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Nestlé Baltics Hr Manager: More than half of employees will return to the office only in autumn

Nestle

When quarantine was announced in Lithuania, many workers had to adapt to work from home. As the government has eased the constraints of the emergency, companies need to prepare for the next task of returning to the offices, but the company is in no hurry to do so. "We will return gradually, in stages. Only in autumn we can expect more than 50 percent of employees to return to the office," says Natalija Pipariene, Chief of Staff at Nestlé Baltics. The expert shares her thoughts and recommendations on how to prepare for returning to the working environment, ensuring safe working conditions, as well as harmonising the interests of employees and the employer.

 

- You are a large international company, how did you manage to rearrange your job in a short time and move on from home? What measures did you take? What problems did you face, and how did you deal with them?

- We dealt with this problem quickly and successfully. Before the quarantine was announced, workers had the opportunity to work from home, so this was not a great innovation, but of course some changes were inevitable. After the emergency was declared, we stopped traveling and business trips in February. The next step is to take care of disinfectants, gloves and other protective equipment. We provided our employees with the tools they needed — laptops, extra monitors — and had the opportunity to bring an office chair to make it comfortable to work.

Another important measure is continuous communication. We actively exchanged up-to-date information: what is happening, what measures we are taking, what we will do next. We also published practical tips on how to create a comfortable workplace, how to properly organize work, for example, do not forget about rest, and so on.

Once a week, we invite all employees to a virtual meeting where we provide the latest information. In addition, the departments have separate meetings where participants not only discuss the most important tasks, but can also have a "virtual coffee". We continue to maintain internal communication, which is very important, especially in these exceptional circumstances.

- Are you ready for your next task of returning to the office?

- Safety must be a priority for every business. We appreciate the experience of other countries and take into account the recommendations published by Nestlé and the state. We are currently fully prepared and informed our staff about the internal policies and instructions on how the return office will take place.

- Please tell us about the company's practice! How are you coming back? What instructions will need to be followed?

- We plan a gradual return in stages and groups. In the first phase, the office will have 15 % of the staff at the same time, 30 % in the second and 50 % in the third. Only in the autumn can we hope that the office will house more than 50% at the same time.

We will take into account the wishes of the employees: if the employee wants to work from home, he will be given the opportunity, but there are employees who have already informed them that they would like to return to the office. We have also identified those at risk – we will ask them to work from home.

It's important to keep track of the current situation and respond in a timely manner – if necessary, we'll adjust the plans with the highest priority for worker safety and health.

- How will you ensure the safety of your employees?

- We will provide all the necessary protective equipment – masks that must be worn in common areas, gloves, disinfectant liquids, hygienic wipes – by measuring the temperature, disinfecting the premises, asking for virtual meetings. If an on-site meeting is required, it may be held with the consent of the manager in a group of no more than ten persons, during which time employees will have to wear a mask. Of course, we will ask for a safe distance. To make it easier and easier for employees, we are already moving furniture.

We also work closely with the office lessor because it is important to us what security measures it takes, such as cleaning, disinfection and ventilation of common areas. We also call for additional information on the procedures for using lifts.

- Are you discussing with your employees the new working procedures, requirements, return rules? Do you ask for their opinion — what are their needs?

- yes, feedback is important to us. When we made the rules for returning to the office, we asked to vote on which day of the week it is most convenient for employees to work from home. We will take into account the results of the survey. We also held an online presentation where staff could comment and ask questions about the order of returning to the office.

We additionally conducted an express survey of employees to find out what their attitude to working from home is, what their mood is, whether they receive enough information from the company, feel the support of managers. We are glad that the results were very good, for example, 96 percent of employees think that the company is doing well, taking care of business continuity during the crisis.

- Will the same return rules apply in all Baltic states?

- We strive to make the return process clear and harmonious, therefore we take into account nestlé recommendations, as well as coordinate our activities with our colleagues in Latvia and Estonia.