One of the pillars of DNS Belgium’s sustainability policy is that we want to be an inspiring workplace, even in difficult times. We know that it is not easy for every company to respond with flexibility to the current COVID 19 crisis measures. That is why we would like to explain to you how we go about it, in the hope of inspiring other companies. If you have any questions or would like more details, please contact us by sending an e-mail to communications@dnsbelgium.be.
Good preparation in calmer times
Alas, we do not have a crystal ball, but we have had a clearly defined work from home policy for a number of years plus a good IT infrastructure to support that policy. We also have a business continuity plan and a crisis communication plan ready for this sort of situations. This saves a huge amount of work and effort at times of crisis and staves off panic reactions: all we have to do is follow the guidelines we had drawn up in calmer times.
All our employees are currently working full time from home. We no longer hold physical meetings but replace them using various online communication tools. During this period of working from home, everyone notes down what has worked well and what hasn’t so that we can adapt or supplement our business continuity plan and our crisis communication plan as and where necessary.
(Physical and mental) health comes first
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID 19, everyone at DNS Belgium has been working at home since 11 March. We have given everyone the chance to pick up additional equipment from the office however, so that they can work as efficiently as possible and not put any additional strain on physical health. Each employee has his or her own laptop, but devices such as a keyboard, mouse, trackpad, larger screen docking station and other cabling or adapters are always available. The ICT department has been available to provide advice remotely. If an employee comes to the office to pick up something, they are asked to inform all colleagues so that there are never too many people on the premises at the same time.
Striking a good balance between work and life is always high on the agenda at DNS Belgium, including in difficult times. We do not want our employees to get stressed out because they find it difficult to combine work with looking after the children. We need all our people to run DNS Belgium, so we offer them the flexibility to do their work at the time it suits them.
Every employee’s family situation is different, so everyone can choose what suits him or her best: for an employee with young children, that might be working early in the morning, during an afternoon nap or in the evening, whereas for an employee with teenagers at home, that can often be during office hours, etc. We rely on our employees to make the right decisions, adapted to their own situation. In addition, we are very flexible with requests for unpaid leave.
Clear internal communication
We communicate about all the foregoing measures very clearly and explicitly by e-mail. Although the regulations for working from home may seem obviously, employees are more reassured when this is confirmed by emails from the general manager.
Conversely, we ask our employees to keep their manager and Human Resources well informed, so that we have a clear picture as to who is ill, and who at work, on leave, etc.
Inspired?
Many families are struggling to strike a balance between working and looking after the children at this time. We at DNS Belgium believe that we have found a good way to deal with this matter. If you still have questions about our personnel policy or if you would like to share a tip with us, please send an e-mail to communications@dnsbelgium.be.
With this article, we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.