Guest Post : Dishant Bhojwani, Country Head, SYKES India
When the pandemic began, it had brought upon an unprecedented situation, one that significantly impacted industries across the globe. It brought economies to a standstill, with revenues continuing to remain muted, and companies needing to take unfortunate measures such as cutting down their workforce to rationalize expenses and conserve cash.
SYKES was not spared from experiencing challenges. As a business that supports clients all over the world, we operate 24/7, and logistics for our team members play a huge role in delivering our services. But despite it all, we were able to persevere, adjust, continue, and even accelerate all thanks to the immense dedication of our strong workforce. Through the years, we strived to be an amazing workplace for our people, where they can continuously work, learn, and grow.
SYKES’ Successful Response to COVID-19
As we saw how the pandemic slowly forced borders and countries to shut down, our team at SYKES India were bracing ourselves on what measures we can take once it’s our country that closes. We made sure that our business continuity plans are in place, and have taken cues from our neighboring locations, taking note of the best practices that we can also implement.
Once the government announced the lockdown, we were able to swiftly move almost 100% of our teams to work-from-home within 36 hours. This allowed us to continuously deliver quality work without compromising our people’s safety. Our global locations in 20 countries have been doing work-at-home setup since 2012, and we ensured that we are able to adapt their systems to our own teams. As a result, we were able to come up with a robust Business Continuity Plan in place, which helped us adapt and adjust rapidly.
Continuity Plans for the New Normal
Today, SYKES is working on a HYBRID work model, with more than 50% of our team members still working from home, while the others are reporting on-site. We have implemented multiple safety protocols to ensure that employees would still feel safe even while reporting to the office.
As part of our continuity plan, our work-at-home employees received support to better improve their workspaces. Ergonomics, backup power, and other provisions were given to ensure that they are comfortable while working. We also put a lot of thought into training and employee engagement activities that would keep our employee base connected and motivated during these trying times and to help them adjust to this new world of work.
For our team members who work on-site, we have invested in other innovative ideas such as SYKES NEST, a co-working and co-living concept where employees will have the freedom to work and live in our provided spaces. We have also implemented microsites, which were strategically located on areas where employees would have the chance to report to work. This does not require huge spaces and gives us the necessary flexibility that we need to strengthen business continuity. These are one-of-a-kind initiatives that gives our employees an option to explore a working set-up that would best work for them. We continue to remain focused as we develop new spaces and create more amazing workplaces for our teams.
Accelerating Amid the Challenges
With the high standards of client delivery that SYKES India has demonstrated over the years, we were able to continually add new customers despite the lockdown. We were fortunate to steadily ramp up our business, adding new accounts to our roster, and doubling our staff in a matter of months. We are now standing strong with over 1,500 team members, and we are still continuously growing.
We believe that this is a tremendous opportunity, not only for our company, but also for the community. One of our core advocacies is to provide sustainable employment opportunities, which was recognized by the International Association of Outsourcing Providers (IAOP). We became the newest member of the Impact Sourcing Champions Index for 2020, and we continue to uphold that through our recruitment efforts in India. As we went through the pandemic, we made sure that we are able to provide a stable job for our people, and that we can open doors to new talented individuals as well.
Along with our growth came the opportunity to open our newest site as well. We recently launched our state-of-the-art center of excellence in Uppal, Hyderabad; our third in the state and fifth site in India. While this has been in our pipeline since the beginning of 2020, we made sure that we implement changes that would further support our goals and direction as we embrace the new normal.
2020 might have posed difficulties that we might have never imagined, but with the unwavering support from our people, we know that we are on the right track. We strive to ensure that we provide what our people need and be the amazing workplace where they have the chance to enjoy job security and good community. We know that SYKES India is well onto the course of sailing to where wanted to be– a global workforce that supports its people, one caring interaction at a time.
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