The only certain thing about Covid-19 is the pandemic continues to take us into uncharted waters at high speed.
No matter what technology organisations had in place pre-Covid 19, nothing could fully prepare them for what was to come with lockdowns, social distancing, and with businesses having all their staff working from home at once.
It was in that atmosphere of trying to guess what's next that Jodie King joined Vodafone as the telco's Chief People Officer, when the first Level 4 lockdown came into effect.
Vodafone had some "very helpful" advantages in dealing with the lockdown, including being a digital telco with excellent connectivity infrastructure and a culture that supported what had to be fast and drastic change in how the company went about its business, she says.
People already worked from home via long-standing flexible working policies. With trial runs to iron out issues like optimising data flows between users' connections and their applications in the cloud, Vodafone was as ready as it could be for lockdown.
"We moved quicker than other organisations I saw in the New Zealand environment," King says.
Vodafone estimates Covid-19 has accelerated digital trends and adoption across Aotearoa by two to three times and has turbo-charged remote working.
The risks for Vodafone, an essential communications business, undergoing a sudden but necessary transformation shouldn't be downplayed, however. From a business continuity perspective, Vodafone had to make sure there was no disruption for its own customers despite telco staff staying at home to work. Those customers depended on Vodafone to get on with their lives and work while in lockdown.
Also important was employee engagement; international research firm Gallup highlights that an organisation's culture is one of the most valuable assets at risk during Covid-19. So Vodafone is using technology to help bridge the gap.
As it was crucial to get work-from-home right, Vodafone's team built a range of new digital tools to help its people during lockdown. One was the Vlife app, already used internally but quickly scaled up to handle more use and functionality.
"The Vlife app can be used to check in with staff to make sure they're okay and there are interventions available if someone says they're not feeling great," King says.
When back in the office, team members can also use the Vlife app to find colleagues and even order coffee and food for contactless pick-up or book parking spaces.
Making sure video conferencing with the best-in-class platforms was available and could scale up to demand was also vital.
Helping other businesses adapt
The changes to how we work look set to become permanent, which has caused many businesses to consider how they need to adapt to ensure employees still feel supported and connected while working from home.
Vodafone has found that most staff don't want to work wholly from home and this experience is likely replicated in offices around Aotearoa. King says: "Instead, they're asking to come in and do two to three days at the office if lockdown allows it, and then carry on working more from home."
Flexible remote working, mobility, digital and cloud-based tools, plus a culture of collaboration of trust supported by an executive team being role models are some key features of Vodafone's workplace of the future – which arrived sooner than expected but has been a great fit with employees.
Vodafone is now sharing how it adapted to a very different work environment with customers, who can learn from the experience and buy the digital solutions the company built.
"We've been drinking our own champagne," says King, "and customers are responding really well. Creating a modern workplace by scaling up technology solutions essentially overnight can be challenging, which is why we're sharing our experiences.
"We're providing tips and tools around ensuring home office technology is secure, and embracing cloud-based solutions to make online collaboration easy. But it's also simple things like encouraging teams to 'switch off' and take a break from their screens. Our CEO Jason will show he's doing this by posting photos from his lunchtime walk to our internal intranet, Workplace.
"By putting in place a proper system to manage a remote workforce and consciously role modelling it, organisations can ensure their teams stay healthy, productive and connected digitally."
Technology apart, Vodafone's rapid business transformation wouldn't have been possible without putting people first.
"Support, enable, and trust people to do their job," says King. "That's the mindset an organisation needs to create a truly modern workplace."
For more information or to speak to a Business consultant about your organisation's needs, please visit www.vodafone.co.nz/business