Al Rayan Bank | HR lead reveals engagement strategies during COVID-19

Navigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for employers and employees alike.

Whether it is for business leaders who are concerned over how the business can continue trading through these turbulent times, or staff anxieties regarding job security, wellbeing, morale and a plethora of other things, there are many new things that organisations have had to deal with. In fact, Sophie Gulliver, Head of HR at Al Rayan Bank, told HR Grapevine that 2020 has presented many challenges for employers and HR teams. “It’s been a year unlike any other. None of us have worked through a global pandemic before and there’s no best practice to fall back on,” she said. A big challenge for HR departments has been to keep employees engaged and motivated during this tough time. One way that the firm has achieved this is through strong communication channels.

HR’s hub of communications

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK, and many employees were moved to homeworking arrangements amid lockdown, HR has acted as a hub of communications, keeping staff and the business updated with continuously changing guidance. With so many people working from home – and with the Prime Minister now asking office workers in England to work from home where possible – relaying clear and regular communication has been critical.

“As soon as it became apparent that things were developing at a rapid pace, we created and shared a COVID-19 policy document to explain the changes we were making to our usual policies and procedures on sickness absence, flexible working, travel and annual leave during the pandemic. That included a working from home guide, with advice on things like health and safety, financial crime, GDPR compliance and IT security,” Gulliver explained. When working remotely, staff and businesses relied on tech platforms such as Microsoft Teams to communicate with one another. To help with this, Gulliver explained that the firm created an “etiquette guide featuring dos and don’ts for online meetings”.