Service over Self – GEI COVID Relief Volunteers – Part 2

GEI’s COVID Relief Employee Hotline was the brainchild of Shashi Jaligama, Managing Director, GUS Education India.  He wanted to put a 360 degree process in place to address employees’ COVID related issues. Hence, apart from procuring an ICU bed, oxygen concentrators and a COVID specific health insurance policy for employees, he proposed a COVID relief hotline number and sought IT and HR teams’ help to execute the idea. Lauding the efforts put in by the IT team, HR team and the volunteers he said “As a leader, it was my job to look after my GEI family. I didn’t want any of our GEI employees to face hardships in securing the bare minimum healthcare facilities – which unfortunately had become a luxury during the peak of pandemic. When I proposed the idea of a toll-free number for employees,   our IT team under Rajat’s guidance arranged the entire setup within 48 hours. Thereafter, our HR team under Santhi’s supervision took care of the operative part of the process. I can’t thank both the teams enough for bringing an idea to life at an extremely short notice. As for the volunteers – hats off to them! I think the worst times bring out the best in people and that’s what we witnessed at GEI. Giving up on personal lives willingly just to serve others in need is the highest form of service. The COVID relief volunteers have all my heart and deepest respect for the critical support they provided to their fellow GEIites. Saying ‘thank you’ will never be enough for their services. ”

Rajat Arora, Senior Director – IT, GUS Education India shared his thoughts on his team’s work in arranging the COVID Relief Helpline, “Quite pleased with the way the IT Contact Centre team worked relentlessly and was able to set up a thoroughly tested toll-free helpline number within 48 hours of the request being raised. With this, the GEI employees could seek doctor teleconsultations, in conjunction with the COVID task force. This was a result of some out-of-the-box thinking in the hour of need by the telephone experts within the team. The COVID Relief Helpline setup had call forwarding, three-way conferencing with the doctor and the advisor, as well as the required CRM functionalities to carry out the operations seamlessly.”

Santhi Janapati, Head of Human Resources, GUS Education India, played a key role in setting up the operations for COVID Relief Helpline initiative. Talking about her experience she said, “I am a strong proponent of employee participation models simply because employee participation fosters a culture of oneness in the organization. That’s why, when we were tasked with the setup of COVID Relief Hotline for employees, I suggested looking internally to execute the idea. And what a fantastic job the volunteers did! After providing the initial framework for managing distress calls, the group never required any hand-holding with the process and worked smoothly for good 30-32 days. The brilliant part was all these people working over and above their professional duties and dedicating discretionary hours to watch out for their fellow GEIites. Right from the volunteers to the IT team members to the HRBPs, everyone was always available to step-up for one another. All in all, it was a great show by everyone involved!”