An unprecedented challenge

By developing new and agile ways of working during a global pandemic, RaySearch has managed to maintain a productive pace, while keeping the health, safety and wellbeing of employees in the forefront. HR Manager Lotta Larsson talks about how the company has adapted for continued success during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AN UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGE 2020 was a challenging year in many ways, but RaySearch has weathered the storm well. We have 11 subsidiaries in locations around the world, including China, and the HR team in Stockholm began receiving reports of COVID-19 early on in 2020 - but we could never have imagined the journey this pandemic would take the entire company on. When we transitioned to mainly working from home in March 2020, no one expected to be away from the office for very long at all.

A TESTIMONY TO ADAPTABILITY Like many companies around the world, our operations have been substantially affected. One vital success to be proud of is that we have managed to maintain production at a continuously high level, which is a testimony to the organization’s adaptability. Switching to remote working for all of our employees within a matter of days was an unprecedented change. Naturally, it posed some new challenges – not least for HR and IT. One of the most crucial challenges was to keep employees actively connected and engaged.

The technical solutions needed to manage this transition were already in place at the start of the pandemic, but had never been tested on this scale. The IT department has played a key role in our success for 2020, going the extra mile to support the entire organization.

Communication has been a vital element. People need to stay connected to their colleagues, and also be kept up to date about the company’s challenges and adaptations. Clear and regular internal communication was vital for a successful transition – especially in the early stages.

SUCCEEDING TOGETHER The need for crisis and change management during the pandemic has meant a pivotal role for HR from the outset. Leadership and crisis communication have truly been put to the test, and it was clear that cooperation across teams and functions would be essential, as would having a consistent and unified voice in our communication. To this end, we appointed a COVID-19 Management Group, tasked with keeping staff and managers continuously informed via guideline updates, emails and information pages on the intranet.

During March, we ran regular meetings with cross-functional groups to gather updated news about the situation, make timely decisions about our responses and communicate the situation clearly to our people.

SAFETY, PRODUCTIVITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Our objectives from the start of the pandemic have been to prioritize the health and safety of the employees, and to take responsibility for limiting the spread of COVID-19 in society. We have also pulled together to ensure continuous high productivity across all business functions, enabling deliveries and services to customers as expected.

MONITORING THE WELLBEING OF OUR PEOPLE Our company and our success are founded on our people,

Our objective from the start of the pandemic has been to prioritize the health and safety of the employees. As a joint effort, we have also worked to ensure continuous high productivity in all business functions to allow deliveries and services to customers as expected.

and their health and safety have been paramount since the start of the pandemic. We adopted a policy of postponing travel and face-to-face customer meetings at an early stage, and HR has continuously monitored the wellbeing through regular online global surveys. We started out with daily global surveys focusing on how well people were coping with the transition to working from home. After the initial critical period of adaptation, we shifted to quarterly surveys to monitor wellbeing, leadership, productivity and motivation within the organization.

AN AGILE APPROACH TO REMOTE WORKING During this extraordinary period, we have seen a magnificent volition from our employees to maintain the company’s performance levels. We have been able to maintain strong leadership globally, good internal communication and healthy, motivated employees. One of the major contributing factors to this success is our agile and flexible approach to working.

Employees have found innovative ways to maintain effective collaboration within project teams, using chat functions and open video channels to keep up the live dialog. We have also developed new approaches to recruiting staff and solving the logistics of remote onboarding. We have new employees who have not yet set foot in our offices or met their colleagues in person, but have nonetheless quickly become engaged and productive team members. This speaks volumes for the adaptability of our people and our organization. Naturally, many of us miss social interactions and the ability to discuss and plan together in person. The interactions that took place by the coffee machine or in the lunchroom have largely been lost. To adjust, we have incorporated alternative ways to socialize, such as online quizzes, virtual after-work get-togethers, and online fitness and yoga sessions. Our people are driving these initiatives, which have been very successful.

At the start of the pandemic, many employees experienced the flexibility to work from home as positive for worklife balance. But after the initial honeymoon phase, many have said they would prefer to spend most of their work time in the office. Working from home is not everyone’s preferred choice, so as a company we have strived to support our staff with any concerns about physical and mental wellbeing. We have put considerable effort into addressing issues such as good ergonomics at home, and we have encouraged the use of our health insurance services for access to care.

It has also been important for us to keep the office open, so that employees have the option to come in to work if they need to, while ensuring compliance with safety guidelines.

There will be a new version of “normal” when our offices fully reopen. As an employer, we must ensure that our people feel safe at work, while providing a space for collaboration and productivity that our employees are motivated to come to every day.