[24]7.ai Rolls Out Initiatives To Help Its Employees During COVID-19 Pandemic

[24]7.ai, a global intent-driven customer engagement solutions, has been extending its help to support their employees as well as the public during these challenging times. Over the last few months, the company has rolled out a host of initiatives to keep employees, their families safe as well as take care of those in need of support.

Home office/remote working since 21st March 2020 – over 80 per cent of [24]7.ai employees are working from home to support all functions at the company. To ensure that work processes aren’t affected and the experience is seamless, [24]7.ai is providing employees with fully loaded and compatible computers, corporate broadband and mobile phone reimbursements. In these challenging times, employee wellness is key. The company has provided ergonomic furniture to ensure that employees do not feel the physical strain of working from home.

COVID helpline - The company has set up email and phone helplines for its employees and their families to reach out for any COVID-19 related support and guidance. Team members who need medical assistance, hospitalization, home care, or any other COVID-related support can reach out for help. Services provided include connecting them to a verified list of providers for beds, oxygen, urgent medicines, home care, plasma, food and any other need.

- Given the dire shortage of oxygen for COVID patients, the teams at [24]7.ai have been able to procure oxygen cylinders and concentrators for timely help for employees and their dependents

- The company has also partnered with hospitals to set up temporary Covid Care Centers, to support employees, their families in this time of urgent need.

Insurance - [24]7.ai also provides all its employees with insurance to financially help them in case them or their family members test positive for any strains of the COVID-19 virus.

Awareness for homecare - Periodically, tips on how to build immunity, and stay healthy and safe is shared with all team members. Continuous awareness and education of how to deal with the current situation, as well as if one tests positive, are shared with team members.

Mental health - The environment is quite disturbing and can impact a person’s mental health due to all the negativity around. [24]7.ai has partnered with MindHouse to combine techniques of Yoga, Meditation and Nutrition to solve specific problems across women’s health, everyday wellness, chronic ailments and mental health. These sessions are open for teams and their families.

Online consultation - In-house doctors are available to provide any medical assistance, advice and treatment to team members and their families. These services are available online.

Flexible leave policy - At the start of the pandemic in April 2020 the company anticipated a need for additional time off for COVID affected employees and family members. [24]7.ai rolled out the following initiatives to help employees and their families deal with the situation better:

- Special Offs for lockdown situations, which can be compensated later with additional hours spread of a period of 6 months.

- Fully paid quarantine leave for the recovery period of employees found to be COVID-19 positive.

-  Advance leaves to employees with no leave balance, in difficult lockdown situations.

- Rolled out the ‘Gift of time’ policy, where employees can donate their leaves to others who are in need and exhausted their leaves.

Other corporate policies - The company will be rolling out its Annual Increment cycle as per corporate policy. In addition, the company has also announced an additional performance-linked bonus plan for employees.

Adding further, Nina Nair, Senior Vice President & HRD Head, India & Americas says, “The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted our lives. In addition to taking all steps to protect the safety of our staff, we also have to ensure that their emotional and mental wellbeing is taken care of as well in these especially trying times. Our people have been exemplary in rising above and beyond their own needs to support the organization and their teammates. I am truly humbled by the spirit they show and that gives me the confidence that we will overcome together and move forward doubly stronger and successful.”

Apart from this, the company has undertaken several initiatives for the community such as food, essentials and stationery donations, distributing safety masks to the needy followed by Techforall under which teams collected computers in good condition and donated them to several dozens of such families. The computers were loaded with hardware and software necessary for online education. This is an ongoing initiative and we are continuing to support more and more families.