Employee journey

Virtual employee experience: how to keep an innovative spirit in times of crisis?

At Talsom we like to say that we are “agile”, it is in a way part of our culture, and we apply it almost everywhere, both with our customers and in our daily activities in the office. It almost became a “running gag” in our internal jargon!

We put it even more into action in times of crisis like the one we are currently experiencing with COVID-19. Fortunately, our team members are used to this “anti status quo” mindset. They were therefore not very destabilized when we proposed the following initiatives to them. On the contrary, they were the first to launch ideas to motivate themselves from a distance …!

  • ? From the first days of imposed remote work, we set up a training* on the best teleworking practices as well as on the functionalities of the various virtual work tools we have (Ex: Microsoft Teams).
  • ? Keeping human and personalized contact is, in our opinion, the best communication strategy to adopt in times of crisis. This translates into virtual meetings with the whole team (yes 80 people!) at the end of each day to keep everyone informed on the latest changes. We also took the time to contact each employee, one by one, to find out their apprehensions about what we are going through, which allows us to establish a reassuring psychological proximity. (crisis news, Talsom news and the good news of the day to stay optimistic!)
  • ? The coffee break may no longer be around the espresso machine in the office, but we are not changing the good habits of informal communication. A new communication channel called the “Café” has been created to address various subjects that the members of our team would like to share … It quickly took a humorous turn which is good for morale. Virtual 5 @ 7were also planned every two weeks!

 

  • ??? Since we like to “pivot” and that nothing is impossible, even from a distance, we have set up virtual training sessions during lunch time in order to motivate all of us to stay active at the House.

Other initiatives will certainly appear as the situation evolves. One thing is certain, the creativity and innovative capacity of our team members allows us to successfully chase away isolation!

 * Notice to those interested, if you want more details regarding our telecommuting training you can write to marie-eve.chartrand@talsom.com. In times of crisis, we stick together and share our tips and tricks!

Published on 14.04.2020