules through an etiquette guide. Virtual meetings were to be set within office hours. Lunch breaks were to be kept sacred. And Zoom calls were best contained in 30-minute lengths. All simple rules meant to empower employees to set their own boundaries in an enhanced digital space that stretched what could be done from home.
Redefining Work-Life balance. Globe partnered with Inquirer for the webinar #StartANewDay: Mental Health Insights for Millennials and Gen Z to help employees adjust to the New Normal. (Video source: INQlusive. “#StartANewDayThe Inquirer Webinar Series” July 7, 2020)
Staying well and keeping together
Not as easy to detect were currents below the surface. The survey revealed that although employees were keeping afloat and productive, some were also dealing with deep anxiety. The unknowns of ECQ and a pandemic—two major events no one had experienced before—were making employees worried about many things, from the fear of catching the disease to the fear of losing their job. “Those two fears could be quite a lot to handle,” says Ato. “So we provided them with help.”
Two levels of help were made available. First, blanket learning sessions were set up where psychologists explained why anxiety is part of the changes employees were going through and how they could address these. Second, for those who felt a need for deeper exploration, Globe partnered with MindNation, a company that provides psycho-emotional counseling. “Everything is kept confidential,” Ato says. “We will not know, we will not interfere.”
“ The unknowns of ECQ and a pandemic were making employees worried about many things, from the fear of catching the disease to the fear of losing their job. ”
While supporting individual needs, Ato and his team also kept an eye on the resilience of the organization. Like boats in an armada, employees and teams working remotely had to stay engaged and feel they are part of a larger whole. “It’s always been part of our vision to keep everyone together,” says Nico. “But it became a challenge to do that while we are all asked to stay apart. Because we are social beings, we really miss the connection.”
Without the natural gatherings provided by the traditional office set-up, the HR team had to find ways to foster a sense of togetherness. To explain it, Ato borrows a millennial handle from his daughter: “Para lang LDR ito—long distance relationship. We have to find ways to keep the bond alive.”
Nico and her team quickly moved to create wonderful employee experiences virtually. Technology (coupled with fun, innovative ideas) allowed employees to experience the strong social bond they enjoyed long before COVID-19 existed. The Good Vibes Club holds webinars and podcasts featuring a range of topics—from cooking healthy meals to staying positive in isolation and where to invest your money. Quiz nights, trivia and emoji games, and jamming sessions recreate, albeit virtually, the camaraderie that employees sorely miss. #WOWOL (acronym of the cheekily titled Workout-workout Lang) invites fitness trainers to lead online Zumba, yoga, and strength-training exercises.
Engaging employees. “We may be physically distant from each other but we keep ourselves virtually connected,” says Ato. During the lockdown, Ayala citizens were provided with tools to not just survive but thrive: a weekly podcast called The Good Vibes Club, the Sining Galing Art Contest, partnerships with MindNation that provided therapy sessions, and online courses through Globe University and Skillsoft.
What makes these virtual bonding sessions extra fun and effective is how employees have taken the lead. Podcast hosts are employees, some of them with theater backgrounds, who volunteered to carry the show. “They are really good and can be really funny,” Nico says. “The best part is, we have the support of senior management. We are able to continuously experiment, innovate, and disrupt the way we do things just to get people engaged.” In fact, senior management have on occasion joined the online fun. On Father’s Day, Ernest Cu, Globe president and CEO, and Albert de la Larrazabal, chief commercial officer, joined Ato on a virtual and casual chat that became one of the most popular episodes of the series.
Behind all the fun is a firm intention and belief that it is esprit de corps like this that has, through the years, nurtured Globe’s strong culture of collaboration. This is a foundational value that they must protect and nurture as they pivot toward new ways of working.
The best in the globe
Globe’s workplace initiatives have won some of the world’s most coveted business awards for consecutive years.
Stevie Awards 2020. Recognizes the world’s best workplaces, with a judging panel that consists of the globally respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and business educators
Employer of the Year | Telecommunications (GOLD) for 3 consecutive years
Most Innovative Use of HR Technology (Silver) for DUDE chatbot
Most Valuable HR Team (Silver) for WOW from Home
Most Valuable Employer (Bronze) for Globe’s COVID-19 Response in the Workplace
Achievement in Employee Engagement (Bronze) for Creating Wonderful Working Experiences at Globe
CEO World Awards 2020. Honors the leadership, excellence and corporate social responsibility of leaders from all industries and countries around the world
Company of the Year | Telecommunications (GOLD) for creating purpose-driven employees through Wellness, Innovation, Learning, Engagement, and Diversity
Executive Hero of the Year (Bronze) for Ato Jiao’s use of technology and radical policies to keep employees safe and engaged
Company Innovation of the Year (Bronze) for using chatbots to sustain positive company culture in the New Normal
Culture of collaboration
Crucial to the change process is also a shift in leadership style and measuring performance of teams. When team leaders and teammates have to work apart, what is the best way to keep rowing at pace with each other, while making sure that each is carrying one’s weight in the right direction? For the Globe team, the answer has been in deconstructing the idea of leadership from a top down, battleship management model, to stroke by stroke leadership, where leaders are setting the pace paddling side by side with the team.
Ato explains: “We have been veering away from the traditional performance management system, where you do a review at the end of the year and give the team a rating. For us, that may not be the best way to help employees reach their fullest potential. We came up with what we call everyday leadership. We ask our leaders to provide more time for the employees in daily kamustahan.”
