Beyond Coronavirus - Navigating the New Normal
By Julie Levin
It’s been one year since the official shutdown due to the rampant spread of COVID-19. For 12 months, a significant percentage of the workforce has been working from their homes. I know what happened in my world during that time, but I was intrigued to learn how others fared.
One year later, what is everyone going to do? Are companies going back to the way things were pre-coronavirus and pre-social distancing? Will we shift back to a commute and business casual attire? Somehow this doesn’t seem feasible anymore. There is no going back to pre-2020 practices, but I’m curious about companies’ plans as 2021 gets underway and businesses start adjusting to the new normal.
I met with Raquel O’Leary who has both the Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer titles next to her name. We discussed the history of her roles at AP Equipment Financing through 2020, the happenings of last year and a sneak preview of 2021 for the company that has been in growth mode for the last five-plus years.
O’Leary has been in the equipment finance industry for 22 years in every operations role. As she progressed, she continued to oversee operations while ensuring the right policies and processes were in place. She also focused on tech for a while, spending two to three years on a Salesforce implementation project while still in the COO role. O’Leary ultimately morphed into the Chief People Officer, the main day to day leader responsible for “shepherding and maintaining the culture — creating a place where people wanted to work.”
Although ahead of the curve in so many ways, one year ago AP’s employees were still going to the office daily. Remote work was infrequent, and even the sales team showed up at the office on a regular basis. Hiring 100% virtual employees was not even an option before the pandemic. This was a company focused on culture, but there was an understanding that office — and in-person — visits were required to preserve it.
AP’s transition started back in early February 2020. In conjunction with the pending change in its business/work environment, the CEO requested the purchase of laptops for office employees (more than 40 people) who did not have them at the time. The company’s new IT leader quickly responded, ensuring the team was fully equipped. Each team member received two screens and VPN access so they could work remotely as efficiently as they did in the office environment.
Once the shutdown was in place, all but four essential employees worked from home. In conjunction with moving the majority of the employee base into a virtual world, AP continued to maximize technology. Since the company was an early Salesforce user, its team was already receptive and welcomed the benefits and efficiencies of technology. The company had an initial trial with Slack to assist with communication, but it was quickly replaced with Microsoft Teams. Now functioning as the one source of truth, Teams is there to stay.
The AP team scheduled regular virtual happy hours, which are now less frequent, to support engagement. The company’s leaders maintained their focus on employees and culture in what was a challenging time for all.
Although not all areas of the business continued to thrive during the pandemic, such as entertainment and recreation, AP’s specialization in parcel delivery not only took off but became impactful. There is likely no end in sight, as the world maximizes online shopping and subsequent home delivery for just about anything these days.
Now that we are half-way through March of 2021, many of the practices implemented 12 months ago remain in place today. As many organizations learned, employees can be productive in a work-from-home arrangement, some more so than expected. O’Leary and the leadership team are revisiting how work gets done going forward. Thanks to employee performance during the pandemic, remote work in a hybrid arrangement will continue to be an option for those who have demonstrated success in the environment to date.
AP’s growth continues as does its hiring — its workforce has increased 30% over the last year alone. The company continues its focus on culture, listening to employees and providing autonomy and decision making, such as employee generated and implemented “house rules.”
As O’Leary mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, AP has always been ahead of the curve. This has enabled the company to stand out while attracting and growing the best talent. Sounds like this strategy is working, and 2021 is just getting started.