How Dell Technologies adjusted its total rewards programme to support employee wellbeing

Since early in the pandemic, the leadership team has regularly communicated with employees and was fully transparent about decisions made, says Samprita Majumder, Global Benefits – APJ Leader, Dell Technologies.

In response to COVID-19, what were some of the key changes your organisation made to your total rewards programme? How did you ensure these adjustments did not affect employee morale?

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dell Technologies made adjustments to our total rewards programme. Some of these were enhancements in support of our team members’ overall wellbeing, while others were precautionary business decisions looking at the longterm financial impact.

Since early in the pandemic, our leadership has had a regular cadence of communicating with team members, being fully transparent about why these decisions have been made and the reasoning behind them.

We also created an internal COVID advisory page on our intranet where team members can find updates, FAQs, links to internal and external resources, and ask questions. While it is impossible to address every individual need and situation, the steps we have taken are designed to support team members when it comes to supporting their families, communities and customers.

Changes we made include:

• Providing 15 days of COVID-19-related paid leave on top of the regular paid time off.
• Enhancing our wellness programmes such as webinars, and resources addressing emotional/mental health issues, parenting, and home schooling.
• Making travel adjustments early during the pandemic due to mandated travel restrictions.
• While we introduced a flexible, outcomes-based approach to working over 10 years ago, in response to the pandemic we shifted from roughly 65% to 90% of our workforce to working fully remote in one weekend. We are also continuing to expand our flexible workplace policies to allow team members to choose the work style that best fits them.

As the pandemic unfolds, we continue to evaluate the situation and share all decisions around the proactive measures we are taking with our teams.

While we introduced a flexible, outcomes-based approach to working over 10 years ago, in response to the pandemic we shifted from roughly 65% to 90% of our workforce to working fully remote in one weekend.

With many employees continuing to work remotely across Southeast Asia, how has your organisation adjusted your benefits and perks programme to better support remote workers?

Dell Technologies has been on a mission to provide a flexible work culture for many years. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken further steps to support remote working through our Connected Workplace programme.

This provides a one-time allowance for all eligible team members to support them in setting up a home workspace in addition to company-provided technology and peripherals. In some cases, where we have been able to, we’ve enhanced things such as childcare and parenting support, and emotional and mental wellness programmes like resiliency training through a new EAP programme [meQuilibrium].

As we emerge into a new normal, what do you expect the total rewards landscape to look like? In line with the changes, how do you expect your role to evolve?

I would expect a digital transformation at rapid speed with programmes like telemedicine and teleconsultation evolving in the Asia market. Post COVID-19, there will be an increased focus on overall employee wellbeing: physical, mental, financial and social. As a C&B Leader, the need for agility and innovative thinking is paramount as we embrace the new normal and experience a whole new dimension.

Human Resources Online is on Telegram! Follow us @humanresourcesonline or click here for all the latest weekly HR and manpower news from around the region.