Group Update – COVID-19

Holiday travel…

Of course, many of you are now thinking about your summer holidays with the summer upon us. Unfortunately, it continues to be difficult to set consistent global rules as many countries are applying different rules. We would, however, like to clarify the principles that we retain:

• First and foremost, we expect everyone to follow the government’s rules and advice applicable to the country you reside in.
• We ask you to continue showing caution before organising any international holiday travel as the situation continues to change.
• If you travel to a destination outside of your home country, any specific consequences, such as a quarantine period on return and testing requirements, are your responsibility and need to be factored into your holiday period.
• Where relevant, you should consider measures that can be taken to reduce the quarantine period, such as additional testing.
• We do, of course, understand the importance of holidays for wellbeing, particularly those of you who have been separated from your family.

For this reason, please talk to your line manager before booking anything, and we will factor this in to support you as appropriate.
If you are unclear about the above principles, please talk to your line manager before formalising any arrangements. Thank you for your support.

Returning to the office…

In the last update, we confirmed our general aim is for people working remotely to start coming back to the office up to 2 days per week from the end of June. It is evident that local requirements and restrictions are continuing to change, but it looks like 6 September still makes sense as the effective start date for hybrid working – part remote and part in the office.
As always, there is the “subject to” clause, and we will continue to be guided by government advice in each country. We will keep you all updated locally, but please do keep the dialogue going with your line manager on the subject.

Induction partners…

We have now completed the remote induction sessions and continue to seek feedback from new starters on how we can improve the induction process. A further idea received was to ensure everyone is given an induction partner. We love this idea as it is completely about caring and connectivity. This is something that has actually been active in North America, so we are fully behind ensuring it is activated across the group. We know starting a new job is never easy and can be quite isolating, so the partner will be there to help the new starter settle in and give them the confidence that there is a friend close by.
We ask line managers to nominate the partner, but please let your local HR Business partner know if you are keen to participate.

Engagement Survey…

It’s coming! We are planning to distribute the survey early in July, and you will have until the beginning of September to complete it. More communications will follow on the subject.
As Dennis mentioned in the Townhall, we are keen to ensure we create an environment based on collaboration, communication and connectivity. The key to this is showing trust and care, so this survey is your chance to give us your views on how we are doing. We will be asking you how you are feeling, your perceptions of the business, your leaders' perceptions, and whether we are living up to our cultural narrative of feel like a family, act like a high performing team. We will prepare the survey in French and Chinese as well as English to support completion.
On the subject of surveys, we have delayed the closure of the LRP pulse survey as a couple of business units needed a little more time. We are eager to hear what you thought about the cascade, and I’m sure there will be a lot for us to learn so that we can improve the cascade next time. Of course, our aim is for you to know where we are going, our priorities, and the role you each can play in this journey….we ALL play a part.
As soon as we have the results, we will publish the results for you all to read!