What happened to Erik Kolga when COVID-19 forced everyone home in March had all the ingredients of a nightmare: a field-based employee suddenly housebound with three young children and a wife whose small business was forced to shut its doors. “It could’ve been one of life’s biggest challenges,” says Kolga, a senior district business manager for Novo Nordisk Canada, an affiliate of the global healthcare company. “But Novo Nordisk never made it feel it was a stress or a burden for them.”
In fact, in a matter of days, Novo Nordisk had implemented a series of initiatives designed to help employees. Within two weeks, the company had connected employees virtually to an ergonomics consultant to help properly set up home offices. There were virtual fitness classes twice a week at a time to suit everyone across the country and at different levels of difficulty. A six-week resilience work shop, a healthy eating series and an organizational psychologist helped employees to manage their mental health.
Novo Nordisk also set up an educational platform, where employees could take work-related or personal courses, and the social committee, which typically arranges outings to such places as Canada’s Wonderland, put on virtual get-togethers (in one, employees could learn to belly dance).
Even the company’s benefits program was expanded to reflect some new realities. Novo Nordisk now reimburses employees for things like ergonomic chairs and tables to be used in home offices as well as health-related items such as blenders, juicers, massagers and home food delivery – all, as Angie Ng, director of human resources, explains, “in the spirit of helping an employee and their family to stay safe and healthy.”
In turn, Novo Nordisk employees — including pharmacists, physicians, nurses and other healthcare experts — have been helping others through the pandemic. “We recognize with COVID-19 that not only do we have a responsibility to our family and to our workplace but to our broader community,” says Ng. “We were all looking beyond what we normally do to leverage our expertise.”
Through the company’s Take Action volunteer program, pharmacists and diabetes nurse educators have taken to the phones, for example, to speak with patients to alleviate the strain on the healthcare system. “When you are able to help others in a way that’s safe, it makes you feel that you have done something for yourself and the community,” Ng adds.
Other employees found their own way to help: a group in Kolga’s community were able to raise enough money to cover one local school’s breakfast and lunch program for a full year.
And through it all, Novo Nordisk has kept the lines of communication wide open – including weekly virtual drinks with the president. “We really share vulnerable stories,” says Ng, who was also coping with having both parents in the hospital during the lockdown. “Employees at all different levels share stories, and we interview executives, so that people know we’re all alike.”
“I really believe in the people who are leading this company because they always seem to lead with the best interests of the employee first,” says Kolga. “It’s very easy to be a great culture when times are really good, but I think the true culture really shines through in tough times.”
