The last 18 months have completely flipped everything we thought about the future of work on its head. The impact of Covid-19 has had widespread consequences for businesses, with the massive transformation we have all had to move to remote-working.
SSCL, always placing the welfare of our people high on the agenda, faced one of the biggest challenges to date, ensuring that all 2500 employees would have access to the care and support they needed in the face of the pandemic.
SSCL responded rapidly to the crisis, prioritising the health and safety of colleagues, redeveloping our wellbeing strategy and quickly adapting our ways of working to ensure all employees could access support in a safe way.
The companies’ resilience and determination to think differently enabled us to move almost 2,500 employees (approximately 94%) to a home working model, including Contact Centre services within two weeks, a task which would have previously taken months or years to achieve.
Throughout the pandemic, it has been vital to SSCL that we keep colleagues engaged, motivated and lift morale, as we recognised how daunting the prospect of setting up a new routine could be, especially one in isolation, so we pulled out all the stops to ensure we provided the right information, advice and guidance not just employees, but also their families.
We developed a full suite of initiatives to keep employees engaged while supporting their health and wellbeing, including:
- Online Social activities from games and quizzes to yoga and fitness classes
- Employment guides
- Health and wellbeing advice – delivered through a series of initiatives
- Technology advice
- Benefits Hub giving employees further benefits and flexibility to finance, protection, lifestyle, health and wellbeing
- Webinars – offering advice and guidance on keeping healthy, working effectively and feeling safe and supported.
SSCL’s response to the pandemic has been seen as an opportunity to ‘reset’, creating a new normal and shaping a new wellbeing approach, ushering in a faster integration of new tools and resources to meet people’s needs, such as:
- A new people portal which providing 7 day a week access for issue resolution
- A Mental Health First Aiders scheme – for anyone needing additional support
- Wellbeing 5 a Day campaign – to embed mental and emotional wellbeing in our work culture
We have made sure content has supported colleagues to confidently work from home, whilst also encouraging them to prioritise a healthy work/life balance and be more flexible in their day-to-day activities. For example: offering an additional 10 days’ special leave entitlement for any staff needing to take care of others.
Feedback from surveys conducted has been fantastic, with 84% of colleagues telling us that they have felt supported in their work/life balance and a further 95% stating that we have successfully looked out for their wellbeing during the crisis.
Jenna works is our Order to Cash Team Leader in Blackpool, she told us:
“As a working mum of two young boys it is essential that I manage the balance between work and family commitments. The policies in place allow me to do so e.g. attending school assemblies, emergency doctors’ appointments when the children are ill, flexibility around start and finish times to share the burden of school runs with my partner, and the opportunity to apply for formal flexible working patterns. All of this supports me to manage my life and work in a controlled and less chaotic manner.”
SSCL has been on a journey of innovation for the last 18 months, the working world has changed and we have proved we have the unique ability to adapt and innovate along with it, we will maintain the momentum and continue to move forward.