MOBILISING AN ENTIRE WORKFORCE WITHIN TWO WEEKS – MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

2020-04-06 00:00:00.0

In business, communication is always key, but in these unprecedented times, it’s more important than ever for business leaders to unite their workforce by mastering this art.

At BNP Paribas Personal Finance, protecting our colleagues has always been a priority, and as a result we’ve been able to transition our workforce to remote working, allowing us to continue serving our partners from the safety of our new ‘offices’.

From the get-go it was our mission to clearly communicate to all our colleagues the ideas and plans that were being put in place to transition them to remote working.

In the meantime, we introduced rigorous new social distancing measures in line with the Government’s advice, and one of our first objectives was to get the 148 vulnerable staff across our Solihull and Belfast offices working from home.

Transparency at every stage of the process was key to preventing panic, and it was very important to us that we maintained this policy of honesty throughout.

Jack Cutts, CIO at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK commented on how the task at hand “seemed like an Apollo 13 mission to get everyone out of the office.”

Navigating the transition from the office to remote working naturally presented us with a number of logistical obstacles, including sourcing solutions for desktop workers who didn’t have access to a laptop, but despite this all our different departments worked together to make the move as seamless as possible.

Simon Jones, head of customer services at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, says: “I have never seen a business come together like we have over the last 14 days.

“Every team within the company moved quickly and as one taskforce to execute the plans put in place. Throughout the whole transition, it was very important to us that none of our staff felt they were being overlooked, and by working as a one big team we were able to include everyone in the process.”

Although we’re very proud of how we’ve come together to transition our entire workforce to remote working, the journey is far from over yet. Our colleagues’ mental wellbeing during this difficult time is just as important to us as their physical health, and to ensure this is still being supported, we’re working closely with our Mental Health First Aiders to help maintain these connections between our team members.

While the practicalities of the move played a major part in navigating the transition, the resilience shown by our colleagues and their willingness to adapt was a major factor in our success.

Cliff Docker, head of business services at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, says: “Everyone has adapted to this new way of working, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the whole business.”

Working together as one team is part of our DNA as a business, and the way we’ve made this transition happen in such a short space of time has truly proved that we can make the impossible possible - whether that’s with our own colleagues or the finance solutions we offer to our partners.