MANY organisations that have moved to a remote working strategy in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic have turned to new ways of supporting their employees’ well-being.

With over 75 per cent of its employees working remotely, Flow Jamaica told the Jamaica Observer in a recently held business forum that it has initiated various employee wellness activities to encourage and facilitate work-life balance amid the pandemic.

Director of communications Kayon Mitchell indicated that last year Flow Jamaica launched a virtual summer series of various engaging and informative activities for its employees. This included Zoom parties, yoga and workout and, counselling sessions, church services, and consultations with nutritionists and financial advisors.

“We were responding to the needs of our team members that as soon as they expressed what they needed we added that to the line-up of activities that we were executing. When it came to wellness we not only had live-streamed yoga sessions but we also had a full campaign that was being run from Liberty Latin America, where employees on days could log off and participate in wellness activities and take a break from the desk,” Mitchell told the Caribbean Business Report.

“You’re at home, you’re trying to work the schedule while doing online schooling with your children…it’s easy to forget what your diet is supposed to be in that time,” she said.

She added that members of staff were allowed to take certain items, such as desks and other tools, home to make their at-home experience as conducive as possible.

Flow Jamaica’s Country Manager Stephen Price noted that while productivity increased during the pandemic, it was paramount that the company managed staff exhaustion and the stress that comes from the pressure to perform during a crisis.

“We have tools that show how long people are logged in, are engaged and interacting with the rest of the workforce, and what I can say is that productivity actually went up incredibly over COVID-19 – to the point where we had to really start to speak to our employees and let them know that all we ask of them is a fair 8 hours a day,” Price said.

“People were working 10-12 hours, but at the same time we recognised as a business that we can’t afford to have our workforce burnt out,” he continued.

He added that the company prides itself on having open and frequent communication with its employees during this difficult time.