Coronavirus Q&A series: Interview with Don Spear, CEO, OpenSesame

It Is Important To Be Prepared For The Unknown

The COVID-19 crisis has impacted various aspects of our lives - especially work. With remote working becoming the norm, employees and employers alike, especially the first-timers, are experiencing the ups and downs related to the situation.

On one hand, employees are worried about job security and the challenges of working as a team, on the other, employers are facing issues such as engagement and productivity drop, among others. It now falls upon the leadership to keep the team up and running.

How are the leaders handling the situation? HR.com interviewed senior-level executives from various organizations and asked them to share their lessons and insights.

Don: At OpenSesame, our operations are not dependent on any single physical location, which allows us to ensure continuity of business and continue serving our customers no matter where our teams work. 

As the virus spread to more countries, it quickly became clear that immediate education was key to saving lives. Social distancing guidelines made traditional in-person training impossible. To help companies rapidly educate and safeguard their workers, OpenSesame started providing unlimited free access to curated coronavirus prevention, remote working and professional development courses for any organization. In just one month, thousands of organizations representing 10 million+ learners worldwide requested access to these courses. We were a bit surprised by the strong response and honored that OpenSesame could provide such valuable training instantly and for free during this worldwide pandemic. Visit go.opensesame.com/free-offer to access the free courses.

Don: Our entire team started working from home full-time on 9 March, and we expect to continue that policy until it is safe for employees to return to the office. Even though our company was well-prepared and equipped to support the transition to remote work, we are not immune to the challenges created by the unprecedented and uncertain nature of this crisis. 

While we have many tools to help us stay in touch, striking the right balance between under- and over-communicating is an ongoing process. Many teams instituted more frequent check-ins to help provide more visibility into priorities, workloads and challenges. Additionally, not everyone’s homes were set up with spaces to work from home. We encouraged employees to take what they needed from the office (monitors, chairs, keyboards, etc.) and offered all employees a $250 stipend to purchase additional furniture or equipment they need to work from home productively.

Don: From our open office space to our weekly all-team meetings, we designed a culture to foster connection and collaboration amongst our employees. To make up for some of the lost in-office interactivity and communication, the leadership team meets daily at the end of the day, we meet with all manager-level personnel weekly, and with the entire company on Friday during the lunch hour.  In addition, our People team has found creative ways to maintain that culture remotely. We offer daily guided meditation sessions, employee-led stretch breaks and a “virtual lunchroom” for employees to dine together over video chat. We transformed our quarterly book club into a virtual trivia game. We even found a way to continue our monthly team lunches by providing employees with an UberEats credit. 

Don: The well-being of our employees is paramount. We added a list of mental health and COVID-19 resources — including instructions for accessing the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) — on our intranet and are encouraging all employees to take time for themselves and their families. We also check in with employees regularly to see how their needs are changing throughout this crisis, so we can continue to respond and support them. 

Don: We supported employees to work from home even before COVID-19, so we are able to run the business remotely and securely. We also offer a flexible paid time off policy for our employees to use for whatever purpose they need.  

Don: The last few weeks have reminded all of us how important it is to be prepared for the unknown. Because we have a strong handle on the key levers in our business, we have the insight we need to proactively react to the different scenarios that may arise in the coming months.  By being transparent with our entire team on the actions we are taking in our business, our employees have the direction and confidence they need so they can continue to support our customers who need our help now more than ever.

Don: Some of our employees have been reassigned to new roles that need more resources during this time. This allowed us a great way to cross-train employees on the most critical aspects of our business while keeping all employees employed and productive.  

Furthermore, with the unprecedented response to our free course offers, we have seen an exponential increase in the usage of our platform. Therefore, we upgraded our platform and infrastructure to better handle this spike in traffic and our ongoing customers will benefit from these enhancements even after the crisis has subsided.