Building a People Practice During a Pandemic

Author
Tushar Pandit, Chief People Officer

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In a once-in-a-lifetime event, the world experienced a pandemic that would change the course of history. Across all industries, COVID-19 greatly impacted how we work, collaborate, and achieve personal and professional success, and at Affinitiv, these challenges arose while we were simultaneously building a new people practice. Through it all, the A-Team embraced each situation with empathy, care, and a lot of teamwork.

Our ever-evolving journey began at the start of March 2020. Like most organizations, we shifted to working from home as cities and states implemented stay-at-home orders.  Protecting our people and focusing on their health and safety has and continues to be a top priority. Throughout the shift, our associates maintained strong collaboration, unwavering dedication to exceptional customer care, and delivered on their commitments. In response, Affinitiv announced a ‘Work from Here’ policy this past December. On a permanent basis, we are offering our people the flexibility of a hybrid work model where an individual can work from a campus and/or remotely depending on what works for them.

The A-Team‘s dedication and determination didn’t stop there. In July 2020, a group of fifteen associates and leaders voluntarily came together to support our Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) strategies by forming a diversity council—Building Real Inclusion via Deliberate Growth & Empathy (BRIDGE)—and launching twelve business resource groups (BRGs). Through these affinity groups, our associates can further learn, raise awareness, and champion diversity, equity, and inclusion for all.

We also tapped our team members’ diverse perspectives and innovative mindsets to create Affinitiv’s core values, which we introduced this past November.  A work stream representing twenty associates and leaders came together to establish our five values: passion, integrity, unity, innovation, and impact.  We even benefitted from the incredible talent within our Affinitiv Advertising business, who provided visually stunning branding and design of our values.

Not only did our associates help drive the above changes, but they also adopted and embraced a myriad of new platforms, processes, and programs implemented by the People Operations team; all designed to cultivate high-performing teams and further our success. As we begin to return to a new normal within our communities and workplaces, it’s clear from this past year that the A-Team is well-positioned to make a positive impact through our passion, integrity, unity, and innovation.


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