As a Melburnian who has just entered our second round of COVID-19 restrictions for the next six weeks, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has moments of feeling slightly overwhelmed. The steady stream of online deliveries to my door suggests that I may have been engaging in a little bit of retail therapy to help me get through it.
One of the themes that has resonated with me in recent articles is compassion. Research on consumer spending has shown that people are putting their money behind organisations that show they care. Compassionate organisations fare much better, as people want to engage with businesses that are doing the right thing. Not only is caring the right thing to do, but it’s also is good for your mental and physical health.
At Clicks, compassion is a key component in four of our five core values: Integrity, Service, Teamwork, and Excellence. We have a dedicated Contractor Care team, who have always delivered an amazing program to our contractor workforce. Here are just a few features of our Contractor Care program:
- We’ve recently invested in market-leading timesheet and payroll systems, so it’s simple for our contractors get paid on time, each and every time.
- Recognition of birthdays and anniversaries, even in iso! We celebrate nearly 150 birthdays and anniversaries every month. It’s lucky we don’t have cake for each one!
- Rewards for referring other great candidates who could contract through Clicks.
- Our multi award-winning Wellness Program, with a weekly Wellness Matters newsletter and advice from healthcare professionals. We also have free flu shots…reminder to get your flu shot, if you haven’t already!
- Our Contractor Benefits Program includes discounts on everything from IT certifications to health insurance to businesswear to mobile phone plans and more.
I spoke to Rachel Fancoli, who heads up our National Contractor Care Program, about how she and her team responded to the initial COVID-19 lockdowns. Rachel said they made a conscious decision to change their approach to have a particular focus on compassion for our contractors.
“Communication and keeping in touch was key. We put together a buddy list and called our contractors at least once a week to make sure they were ok, if they were able to work from home and if they were managing the transitions ok. We pretty much kept calling them until they told us to stop! Everyone is slightly different, and we paid special attention to those contractors we knew were living alone, had health issues, or had to home-school their kids whilst working full time.
We also communicated via email and didn’t assume we knew what anyone wanted. For example, Clicks is pretty famous for the social events that we run throughout the year. That obviously needed to stop in line with physical distancing guidelines. So we asked our contractors what they wanted to do. 80% preferred to wait until it was safe, rather than organise remote events.”
As a result, we’ve received some really great feedback in our June Contractor Feedback Survey:
- “Appreciate the support the team has given me before COVID-19 and continued seamlessly during COVID-19.”
- “It’s been informative and timely, so keep doing what you’re doing.”
- “Thanks, Clicks – I recommend you guys whenever I can!”
- “I like Clicks, and would like to stay with Clicks.”
Clearly, it pays to care. Clicks has a large number of resources to help you support your teams during this period to show that you care. Check out our Remote Workforce Management Resources, and our blogs relating to wellness and supporting the community.
You can subscribe to our blog here, and for contractor support or any hiring needs, please reach out to your Clicks Account Manager or me on 0407 860 925 to see how we can help. Because we really do care!
Regional General Manager, VIC/ACT
