Umbrella Infocare adopts paperless HR processes during pandemic

Arpana Jaiswal
HR Head, Umbrella Infocare

Remote work – Key trends & challenges

The first quarter after we resumed remote work setup was difficult for us. Quite a lot of them were unprepared. We had to call them regularly to bring a routine and communicate to them that they had to follow the same work routine at home as they used to during their regular office shift. To regularize attendance as this is an activity tied to payroll, we sent out reminders everyday for people to check in and check out. This helped streamline attendance during remote work periods. Another big challenge was getting them to attend meetings on Teams or other meeting platforms with internal teams and customers. We persuaded them to start getting on calls and shared the steps for using Teams via email.

Delivering paperless systems

Before the pandemic lockdown, all our HR processes were paper based and were manually reviewed by our Founder Director. And it was very difficult for us to move the file system to paperless all of a sudden. We thought about it and using soft copies of employee information we had collected; we moved the file system to an online repository. We also began using the Zoho People app for HR processes, sharing files, and sending notifications. For this we uploaded all user data to Zoho.

The entire process was challenging and took us about two to three months but it’s now running smoothly, and our employees can easily access information and manage their attendance as well. They can also view their appraisal feedback and increments based on reviews. We have a transparent and automated system now.

Once we adapted to online and paperless setup, all processes from issuing confirmation letters through Zoho, updates on salary, bonuses and reimbursements have been timely and effective.

Strategies for business profitability

Our approach is that when employees have a strong sense of belonging and are appreciated, it goes a long way in contributing to productivity and efficiency. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we had quite several online events to motivate and support our employees.

Most importantly, when other companies were letting employees go during the lockdown, we never let anyone go in the context of the pandemic. On the contrary, we hired actively during the pandemic, both lateral and freshers, and considerably increased our workforce. There was no change to increments and appraisals and our employees were highly satisfied with our pandemic outreach efforts according to a survey we conducted.

We believe these efforts combined with trust ensured efficiency and productivity, which drive business profitability in turn.

Future of work and workforce

Now, after our pandemic learnings, we are open to fully remote work for jobs that have less dependency on the workplace. This has widened our ability to hire good quality resources. Our plan is to achieve a strength of 500 by 2023.

We will continue to work on building trust, providing good opportunities for growth, robust training and guidance and focus on increasing our brand visibility to make Umbrella Infocare a great company to work for.