THE Victoria Mutual (VM) Group is reporting strong engagement by its team members despite challenges faced by businesses globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Dr Dayton Robinson, assistant vice-president of group human resources at VM Group, staff members remain engaged — in part due to a robust and forward-looking remote work policy that it implemented in 2018, and a purposeful digital transformation of the business that has made the pandemic-related changes to daily operations much easier to handle.

“The VM Group is focused on being [an] employer of choice and a great place to work. So even though there have been particular demands placed on our team during the pandemic, as there has been across the global workforce, our commitment to empowering our team members and exercising genuine care for them have helped the VM team weather the storm,” said Robinson.

He noted that while the organisation had their remote work policy in place for more than two years, when the pandemic reached Jamaica greater emphasis was placed on encouraging team members who could work remotely to do so.

Robinson said in September the VM Group went a step further by making remote work mandatory for all team members who are so able.

“The aim is to ensure that our team stays safe and that they make use of the systems in place at VM that enable them to work seamlessly from home,” said Robinson, as he noted that the mandatory remote work order was one in a series of measures introduced since February to help protect the physical and mental health of the VM team during the pandemic.

Robinson pointed out that VM Group offers an employee assistance programme, in collaboration with Family Life Ministries, to support team members with mental wellness.

Through this programme, VM team members can access counselling free of cost by contacting Family Life Ministries directly.

The human resources head noted that since March the group has hosted several online sessions, including a virtual party.

“The party saw team members logging in from wherever they were and dancing the stress away while social distancing, and sharing comments and photos with each other,” said Robinson.

A virtual praise and worship session dubbed VM’s Evening of Inspiration was also held last month, giving team members an opportunity to pray and fellowship with each other.

VM has also executed a series of digital town hall meetings to update team members across the island on all that is being done to support them and the company’s customers.

The town halls also allow team members at all levels to share ideas and feedback with executive leaders of the VM Group.

The group also staged its annual ‘I Am VM’ team member awards ceremony in July. This was a virtual event that honoured the hard work of team members across the business.

“The event saw hundreds of VM team members from across the island, as well as the United Kingdom and the United States where VM has representative offices, logged on together. The event and celebrations culminated with an exciting after party featuring DJ Kurt Riley.

“We are a united team at VM. This is why, even though this is a tough period for everyone, we are coming together as a team to not only get through it, but to thrive through it,” said Robinson.

He added: “While this virus requires social distancing, this moment will actually bring us closer together. Our team members are resilient and when we work together, we are unstoppable.”