Global organisation Quincus has continued to support its employees and keep its organisational culture alive throughout the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic with virtual events and support networks.
The supply chain technology firm has headquarters in Singapore, and its 80 employees operate in teams across India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the UK, and, with rapid expansion, headcount is expected to increase quickly in the next few years.
To help employees stay connected and ensure that the values of the organisation are upheld while people are working remotely, the employer makes sure that communciation and support are constant.
James Sun, head of people and talent at Quincus, says: “We know that culture starts with the people. And, as we are scaling up, we have all types of people coming in. We are a very international company, so culture is really deeply rooted by the people that come in and the foundation that we build.
“The foundation is really focused on learning, development, and also empowerment. These core pillars for us are really the main assessment when we interview and when we potentially hire people. So, for example, one of the key factors for individuals joining us is that they have a hunger to learn and to grow.”
The organisation encourages employees to develop skillsets which might not necessarily relate to their role, and working across different geographical regions also means that it supports a collaborative environment. “[We are] working through several regions who are very culturally different; we’re trying to find a great area for everybody to come together to work together. So our culture really meshes pretty well with people from different walks of life,” explains Sun.
Quincus had a plan to continue building its culture across regions with team outings to different locations, but the Covid-19 pandemic put a swift stop to that.
“The best way to immerse individuals in one’s culture is to actually be on the ground, we believe,” says Sun. “So what we had to work around is making sure that we hold enough events where people are interactive. We have several online platforms, Teams and Zoom, and we fully utilise the capacity of these platforms not just with meetings that are work related. We have Q learning sessions every week hosted by employees, which are topics that are brought up by employees themselves. For example, someone from India will host a cooking class, and then we’ll have a session from somebody in Singapore who will host on public speaking or Excel.”
The sessions are rotated around employees from different regions and hosted on a platform which supports questions and answers from colleagues. Quincus also hosts Friday virtual drinks for everybody, with some virtual games. “These are just some of the events that we’re hosting interactively to really try to continue to nurture our culture and make sure people aren’t burnt out. And just make sure people are being interacted with and talking to each other, because we don’t have that physical element of being together at this point.”
Quincus also recognises the importance of mental wellbeing support and continues to provide initatives to employees virtually: Women @ Quincus is a dedicated group to support women and hosts monthly group calls and check ins, and Mental health @ Quincus, which encourages colleagues to look out for each other, and hosts talks from external speakers on relaxation methods, for example. The organisation offers employees unlimited leave which it includes under the banner of mental wellbeing. “Because we have this, people don’t have to worry about when and if they need to take leave, because we want people to clock off and refresh, regroup, and come back recharged,” says Sun.