Workforce Transformation
The Story Behind the Project - HR C.A.R.E.
At IndiaFirst Life, we live and breathe our philosophy of EmployeeFirst (which broadly means that employees are our biggest and the most valuable assets). Accordingly, it was crucial to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees during the unprecedented COVID crisis. In doing so, the first step was to shift our daily corporate operations completely online in a matter of one week; even before the national lockdown was announced. During this time, the transformation was possible only due to technology. Teams started to work safely from their homes without worrying about information security. Virtual meetings and trainings became the “New Normal”. The same environment was provided for our clients, customers, vendors and other stakeholders.
At IndiaFirst Life, we inculcate our values - Be Honest, Do More, Think New and Be Helpful, as a part of our DNA. In return, we promise to Celebrate Success, Accelerate Growth, Recognize Achievements, Empower Employees (C.A.R.E.). Our values and employees’ innovative business solutions led us to ensuring zero job cuts as well as no pay cuts.
Our major challenge was associated with the limited opportunities Work from Home brings in terms of employee engagement. The linkage of C.A.R.E philosophy guided us to innovate and improvise to bridge this gap.
Project Name - HR C.A.R.E. for Workforce Transformation
1. Celebrate Success :
Amidst this Pandemic, IndiaFirst Life turned 11, and to celebrate our ‘Gyar – Waah’ saal, a virtual family day was planned for employees along with their family members. Employees and their families participated in various online talent events and games. Management committee members along with our Managing Director & CEO and Deputy CEO interacted live with employees and their family members during the celebration. Additionally, , employees received gifts (Fridge Magnet and Photo Frame) which were couriered to them. The virtual event was a huge success and the involvement of family members was highly appreciated by employees on social media.
2. Accelerate Growth:
The biggest concern for talent today is continuous growth. IndiaFirst Life thus successfully completed the Career Progression exercise this year with promotions based on potential. A virtual and external Assessment Centre was organized to promote deserving employees from their currentrole. Nominated employees who did not make it through the Assessment Centre were provided with personalised feedback and Individual Development Plan. They received relevant trainings in their developmental areas to equip them for the next financial year. Although this is the first year that the entire gamut of Career Progression exercise was held online, the process and essence of our performance philosophy was held high. Innovation in terms of Assessment Centre activities and post assessment trainings helped us widen our knowledge base and also provide need-based solution for our employees.
3. Recognize Achievements:
IndiaFirst Life’s Human Capital philosophy believes in recognising employees by rewarding employees for their consistent performance as well as appreciating them living upto our Values:
a) Our rewards framework, called Achiever’s First, usually recognizes high achievers in a grand occasion held at exotic domestic and international destinations. Since this was not possible due to the pandemic, an innovative approach was taken to celebrate success. A virtual program was held to recognize our prized contributors by MD & CEO, Deputy CEO and Function heads. Their families were invited to be a part of the celebration. This made both our employees and their family members extremely proud of their achievements. The accolades, gifts and physical trophies were couriered.
b) We have physical ‘Thank You’ cards that available at our offices; where one employee can express their gratitude to their colleagues by giving a hand-written, personalized card. This appreciation is hierarchy and function agnostic. During the pandemic, every employee has struggled in their own way. Support of team and cross functional colleagues today is imperative more than ever. In keeping with this spirit, we introduced a value driven virtual card (called Bingo! Cards) that employees can give to one another digitally. This can be given anytime and anywhere from our HRMS portal either from the mobile or laptop. This has been highly motivating for all employees.
4. Empower Employees:
We believe in building an environment where our employees are intrinsically motivated. Thus, we did not feel the need to create any supervising system of recording time logged in by an employee. Employees were only asked to regularly mark their attendance either via phone or laptop on the company’s HRMS portal.
Another occasion where employees were felt empowered was during the three virtual Townhalls since April 2020. The Townhalls gave assurance to employees that business was as usual at IndiaFirst Life. Only the ways and means have changed due to the pandemic. Employees were given the opportunity to share their questions via email which were answered by our MD&CEO and Deputy CEO. In doing so, any insecurity or misconception that any employee might have had was addressed mindfully. The townhall strengthened the trust employees have for the management.
Apart from the above-mentioned interventions, there are some more areas through we continued to innovate and improvise:
1. Leveraging technology to safeguard employees:
At IndiaFirst Life, we have multiple distribution channels to serve our customers. In the Bancassurance channel, our frontline force – Business Development Managers (BDMs) traditionally operate from partner bank branches. However, when physical presence of BDMs in bank branches was not possible on account of the lockdown, we strived to ensure that we do not lose connect with our customers. Acknowledging the fact that the pandemic brought along with it a sense of uncertainty and confusion for our customers, we took it upon us as a moral obligation to stay connected with our customers. With that intent in mind, we launched e-Sampark, a digital initiative for customer education and engagement. This initiative enabled our workforce to connect with customers digitally, generate lead and procure business without exposing themselves to the risk of COVID.
In addition to the above, we have effectively used in-house technology platforms to facilitate seamless business transactions between the customer and our workforce that is spread across different locations. For example, we have successfully used a tool called ‘SIMPLIFY’ for customer onboarding that allows our employees to conduct business without any compulsion to remain present on the base location and meeting the customer in person.
