HRDs face the health crisis

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The Covid-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, turning work organization upside down overnight. HR departments had to adapt in a very short space of time to implement widespread telecommuting and support teams. And, more than a year after the start of the health crisis, uncertainty remains high and the challenges numerous.  

Marie-Alice Thierry-Portmann, Global Human Resources Director at Ayming, explained the company’s approach and the actions taken to promote employee well-being and performance.

MANAGERS AT THE VERY HEART OF THE SYSTEM

Although the crisis initially triggered “survival” mode, Ayming’s HR department quickly bounced back with a strong conviction: managers have an important role to play in this unprecedented context.

The “New Life at Work” project was born with clear recommendations for managers:

• Demonstrate pragmatism: Understand the situation with honesty and realism. Deal with reality and adapt every day. Flexibility has become central in a constantly changing world.
• Accept your own vulnerability, that of your teams and your company: accept that you don’t have all the answers, and that you may be wrong. The crisis has amplified the need for a “test & learn” approach, with the right to make mistakes. The most important thing is to keep moving forward, to learn as you go, and to keep moving.
• Taking care of human relations Ayming: Encouraging proximity and listening. At the height of the crisis, Ayming multiplied its initiatives: virtual cafés and aperitifs, online yoga sessions, a listening platform and psychological support.  
• Giving meaning: Conveying a long-term vision and reassuring people about the future. Demonstrating leadership means staying the course in the storm, to ensure team motivation and commitment.  
• Offer greater autonomy in work organization: Move from a controlled to a piloted organization, with greater individual freedom to deal with personal constraints.  

To measure the impact of these actions and assess the level of well-being, Ayming’s HR department sends out a monthly survey to employees. The results are used to inform strategy, as part of a continuous improvement process. In addition, the firm’s HR and QWL offers are tested internally, so that customers can benefit from “real-life” experience!

A FLAGSHIP PROJECT: THE AYMING ACADEMY 

In addition to the guidelines set out in the “New Life at Work” project, Ayming offered specific support to managers in order to give impetus to the new managerial dynamic. This is how the Ayming Academy came into being.

What is the Ayming Academy? The Ayming Academy is an à la carte online training program, enabling each manager to choose the training modules best suited to his or her needs. To take things further, individual and group coaching is also available.

Among the training courses available: employment law, learning to manage psychosocial risks, decision-making and developing emotional intelligence. The latter is the focus of our partnership with Open Mind Neurotechnologies.  

We went to meet Ayming managers who wanted to take a cognitive and emotional assessment in virtual reality. Afterwards, we worked with them to help them improve their emotional intelligence.  

Finally, when implementing all these actions, Marie-Alice Thierry-Portmann was keen to put the business at the heart of the Human Resources policy, in order to provide realistic and useful solutions. With one watchword: simplification of both rules and processes, so that we can devote more time to our teams, customers and business!