Jul 21, 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak has fundamentally changed the way we work — remote working with collaboration tools and digital solutions have become the norm for business continuity. But due to the lack of social interaction, some businesses are struggling to maintain a creative workplace culture that keeps employees connected and engaged.

How can individuals drive digital transformations in their organisations? And how can organisations change their culture to thrive?

In the second episode of the Asia Thinker Series Talkback: After the Pandemic "A Test of Resilience: Workplace Innovation and Strategies", Ms Jane Lim and Ms Shirin Hamid shared their opinions on these issues in a panel moderated by Assistant Professor Taha Hameduddin from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Accelerating digital transformation

Ms Jane Lim, Assistant Chief Executive, Sectoral Transformation Group, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore, started by establishing the acceleration of digital transformation due to COVID-19. She cited examples of Paynow Corporate transactions increasing 7 fold to reach US$2.1 billion in February 2020, and e-invoicing expanding from 1,000 to 50,000 registered companies from March to May.

Singapore has adapted well to remote working due to its well-established IT infrastructure and connectivity, fairly well-educated workforce equipped with IT skills, and increasing penetration of cloud software services. The government has also been supporting digital ventures through grants to "defray up to 80% of the cost for SMEs to think about digital solutions."

Moving forward, organisations should pay attention to three factors: agility, blended, and culture. Firstly, businesses need to be agile and able to rapidly change their business models and take on new digital solutions within weeks or days.

The second factor, "blended" refers to the need for companies to find the optimal balance between physical and remote working. As organisations take more people on board, new ways of remotely establishing culture and work norms are needed. However, some physical and face-to-face interactions are still necessary for workplace culture and social capital to be forged, she said.

On the third point of "culture", it is important for companies to "define what they stand for during this period" and communicate their values to their employees clearly, she said. Organisations should maintain good communication, stay in touch with their employees, and ensure that the welfare and mental health of their staff are well taken care of in these stressful times. Ms Lim also advised companies to seek a higher purpose through contributing to the community, for example helping lower-income families through donations.

Public policies are also important to businesses. "I think both economic and social policies need to come together… What happens at work needs to complement what's happening in society as well," she said.

Case study: Asian Development Bank

Ms Shirin Hamid, Director General (Chief Information Officer), Information Technology Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB), agreed that the pandemic has accelerated transformation digitally and culturally. She elaborated on ADB's strategy of managing the changes from the pandemic to show the importance of company culture.

"[COVID-19] forced ADB to transform overnight from being a traditional workplace with strict work culture into a globally dispersed workforce, collaborating in teams," she said. Digital transformation and the right investment at the right time were major factors attributing to the bank's seamless operations during the pandemic.

ADB implemented several innovative moves, such as launching IT dashboards for a myriad of services and operations, and finding ways to engage people and respond to their needs. They also modernised their core systems and automated business processes, bringing them online.

Besides digital changes, engaging and communicating with the team are crucial, she said. Companies need to keep their spirits up and the team dynamics strong through means such as micro-learning sessions, regular communications, and fun and off-work activities like virtual karaoke sessions or TikTok challenges.

These strategies have proven to be successful. "80% of ADP workforce now feel more committed to the bank... Two thirds of the workforce are more openly used to collaborative tools than before," Ms Shirin said.

"From the bank's perspective, it's about culture transformation; from an IT perspective, it's about implementing digital training; from the development perspective, it's about creating a safe space for innovation to occur together with the right partner and financial assistance," she said. "It's about shifting our mindset and actions from being a digital survivor to digitally thriving."

The importance of embracing change

Ms Lim emphasised the importance of being curious and open to change. In most cases, change starts with someone who's open to try, she said. Subsequently, these few "champions for change" will inspire others to follow suit. All that is needed is some confidence imbued in individuals.

For example, bringing wet markets online started from a few store owners who were willing to give live-streaming a shot despite being new to it.

