1) WHAT WOULD BE YOUR KEY MESSAGE TO OTHER HR COLLEAGUES WHO ARE NOW EXPERIENCING THE SIMILAR SITUATION WITH COVID-19 IN THEIR SITE?  WHAT WOULD BE THE RECOMMENDED DOS AND DON’TS?

• Keep calm and work as a team with your LT
• Create immediately a Crisis Management Unit to identify and manage priorities (people safety, business continuity…) and react in a timely fashion to a fast evolving situation
• Keep all your teams (head office and field)  informed on a regular basis, be clear about do’s and don’ts
• Do not always wait for official institutional indications to do what is right for our people, our interlocutors and our patients :   you can always adapt as you go.
• Focus on your role and do not duplicate what is already available out there: remind your employees where they can find reliable information (websites such as the Ministry of Health or other Government websites) and encourage them to comply with competent authorities’ instructions
• Be sure that “your” employees can have access to psychological support if needed. The link show how our EAP partner adapted its offering to the needs of our teams in a fast evolving context:   https://youtu.be/LvtBSGXKT2o)

2) HAVE YOU MAXIMIZED THE ABILITY OF YOUR EMPLOYEES TO WORK REMOTELY? HOW DO ALL VIDEO CONFERENCES WORK?

• We use Bluejeans, less Skype, video calls from mobile, mobile calls
• We organize a virtual Agorà, a Townhall via Bluejeans with all Italian employees and it works well
• Yesterday we follow a behaviors training on the Zoom platform. It worked well.
• We are working remotely on 7 workstreams to prepare for the future: digitalization, remote field activities, branding in an unknown world, CSR, Italian Academy, Team spirit and communication, go ahead and accelerate. So far the results are good.

3) HOW WOULD YOU SUMMARIZE YOUR LEARNINGS FROM THE CURRENT SITUATION?

As human beings, we have an extraordinary ability to adapt in difficult situations. Some of our abilities come out under stress and become instrumental to address a crisis.

4) IF YOU HAVE ANY FUNNY OR ‘GOOD’ STORIES THROUGH THIS EXPERIENCE PLEASE SHARE

• We created #ipsennonsiferma / #Ipsenneverstops internal and external communication campaign
• All of us post on Yammer jokes, encouragements, pictures of our desks, family and pets… as you can see in the picture below I train hard with my son!
• We even created a dedicated Spotify channel everyone can use (check the link below) to recreate a positive atmosphere!

(https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2JvLFF2 Ov3PBSjMqLcWA4a?si=jyfQq4Y9QgxnuntGmskGA )

Alessandra Benevolo interviewed by Michaela Janickova