Challenge:

I am an administrative and human development professional in my organization. The challenge is to  maintain the wellbeing of our employees while they work from home.

Due to COVID 19 situation, we all are working from home. The work pressure has increased due to this  new style of working.  It’s getting difficult for employees to adapt to a new work style as they’re used to  a high level of interaction with their team every day. A typical working day involves a busy office  atmosphere, calling clients or attending meetings, the new working from home has taken its toll on  employee’s mental health and wellbeing as this drastic change can cause a feeling of isolation.

Selection

We would like to use learning launch tool to solve the above challenge of maintaining the wellbeing of  employees while they work from home. A learning launch is a learning experiment conducted quickly  and inexpensively to gather real data. A learning launch is not a failure so long as we learn something  hence, we decided to use this tool and initiate few ideas as jumping from a public work environment to  the confined space of own home can affect everyone.

Application & Insights:

It’s really important to look at ways to make sure office employees are still happy, productive and  motivated under the circumstances.

We decided to start initiates with one of the small team/spaces before implementing to broader office.

For Our first learning launch, we suggested the following to the team:

Keep in contact:

A daily, every other day or weekly phone calls or even video calls. The idea is that teams can continually  assess workflow, set new tasks and check on team’s employee’s wellbeing. Working from home might  be causing unforeseen issues for an employee, so it’s important to get feedback where we can.

Insights of this application:

It opened the opportunity to discuss topics that weren’t work-related – catching up on plans for the  weekend, asking after their family, discussing the news etc. You’d usually have these types of  conversations in passing, over lunch or in brief meetings so it’s important to maintain this level of  socializing where we can.

For our second learning launch, we suggested the following to the team:

Promote a healthy work-life balance:

While we may worry that some team members may take working from home as an opportunity to take  it a little easier, in reality, many will feel pressure to work harder, or longer hours, in order to prove they  aren’t.

Insights of this application:  As an employer, we need to balance keeping productivity up alongside encouraging people to keep  taking breaks. When working from home it can be very easy to feel tempted to stay at your laptop  throughout lunch or extend the end of the day by a few hours.   Be sure to encourage, team to work their contracted hours and don’t stretch their working day into  home life simply because they’re working from home. As with everything, balance is key.

For our third learning launch, we suggested the following to the team:

Schedule regular team meetings:  We live in a more connected world than ever, so when it comes to keeping the whole team connected,  technology is truly on our side. We suggested to keep team meetings and catch-ups scheduled in diaries  using zoom, Skype or GoToMeeting.

Insights of this application:

This has a twofold effect: first it remained the consistency of the normal working week, and that’s going  to make keeping the business running easier than if regular meetings suddenly dropped out of the diary.  Secondly, it helped to replicate the ‘buzz’ of the normal work environment, helping people connect and  socialize.

For our forth learning launch, we suggested the following to the team:

Provide mental health training and resources:

It’s important that employees know that we, organization support them so by communicating this to  them can really benefit their wellbeing. Our Employee Assistance Programme, created in collaboration  with BUPA, gave employees unlimited access to phone support from qualified counsellors so they could  discuss anything they need to.

Insights from this application:

Practical advice such as money management, landlord disputes, divorce and parenting were also  available. And there’s also trained counsellors on hand to provide fully confidential advice on mental  health and wellbeing, providing the perfect way to access help from qualified professionals while staying  at home, based on the huge changes to our working lives that COVID-19 presents us all.

Approach:

Given that our team has already gone through several design thinking activities/tools and are at this  stage in the timeline, the learning launch is the appropriate tool amidst the situation of COVID 19 to  solve this challenge. our team needs to review the insight gained from our first four launches and  incorporate this insight into future launch designs. We conducted pulse check survey and received good  response from this team. The Managers and leaders of the team were also happy with employee’s  performance as it translated into the overall good work performance. After the successful launch of this  initiate in small space, we will make sure that future launch designs should reflect insight gained,  progress made, and come closer to a compelling solution ready for full rollout at organizational level.


