Disruptions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic have challenged businesses in remotely managing employee experience. With a surge in work-from-home setups, it led companies to implement new policies and programs to ensure that employees were not only safe at home, but productive and well-supported. In the case of leading independent and third largest oil player Phoenix Petroleum, it was proper foresight and collaboration among the company’s teams and units that allowed them to leverage on employee engagement amid the challenging situation.
As a big business in the energy and fuel industry, Phoenix was initially hit hard when lockdowns were imposed at the start of 2020 and companies were forced to operate at less than minimum capacity. A shift to a remote work setup for its thousands of employees nationwide was the immediate step they had to contend with, according to Phoenix Vice President for Human Resources Celeste Marie Ong.
“Safety was our utmost priority. We were closely monitoring the spread of the virus since it made the news, and with the assessment of our safety department, and judgment of the management, we announced alternative work arrangements, including the work-from-home set-up, days before the government implemented quarantine restrictions,” she said.
The arrangement saw as much as 70 percent of Phoenix employees working from home. Meanwhile, only employees with critical operational roles were allowed to work onsite under an alternating schedule and by regulation of company supervisors. However, this was only the beginning of a major workplace shift, according to Ong. The next, bigger challenge was making sure that Phoenix employees had the necessary support to perform their tasks efficiently.