"For governments, we can always provide all the tools, but I think the capacity for change has to first come from within, from people. And then the next group you get will be [inspired to follow]," said Ms Lim.

Ms Shirin added that it was important to foster a learning culture. Providing learning opportunities to ensure that no one is left behind will make employees more open to change. In ADB, virtual micro learning sessions were useful in keeping employees updated about the latest digital change in the company.

It keeping with a culture supportive of digital innovation, ADB recently launched a virtual global hackathon to crowd-source digital solutions and ideas to help countries deal with the medium- and long-term effects of the pandemic.

Success in innovation and change depends on three factors, said Ms Shirin. Firstly, innovation requires a systematic approach instead of a one-off special project. Secondly, this is a team effort that requires involvement from all levels. Thirdly, companies have to be prepared to take risks, even with control systems and safeguards in place.

Measuring employee productivity post-COVID-19

In a new remote-working world, how can we assess employees' productivity and performance?

Dashboards, was Ms Shirin's answer. At ABD, tools to monitor the progress of the IT projects are useful in ensuring the team is on target. Furthermore, dashboards provide the baseline for how the team operated in the past, and set the cadence of how they aim to move forward.

For Ms Lim, the answer lies in measuring outcomes and not inputs, which is already the case for many businesses, she said. Organisations should set clear and quantifiable outcome targets. The main aim is figuring out how the impact should be measured.

She also agreed with Ms Shirin's assessment that more workforce analytics for employee engagement was needed. Regular surveys and polls to gauge employee engagements can complement annual surveys, she said. It helps companies spot issues early on, especially when they work remotely.

The future of workplaces

Institutions need to adapt to survive, which means relooking and rationalising the original digital agenda, says Ms Shirin. "[There is a] greater need for organisational resilience while being flexible," she added. She suggested going about this using a two-fold approach: identifying the new normal and planning for it; and making contingencies for if the situation degenerates.

According to Ms Lim, with work-from-home becoming the new normal, companies need to build a new culture of empathy. "Empathy is critical for leaders," she said. "[Bosses have to] understand that [employees] are not in the same position."

As employees have different contexts, and are likely to face different challenges that will hinder their working experience at home, organisations need to think of how certain allowances can be given to them.

Policies on the organisational and societal levels are also necessary to manage certain inequalities. Organisations need to "[build] a culture of flexibility and understanding", and find a way to create a norm of trust by default across the organisation, said Ms Lim.

In a year or two, she predicts that the new workforce will be a blend of remote and physical working, with employees spending 70-80% of their time working from home. "I don't think we're going to go back to pre-COVID-19, where we go back to the office daily," she added.

However, some aspects of working — such as maintaining business relationships and business contacts — are likely to revert to face-to-face meetings. Ms Lim said most business leaders she had spoken to agreed that developing new business relationships virtually is difficult. In addition, some discussions and team meetings would still require face-to-face meetings.

Ms Shirin echoed similar sentiments, and elaborated that it would ultimately depend on the organisation model. For example, with 20% of ADB's workforce being international staff, there are implications of taxes and benefits when it comes to remote working. Nonetheless, the company has been actively providing remote working.

In addition, Ms Shirin highlighted how developing countries face connectivity and other issues working remotely. For example, the poor internet connectivity in Manila due to infrastructure issues still affects employees' ability to effectively work remotely. Companies need to ensure that it is safe and healthy for their staff to commute remotely, she said.

But she believes that more digital tools, such as robotic process automation, chat-bots, and AI will definitely be used at work.

According to both Ms Shirin and Ms Lim, the process of continuous learning will be a crucial skill for employees. As companies digitalise, reverse mentoring might take place, wherein the younger digital natives teach their supervisors, said Ms Jane. Learning is no longer strictly hierarchical, so everyone has to be open to learning.

As long as employees remain curious, agile and resilient, they will be able to adapt well to the new changes in the future.

Watch the full recording of After the Pandemic: A Test of Resilience: Workplace Innovation and Strategies below:

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