Data#3 says new programs are so successful they will continue after the pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic shut businesses in March the fears and questions Data#3 employees had were the same for employees in other companies across Australia.
Is our business going to be sustainable?
Are there going to be redundancies?
“That is why it was really important to get in front of our people on a regular basis,” Tash Macknish, Data#3’s group manager of organisational development and human resources, told HRD.
Data#3, a Brisbane-based Australian Stock Exchange-listed information technology services and solutions provider, quickly moved its 780 permanent employees and 250 contractors from their offices around Australia and set them up to work from their homes.
The company’s chief executive, Laurence Baynham, and Macknish formed a crisis management team to become the decision makers to implement any changes or processes to handle the pandemic.
They were guided by company core values encapsulated in the acronym: HEART (Honesty, Excellence, Agility, Respect and Teamwork).
Data#3 also created “All Hands”, a whole business video conference catch-up where Baynham and Macknish would address their workforce, provide updates and be joined by the company’s leadership team for a question and answer session.
“There was a lot of fear around the business,” Macknish, recalling the early days of the pandemic, said.
“All Hands has been really well received and we will continue to do that moving forward on a three to four-week basis.”
Data#3’s business has thrived during the pandemic, with customers in need of the company’s IT expertise to equip and set up employees remotely.
Data#3 has not had a single redundancy related to COVID-19 and the number of permanent employees climbed from 780 at the beginning of March to 799 at the start of June.
The company has locations across seven states, with all but Victoria and Tasmania allowing employees to return to work.
WA and South Australia have been back since July and are almost at full capacity, although Data#3 has not made it mandatory for staff to go back to the office.
“We won’t mandate a return,” Macknish, a 2020 HRD Awards HR Director of the Year nominee, said.
“We haven’t thought about that beyond December, so at this stage we are telling people to December 31 you can continue to work from home.”
Employees who do go back to the office are split in red and blue teams.
“Moving forward we will be looking at a hybrid model for our workforce,” Macknish said.
