Coronavirus Q&A series: Interview with Nery-Ben Azar, Co-founder and Chairman, AngelSense

The Power Of Flexibility And Understanding Is Important

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.

Nery Ben-Azar: The onset of the pandemic has meant that thousands of special needs children have been forced to enter various states of lockdown. For a child with special needs this dramatic change in routine and the elimination of structure can not only be detrimental to behavior and wellbeing but pose a risk to personal safety. Our business provides GPS devices for families, that are instrumental in monitoring a special needs child and providing a sense of security when that child is out in the world, when traveling to therapy sessions or taking the bus, for example. We are the only company that provide non-removable GPS devices with life saving features for special needs families. Now, although these children are confined to their homes, they are still at risk for wandering and eloping. This massive change in their routine is  the number one instigator. We recently announced a dedicated funding budget, offering a free device and kit, to assist families in need during this crisis as this crisis affects them more than others. 

Nery Ben-Azar: Our mission at AngelSense is to empower special needs families back to work. Long before COVID-19, our entire customer care team worked from home. All of our support workers come from different professional backgrounds and are parents of special needs children of varying abilities (Autism, Down Syndrome, Chiari malformation, Traumatic brain injury, Sensory Processing Disorder etc.) and ages, from young children to adults. Without a doubt it is more challenging now having children at home and as a company we have had to adjust, providing emotional support, as our moms are now lacking the external resources for their children. Many have had to cut back on hours, and to meet our client demands we did hire additional agents.

Nery Ben-Azar: Our policies are cultivated by our standards of flexibility and support while continuously covering business needs. We have created a unique culture, allowing agents to put their health and families first, while maintaining the highest work ethics. We hire parents who use AngelSense daily and understand the struggles of specials needs families. Having this unique support network makes us naturally adaptive to the current climate.

Nery Ben-Azar: Our customer support moms are used to juggling multiple tasks under immense pressure. Certainly, having children at home adds to these challenges! Some of our moms have had to take time off to give their family support or to deal with their own health issues. We allow more flexible scheduling, try to boost camaraderie, and provide endless emotional support. We have frequent staff meetings and daily virtual group meetings, addressing both the needs of the company, as well as providing opportunities to share and support personal challenges. We will go to any lengths to make sure our employees have stability and financial security. In addition, we expanded our team at the beginning of this crisis to ease the daily responsibilities of our agents.

Nery Ben-Azar: All our supervisors are constantly in touch with each team member. Our Moms have a very special dynamic leaning on each other professionally and emotionally. Being a special needs parent can be very isolating but having a large team with children of all ages and abilities provides an excellent resource and wealth of personal experience, knowledge and support.

Nery Ben-Azar: The power of flexibility and understanding has really been highlighted for us during this time. We’ve always prided ourselves on providing a caring and inclusive work environment and now we see how much that support means to our employees. Our hiring practice is a model I would recommend to other socially conscious companies. 

Nery Ben-Azar: We are so proud of the level of positivity and dedication displayed by our entire team in this time of crisis. We will continue to foster these qualities as we continue to grow.