Popularized by Drew Dudley on the TED stage, everyday leadership encourages employees to take intentional daily action to create better connection and collaboration within their teams, while working on a common goal. The transformation process had already been in place at Globe before the pandemic, but the lockdown made the leadership style even more relevant and vital. “At this time, you don’t have the luxury or the flexibility to forego of these efforts,” Ato emphasizes. “Everyday leadership is our way to continue providing mentoring and coaching so that people can feel that they are still a big factor in the process. A large part of that is about nurturing trust.”
Turning crisis into opportunity. The COVID-19 crisis redefines the way we work, and also how we should approach work. Ato Jiao believes a shift to everyday leadership is taking shape. As Drew Dudley put it, leadership is not a job position — it is the everyday act of improving each other's lives. (Video source: TedxToronto2010. Drew Dudley on Everyday Leadership.)
Bots as Support Systems
In the race to support remote work, Globe has had a huge head start. Being a technology company, its population has been tech savvy and mobile for years. When they moved to their headquarters in BGC, some seven years ago, desktops computers were cast aside for sleeker, more versatile laptops, handed out across all levels of the organization.
Years before the pandemic, they had already leaped into a more digital office experience by advocating for paperless work processes. “This was a message from the top,” Ato recalls. Our CEO Ernest, who is really a tech savvy person, pushed for the campaign.” Tired of signing three-foot high stacks of paperwork, he encouraged the organization to simplify, automate, and digitize their services. “Going digital is not just going for automated systems,” Ato clarifies. “The drive is consistent with our goal to create wonderful experiences for our customers and employees—work becomes quicker, more accurate, and simpler. Because we are a technology company, we had to be leading the way in using technology for business solutions.”
““Going digital is not just going for automated systems. The drive is consistent with our goal to create wonderful experiences for our customers and employees.””
To make collaboration faster and easier, they were early adopters to FB Workplace. And they have pioneered many of their own apps. In fact, Nico says, there came a point when people in Globe were saying they had “app fatigue” — there were too many app solutions to everyday problems. But the pandemic changed all that. Suddenly, apps for Globe employees became even more essential.
A helpdesk and bots were created to address different facets of an employee’s wellbeing. Globe’s COVID-19 Helpdesk answers all things novel coronavirus, including HR policies during quarantine, employee services, and employee benefits.
New office buddies. Feeling sick, sad, tired? Chatbots Dude and Wanda provide 24/7 support and encouragement, and allowed Globe employees to compliment or share their co-workers’ achievements.
Wanda is a chat-based platform that recognizes and rewards employees’ achievements and contributions at work. And DANI, or the Device Anomaly Inspector, helps employees with tech-related problems on their gadgets.
The chatbot DUDE(short for Digital Usher for Disasters and Emergencies) checks in daily on employees. When an employee says he doesn’t feel well—perhaps he is physically ill, mentally exhausted, worried for himself or a family member, or lonely and depressed—DUDE sends a report to the appropriate support team. The bot also forwards frontliners’ requests for personal protective gear, accommodations, and transportations to Globe’s COVID-19 Response team members. And it provides the latest information about the disease based on reports from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other legitimate sources.
For help with homelife duties, Globe introduced Brad, a virtual pasabuy service that did grocery runs and other errands so employees don’t have to leave home and risk infection.
Employees can also take their specific physical and mental health concerns to consultation channels like Konsulta MD, AC Health, MindNation, and Maxicare, or attend well-being webinars conducted by licensed psychologists.
For professional growth, there’s access to Globe University’s online courses on digital marketing, business intelligence and analytics, information security and others, as well as soft skills on leadership development and people management.
The doctor is in. Employees could also avail of the online consultations with a doctor through KonsultaMD, one of the Ayala initiatives to help make medical care more accessible and affordable during the lockdown.
Hubs
Interestingly, the idea of working from home came to Globe three years earlier, when the metro’s growing traffic problem was eating up people’s time and energy away from work and family. The solution? Hubs—fully equipped office spaces situated near employees’ homes.
Originally pitched by JP Orbeta, Ayala Group’s Chief HR Officer, it may have been an idea that was way ahead of its time. In a test hub set up in Quezon City, only 20 percent of 100 employees took advantage of the facility. The pandemic seems like a perfect time to revive it.
““I think if you ask any Ka-Globe today, they would tell you that they are happy they are part of Globe because they truly feel that their Company is looking after them.””
COVID-19 has made remote work necessary—and proved that it can be done. Employees now know that they don’t have to be in close proximity to each other to be productive. Ato has already gotten the okay from Ernest and Rizza “to create smaller hubs where employees can go and work from there because it’s closer to their homes,” he said. “With the right connectivity, the right equipment, they can work productively with other Ka-Globe around that particular area while saving them from the aggravation of traffic.”
He sees that this may well be the way people will come back to work. In a recent employee survey, a whooping 99% respondents said they would rather not go back to the traditional office setting. The response is, perhaps, a good measure of how effective the HR team initiatives have been to keep employees working from home safe, productive, and engaged. “I think if you ask any Ka-Globe today,” says Ato, “they would tell you that they are happy they are part of Globe because they truly feel that their Company is looking after them. The HR team will continue to innovate and make them feel that we are in this crisis together. In good times and in bad times, nobody gets left behind.” #
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
