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At this week’s Town hall, Dennis highlighted business continuity – to serve our customers, as one of our top priorities, with the protection of our people coming first and foremost and cash protection, second. It is therefore great to know that Le Mans has had a second great week in its phased return to work. More than 120 people came back to the site with clear evidence that the protocols set up to ensure the safety of our people are being maintained.
Dominique Murzeau, EurAsia Manufacturing GM says:
“On April 27, our second wave of people came back to the plant after the Covid-19 stop, allowing the organisation to move to 2 shifts a day. In line with protocols, we welcomed the team explaining the new rules to protect the safety of ourselves and others. We reminded everyone that our priorities are “safety first” and then “be back in business”. It is a great pleasure to see the plant coming back to life with all our people from the Colart family. I am personally very proud to see both the energy to adapt to this new un-forecasted situation and the complete respect of the new rules.”
We understand the first container from Le Mans has now arrived in the US and it is good to know the connections between our sites are starting to flow again. Of course, we are yet to be fully operational across the whole business and with the phased start to work of Le Mans, we need to start thinking about and planning for how we restore full activities across the Group.
Clearly manufacturing and logistics will be our priority for returning to the workplace as people working remotely can continue to do so. By delaying the return of office people, it means that we can focus on workable solutions so carefully managing the physical distancing of people. This will take time and our current thinking, as mentioned by Dennis in the Town Hall, is that we will keep people working remotely where possible until at least the beginning of June.
Whilst this timescale may seem far off, it will give us time to reflect on what the return to work for office people could look like. It also means that we can consider what the “new normal” could be. Two insights from the recent survey that will play a big part in this reflection are:
1. The enhanced feeling of teamwork and connectivity despite people being physically separated is something that people really want to see continue
2. An indication that when the lockdowns come to an end, you would like Colart to review how we maintain flexible working arrangements for those who can work from home and how we will phase the actual return to work.
Dennis also mentioned that we have set up a project team to consider our return to work strategy for remote workers.
The focus of the team will be the following:
1. Pre-Covid 19 Office set up
2. How things have changed
3. Our options for the future
Recognising that the largest proportion of office-based people is in the Head Office, our project team volunteers are:
We met for the first time on Wednesday this week to plan how to approach this project recognising that our discussions and plans will be relevant to not only the Head Office but for all offices across the Colart Group. For this reason, we welcome and need your input! We will use another mini survey to collect specific thoughts but, in the meantime, please reach out to any member of the project team if you have any ideas to share.
Connected to this team will be a focus on risk management and health and safety to prepare for the return to work after lockdown. Of course, the learnings from China, the US and Le Mans will feature heavily with attention given to: –
1. Workplace distancing and space availability
2. Work routines to achieve workplace distancing
3. People considered at-risk
4. People who have child or care responsibilities
5. Travel arrangements to, where possible, reduce the need for public transport
We will keep you updated on both our progress and thinking through Colart News so watch this space. Maybe a webinar from the project team too!
On a separate note back at the beginning of the year (feels like a lifetime ago!) we talked about the online training that has been set up to support and reinforce the understanding of the Code of Conduct. The system was rolled out to the UK and the US and we are now planning to go live for Europe (excluding France) and China. Those of you with access in those countries will receive an e-mail with a link to the system. For information, you will also be able to access the system through the Colart Academy page in our intranet.
Recognising that not everyone can access the online training, we will be running some offline workshops. Unfortunately, the roll-out of these workshops has been delayed due to the focus on Covid-19 but we expect them to commence in the Autumn.
The final word as always is that we cannot stress enough the importance of following the safety protocols for everyone in Colart and your families: as a reminder please visit this site for further information on how to ensure protection against infection.
STAY SAFE, and if you have any questions on this update or any other subject you have a number of routes to take:
1. Your line manager
2. Your local HRBP
3. The Q&A platform on the intranet
Regards,
Jane Beeston
Chief People Officer