The morning meeting at Woodpecker Furniture takes place on the dot, every day at 10.30 a.m. S. Swaminathan, founder and managing director of the company has been diligently following this practice since the lockdown was in place.

He would address ten of his senior employees at this hour, and the group includes the store manager, staff from the purchase, accounts, finance and customer care departments and this morning engagement goes on for an hour.

In the early half of the meeting, there is hardly anything business-like about this meeting, unless caring is understood as being integral to business. With the crisis taking a toll on people's mental health, this meeting is geared to find out how each of them and the rest of the employees are coping with the situation.

With this taking care of, they move on to talking shop, and the discussion revolves around the new skills they have to hone, product ideas they can experiment with, and the meeting will come to close immediately after a brainstorming session in which they mine for innovative ideas.

While it is given that majority of corporates are using the lockdown to have reskilling and upskilling programmes, such exercises are not restricted to the big players in the industry. Many of the neighbourhood stores in Chennai are putting this time to good use by staying connected with their staff, keeping them motivated and engaged.

From creative sessions for employees to master classes, the offering is quite wide and is aimed at benefiting both the employer and the employee.

On April 30, Woodpecker staff had a talent show where each of them was given five minutes each to showcase their talent for creative expression.

Currently, they are well into a 15-day virtual programme called “leadership through communication”. Viji Swaminathan, founder-director of the company handles this programme.

“Post the calls, these leaders are expected to do a conference call with their subordinates including sales staff,” says Viji, adding that they have over 20 staff working for their three outlets.

New outlook

Eve’s beauty parlour, which has six branches in the city with 50 employees on its payroll, has initiated an upskilling programme perhaps for the first time. The management has tied up with brands such as L’Oreal, Lotus and O3 to offer their employees online training sessions.

“Amidst work it has not been possible to put our staff through such training. Even in the beauty business, there is a plethora of new skills waiting to be developed, as it covers a range of sub-specialisations. There can't be a better opportunity for having some new lessons,” says David Kao, proprietor of the beauty chain.

A minimum of two hours is set aside for these virtual classes.

Palam Silks has over 70 staff employed in its four stores in Chennai, and while upskilling was considered, they did not take the idea forward.

A majority of the staff are from small towns plagued by infrastructural issues. They had a bigger concern. “We realised that a majority of them are not in a frame of mind to attend any classes as they are worried if they will have jobs when they return. We have instructed all our supervisors to make calls every week to check on them and also to assure them that their job is secure and they will have it when they return,” says Vineeta Palam, who is in-charge of sales and communication. “That’s our way of keeping their morale up,” she adds.