EFC offers employers customised virtual solutions and training

In a bid to enable companies to have wider accessibility to HR and legal solutions, advisory services and training in a landscape of unprecedented challenges fuelled by the global pandemic, the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has launched a series of interventions. 

The services which are open to both EFC members and non-members, are also geared in meeting business and workplace demands to suit the ‘new normalcy’ shaped by the COVID pandemic. The solutions encompassing HR, Legal and Training, are customised to be delivered to employers in a virtual environment as means of mitigating the health threats the pandemic entails. 

EFC Head of Solutions (HR & Legal) and Assistant Director General Sewwandi Jayatunga Wijesekera stated that, with the objective of catering to specific business requirements of each client, the EFC’s Solutions Unit drafts policies for remote work/work from home arrangements and also reviews such policies which are already devised by companies. 

“In this process, we also offer advice on remote work, alternative work mechanisms, work-life balance and handling crisis within crisis. In addition, we also offer advice on restructuring of work, minimising lay-offs and maximising productivity as well as Work/Motion Studies for reengineering of the business processes,” noted Wijesekera. 

Risk Assessment for Resumption of Work by qualified and certified OSH Auditors, OSH audits and ergonomics related Audits are also provided.

All these services are now offered at concessionary rates considering the crisis situation which prevails and the EFC members are entitled to further discounts. 

Commenting on the positive engagement the company has had with the EFC’s Solutions Unit, Link Natural Products Ltd. Head of Human Resources Gihan Vidanagama said: “We have harnessed the EFC’s Solutions for three projects so far. The EFC’s expertise in the Process Improvement Project helped us to improve the efficiency of the operations in production and other functional areas of the management. The competency-based system which included both technical and behavioural competencies required for company employees at managerial/ executive and non-executive level tremendously helped to revamp the Performance Management System. The EFC’s expertise in developing the skills required for conducting effective performance appraisal discussions among those who are responsible for appraising the performance of their subordinates further boosted our Training aspect related to Performance Management System.” 

The EFC’s Training Unit conducted a series of webinars free of charge under the broad theme of ‘Business Continuity’ to assist the private sector members during the island-wide lockdown. All these webinars, as the EFC Assistant Director General (Advisory Services)/Head of Training Yashoravi Bakmiwewa said, were delivered by experts in each field. A special webinar on mental health during the pandemic and coping strategies, was also held with the participation of some of the top professionals in the country. 

“Once the lockdown was lifted and work resumed, we took steps to conduct our well attended Certificate Course in Labour Law and Industrial Relations, in a virtual environment. The course is to commence in August. Several more webinars under the banner ‘Managing a crisis within a crisis’, to discuss re-negotiating employment terms whilst marinating employee engagement, cessation of employment including successfully rolling out a VRS, virtual working and ergonomics for work from home are also lined up,” says Bakmiwewa, adding that the EFC also undertakes customised trainings as per the requests of companies – both in house as well as online.

Applauding the online training experience Mobitel Ltd. had with the EFC, Mobitel Senior Manager, Human Resources Rikaza Faiz said that the initiative was both timely and elicited an overwhelming feedback from the participants who found it insightful and informative. The training sessions on ‘Employee Misconduct and Disciplinary Procedure for Line Managers’ were conducted by the EFC early this month through online Cisco WebEx Application. 

“The decision to conduct these sessions online, considering the risk associated with the pandemic situation in the country and further considering the practical difficulty in bringing these Line Managers who are posted across the country to one location, was a very proactive move and we look forward to similar engagements with the EFC in future,” she remarked.