2. Leadership Communications
We kept the workforce engaged and informed throughout by regular and timely communication by top management using direct email, social media etc. Communication varied with information - the new way of doing business, the innovative solutions taken by various business teams as well as some videos shared by our management committee to keep their spirits high amidst the gloom of the pandemic. Regular communication kept employees informed on how the business is doing and served as a motivator for employees to see that ‘we are all in this together’.
The contribution of family members towards an employee’s professional contribution to the organization has increased manifold amidst the pandemic since everyone is working from home. IndiaFirst Life is indebted to the family members and to recognize this, our CEO, R.M. Vishakha had sent physical personalized letters of acknowledgement to every employee’s spouse / parents, mentioning that the company is performing well in the middle of this unforeseen pandemic only because their spouse / son / daughter has been diligently performing his / her duties.
3. The Employee Support Handbook
The new normal can be confusing. What to do and what not to do is often extremely baffling. To assist employees in dealing with the pandemic in a more efficient way, detailed information was provided to the employees in the form of an Employee Support Handbook. This handbook was designed as a guide to safety and best practices in the new normal and is available on our HRMS portal. Employees can access the handbook on their systems or mobile phones anytime. It encompasses how to maintain a positive outlook in such uncertain times, what are do’s and don’ts of the new normal as well as the support the Human Capital time is providing for employees’ well-being.
The organization at all points of time was sensitive to the needs of the employees. Be it physical, mental, emotional as well as economic. Some of the employee assistance initiates to support this includes:
i. Change in leave policy provides special leave to COVID positive employees. It also mandates work from home for employees who might have come in contact with COVID positive patients. Appropriate KPI adjustments would also be made during these leaves
ii. Our Employee Assistance Program was revamped to provide 24x7 professional support to employees and family member in maintaining mental wellness. The helpline is a private, personalized service that helps encounter life challenges and achieve harmony between professional and personal life
iii. Our group Mediclaim covers employees, their spouse and two children for hospitalization. Additionally, parents can be included with minimal premium which is also a tax saving tool.
iv. COVID test reimbursements were introduced to help employees
v. Tips in maintaining physical wellbeing and balancing the effects of isolation and working from home.
vi. A repository of correct social distancing practices and advice one how to maintain hygiene during the pandemic
4. To maintain Employee Engagement, regular and meaningful interventions were rolled out. This helped employees cope with the crisis a little better emotionally:
i. Mental Wellness Webinar series: Aimed at providing effective tools like mindfulness and meditation to all employees during the stressful time of the pandemic, this series is being organized and delivered by external professionals virtually. The series is helping employees deal with the stress associated with work from home and virtual interactions.
ii. Joy of giving: Celebrating the true joy of giving and making a lasting difference to those around us, we tied up with Don Bosco to spread some festivities cheer by setting a Kalpvriksha (wish-fulfilling tree) at Regional Offices and Head Office. Employees donated new clothes, stationeries, toys, games, seaters, chocolates, school bags etc.
iii. Numerous other celebrations like Diwali, Christmas, New Year, Women’s Day were undertaken virtually to keep the teams connected with each other. The response to these employee engagement initiatives were high engaging. .
5. Transformation in workforce upskilling
At IndiaFirst Life, we have successfully dabbled in and deployed digital learning in the form of LMS and Mobile learning. This enables an easy way to learn and refresh concepts. During the pandemic, we responded proactively and enhanced our existing digital learning methodology by making it more ‘phygital’. The phygital model uses a blend of virtual and physical mode to deliver interactive sessions with sufficient check points on knowledge retention and application. In partnership with Inspire One, the LMS and mobile learning application – Master-O has been used extensively to upload and share content with our dispersed workforce. Moreover, Master-O has also been used to check change in knowledge levels through pre and post assessment tools and gauge overall effectiveness of the learning intervention by capturing feedback. The content for e-learning was developed in-house and deployed on the gamification platform of Master-O.
Following are details of some interventions that were undertaken to upskill employees and other associated stakeholders –
1. Adaptive Leadership Series - The changing external environment has necessitated the need for a new form of agility for employees and more acutely for Leaders and Managers. Resilience and agility have emerged as vital tools for Leaders to drive their teams in these uncertain times. Thus, with this intent, we launched the Adaptive Leadership Series to be delivered virtually for ThinkFirst members. For this series, 48 ThinkFirst members were divided into 3 groups and underwent a 3-part leadership journey over a period of 3 months. The overall journey was divided into 3 crucial segments – Thinking Self, Thinking Others and Thinking Leadership.
2. Launch of COVID-19 Awareness Module - We launched an awareness module on COVID-19 as an immediate response in the pandemic for upskilling and creating awareness.
3. Augmentation of Financial Knowledge – Several online product modules were launched for all employees on the basics of Financial Planning, Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management
4. Upskilling Learning Needs of Stakeholders - Launched e-learning modules on the learning platform of Bank of Baroda to fulfil their learning needs through the online medium.
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5. Milan with VLE Bandhu - Launched ‘Milan with VLE Bandhu’ on a virtual platform (Microsoft Teams) to connect and upskill VLE and RAP of CSC channel.
6. Operations Bootcamp – Launched monthly series of learning sessions¬ on virtual platform (Zoom) exclusively for operations team to drive renewals and handle surrender cases.