Challenge : I am an administrative and human development professional in my organization . The challenge is to maintain the wellbeing of our employees while they work from home . Due to COVID 19 situation , we all are working from home . The work pressure has increased due to this new style of working . It ’s getting difficult for employees to adapt to a new work style as they ’re used to a high level of interaction with their team every day . A typical working day involves a busy office atmosphere , calling clients or attending meetings , the new working from home has taken its toll on employee ’s mental health and wellbeing as this drastic change can cause a feeling of isolation . Selection We would like to use learning launch tool to solve the above challenge of maintaining the wellbeing of employees while they work from home . A learning launch is a learning experiment conducted quickly and inexpensively to gather real data . A learning launch is not a failure so long as we learn something hence , we decided to use this tool and initiate few ideas as jumping from a public work environment to the confined space of own home can affect everyone . Application & Insights : It ’s really important to look at ways to make sure office employees are still happy , productive and motivated under the circumstances . We decided to start initiates with one of the small team / spaces before implementing to broader office . For Our first learning launch , we suggested the following to the team : Keep in contact : A daily , every other day or weekly phone calls or even video calls . The idea is that teams can continually assess workflow , set new tasks and check on team ’s employee ’s wellbeing . Working from home might be causing unforeseen issues for an employee , so it ’s important to get feedback where we can . Insights of this application : It opened the opportunity to discuss topics that were n’t work - related – catching up on plans for the weekend , asking after their family , discussing the news etc . You ’d usually have these types of conversations in passing , over lunch or in brief meetings so it ’s important to maintain this level of socializing where we can . For our second learning launch , we suggested the following to the team : Promote a healthy work - life balance : While we may worry that some team members may take working from home as an opportunity to take it a little easier , in reality , many will feel pressure to work harder , or longer hours , in order to prove they are n’t . Insights of this application : As an employer , we need to balance keeping productivity up alongside encouraging people to keep taking breaks . When working from home it can be very easy to feel tempted to stay at your laptop throughout lunch or extend the end of the day by a few hours . Be sure to encourage , team to work their contracted hours and do n’t stretch their working day into home life simply because they ’re working from home . As with everything , balance is key . For our third learning launch , we suggested the following to the team : Schedule regular team meetings : We live in a more connected world than ever , so when it comes to keeping the whole team connected , technology is truly on our side . We suggested to keep team meetings and catch - ups scheduled in diaries using zoom , Skype or GoToMeeting . Insights of this application : This has a twofold effect : first it remained the consistency of the normal working week , and that ’s going to make keeping the business running easier than if regular meetings suddenly dropped out of the diary . Secondly , it helped to replicate the ‘ buzz ’ of the normal work environment , helping people connect and socialize . For our forth learning launch , we suggested the following to the team : Provide mental health training and resources : It ’s important that employees know that we , organization support them so by communicating this to them can really benefit their wellbeing . Our Employee Assistance Programme , created in collaboration with BUPA , gave employees unlimited access to phone support from qualified counsellors so they could discuss anything they need to . Insights from this application : Practical advice such as money management , landlord disputes , divorce and parenting were also available . And there ’s also trained counsellors on hand to provide fully confidential advice on mental health and wellbeing , providing the perfect way to access help from qualified professionals while staying at home , based on the huge changes to our working lives that COVID-19 presents us all . Approach : Given that our team has already gone through several design thinking activities / tools and are at this stage in the timeline , the learning launch is the appropriate tool amidst the situation of COVID 19 to solve this challenge . our team needs to review the insight gained from our first four launches and incorporate this insight into future launch designs . We conducted pulse check survey and received good response from this team . The Managers and leaders of the team were also happy with employee ’s performance as it translated into the overall good work performance . After the successful launch of this initiate in small space , we will make sure that future launch designs should reflect insight gained , progress made , and come closer to a compelling solution ready for full rollout at organizational level .