How a Pharma Equipment and Services Company Overcame COVID

During 2018, we met with companies dedicated to talent  search and recruitment. They let us know that in the search for new personnel, we should open ourselves to the option of giving more weight and space to the use of virtual communication through digital platforms — in lieu of email — as well as to working from home.

Although we viewed these proposals as disruptive actions, our first thought was that these conditions were not adaptable to the work we do; however, our director general made the decision to initiate several actions aimed at implementing these changes. Thus, at the beginning of 2019, the internal communication system called Slack was installed. This platform, which can be installed on all electronic devices (cellphones, computers or tablets), allows us to maintain instant communication between all employees, through voice, data and video. as well as having the power to share files with no size or space limitations and in all kinds of formats. Additionally, communication can be established between associates of a single group, between different groups, or among all associates. The benefit of this communication system was felt almost immediately.

Likewise, during the same year, the decision was made to start a pilot work plan at home: the first case was carried out modestly, with the person responsible for the quality system working one day a week at home. Through this exercise, we understood the limitations that can be presented in the process of communication and of work itself: it is essential to have a good internet signal at home, as well as to have a computer with good speed and memory characteristics.  In several cases we were forced to improve both conditions before starting the work from home program. By 2H19, we already had three people working from home one day a week as part of the pilot plan.

On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and governments made the decision to make massive closures of all businesses and service provider companies, and in many cases, manufacturing. Only those businesses that were considered critical and indispensable were left open: those related to health and food. Our company is located within the first group; that is, as service providers for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, our operations could not and should not stop. Among the immediate actions that we took at the time of the declaration of the pandemic, the following were established:

a) All company personnel must be organized to work from home; food and daily cleaning services were eliminated. No reduction in staff hours or salaries was established in any of the cases.

b) Work shifts were established in all areas every day, in such a way that there was always at least one person present in the office from the following areas: administrative, service and technical support, sales and marketing and warehouses.

c) All the recommendations established by the Ministry of Health for entering the office were included: sanitization of hands, clothes, shoes and objects, continuous use of double-filter or KN95 face masks, temperature reading prior to entering offices, a distance of 1 meter minimum between associates, including the marking of distances in all facilities, deep sanitization in all areas and of cars at least once a week, or when there was a risk of contagion in the offices.

d) On-call personnel who attended the office could not use mass transportation, for which the use of transport from the office itself — utilitarian — was established to pick up the associates at points close to their homes and in this way reduce the chances of contagion. The use of individual transportation services (taxis) was authorized, where necessary.

e) In the case of the personnel from the service and technical support department, the engineers needed to go to the office/warehouse to collect their necessary materials for the services to be executed. Additionally, PCR analyses were carried out frequently, according to the needs or criteria established by each of the clients. It is worth mentioning that this group was the staff most exposed to the probability of contagion, so they were conditioned to notify the company immediately if they had any of the symptoms indicative of a possible contagion in its early stages, or if they had been in close contact with a person confirmed to be infected.

f) Personnel had to install on their computers and cellphones and train in all the applications and/or platforms to make individual or group connections with all the related areas — manufacturers, suppliers, clients and associates — in such a way that platforms such as Zoom, gotomeeting, Microsoft Teams, Teams Viewer, Skype for business, Cisco Webex, Telmex video conferences, and Whatsapp were installed. To share documents, files and images, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive were installed, among others. In several cases, new computer equipment had to be acquired for several associates.

g) A special contract was made with a clinical analysis laboratory certified by IMER, with the capacity to carry out PCR tests with sampling at home and with the delivery of results in a maximum of 24 hours, notifying them one day in advance. We did this type of operation on several occasions throughout 2020 and 2021.

h) Given the risk of infected personnel, thermometers, oximeters, generators and oxygen tanks were purchased and trained medical support was available to monitor the disease. Necessary medications were also purchased during the crises.

Despite the fact that all these preventive and immediate actions were taken, we could not avoid the presence of infections among our personnel . It was evident that an infected person who entered our offices was a very high risk and could generate a chain of infections; in fact, we had at least three cases of contagion chains. For some associates, the course of the viral infection was tolerable and even mild, but for others, unfortunately, they experienced high-risk conditions that put their lives in danger.

This COVID19 pandemic became a totally disruptive event in the personal, work and professional life of all human beings on the planet. We know that many of us suffered unfortunate and irreparable losses, which led us to reconsider and value our lives better. For many of us who have been infected, we continue to suffer the consequences, But there is no doubt that the lessons learned have been enormous. As people and as a company, we confirm that the most valuable resource we have is human capital and that despite the fact that we say on a daily basis that "no one is indispensable," the reality is that our staff is unique and irreplaceable. We gave them the confidence to continue doing their work from home and in different conditions and they responded like the good professionals they are at all levels.; This, of course, is related to key factors, such as good leadership and teamwork. The changes made in our daily work are here to stay and we will continue to apply various criteria generated during the pandemic.

Today, we face other disruptive events, such as the Russian-Ukrainian war that has ruptured the global supply chain and the psycho-social health of our associates. These facts make us more creative in the search for solutions. Without a doubt, this is a topic on which we have much more to talk about in the near future.