How Great Workplace THE One Prioritized Connecting with Employees During the Pandemic

Furthermore, the constant communication the CEO maintained across all levels of the organization reflected well on the feedback he received from the employees. In fact, communication was so strong that a dedicated e-mail address intended for concerns around COVID never had to be used.

The strategy for connecting with employees throughout the organization includes multiple workshops and email idea dropboxes to encourage and allow employees of all levels to actively ask questions, participate in meetings and or speak to management directly. This allowed management to highlight employee stressors and communicate them back to the employees. Management used that as a guide to building a resilient workforce.

Having passed all health and safety government inspections for store reopening after lockdown, store managers took on the initiative of a safe return by introducing group counseling on COVID through daily huddles. The store managers, together with the retail operations department, were also the initiators of the ‘Hero of the Week’ online campaign to recognize extraordinary efforts from all the Family members throughout the crisis.

Additionally, an added encouragement to THE One culture is storytelling as the Family would share experiences of their work-life through daily huddles and through groups on social media to bring them even closer together.

As employees witnessed true leadership through constant engagement, this provided them with needed security, clarity, and a new sense of direction, relieved from the stresses of the ongoing crisis and placing their trust in their Family. Consequently, amid the ongoing struggles of the pandemic, THE One managed to maintain their core values by following through on their commitment to LOVE by demonstrating respect at all levels and discouraging blame culture, to LIVE with the intention of building confidence, encouraging ideas, and make everyone feel important, to DARE and encourage accountability, continuous development, and authenticity, and to finally BELIEVE by setting an example of doing good and becoming a brand ambassador.

THE One is reaping the rewards of prioritizing connecting with employees as they emerge from one of the most turbulent periods the region has ever come across.