27th October, 2020

JobNet Webinar Summary: Surviving and Thriving in the Next Phase of the Pandemic

HR departments are playing a central role in managing organizations through the current uncertainty.

On October 7th, 2020, JobNet organized an HR Industry webinar to share the insights of what HR experts from leading local and international companies operating in Myanmar have learned from the 1st wave of the pandemic, and how that has allowed them to be better prepared or implement forward-thinking policies as the country has entered a second, currently ongoing pandemic wave. In this webinar, Matt De Luca, MD of JobNet Myanmar served as a moderator, while speakers were: Ms. Swe Zin Thet, HR Director of Unilever Myanmar Group, Ms. Valentina Lwin, HR Director of Yoma Land, Ms. Aye Mya Thida, HR Director of Coca-Cola Pinya Beverages Myanmar, and Ms. May Oo Hlaing, Senior HR & Admin Manager of Pocari Sweat Otsuka Myanmar. 

The webinar discussed five key topics. It was opened with a question; what operational and strategic roles of the HR department in handling incredible challenges during the last six months and how HR experts and management teams have played out changes in their organizations.  Ms. Swe Zin Thet, HR Director of Unilever Myanmar Group, emphasized the new responsibilities of HR in this present challenging time, “HR role is the key to support their organization and catalyzing the changes in the workplace as well during the pandemic we have to make sure that we are protecting our people and their livelihoods”. She continued, “We have to make sure that our people, especially the very young workforce, are constantly engaged and enthused to achieve our objectives and purposes together.”

Then, they shared how their global or regional headquarters have helped their HR team in the crisis on the ground in Myanmar. HR Director of Coca-Cola Myanmar, Ms. Aye Mya Thida, shared how the international headquarter of Coca-Cola, which has been 134 years already in global food and beverage industry, has supported all country HR directors to response the pandemic and how the local country office has effectively performed health and safety protocols and guidelines. 

Under the discussion of what they have learnt during the first wave, what changes especially digital and technology things have come across, what the biggest challenges were, and how they have turned out these challenges to opportunities, each speaker presented the interesting facts and scenarios that they have encountered and performed within their organization. And, you can also learn how these organizations support, care and show their compassion to their frontline employees who can’t work at home because of their work nature. 

Ms. Valentina Lwin, HR Director of Yoma Land, shared her exciting experience in Yoma Group, which is a leading multi-industry group in Myanmar, among the challenges. She clearly pointed out the challenges in technology, “We’ve tried out the working from home arrangement and there were lots of both psychological and logistic kinds of challenges that we faced with working from home. And, of course, we use lots of different software in our organization for drafting and drawing and architecting design and all the things that are just beyond Microsoft word and office. So, those were a real challenge for us because we needed to make sure that there was the right capacity and server access and all technology.” Then, she raised a good point that the labour force of Yoma Group is mixed with white colors and blue colors, so it isn’t possible to apply working from home system for the operational frontline workforce. She describes how Yoma has done effective labour management practices which are able to protect and be safe for the well-being of its frontline employees. And, you can see very inspirational employee engagement activities of Yoma Group in her presentation. 

From the webinar, you can also get the insights on the crisis management practices by Otsuka Myanmar Company they implemented during the first wave, and procedures they have set in place for the future, and how they have stepped into the digital hiring process from Ms. May Oo Hlaing, Sr. HR & Admin Manager of Otsuka Myanmar. Based on the experiences from the first wave, they have prepared how to build transparent communications with their employees and customers. Even in this unprecedented time, they did not stop engaging with current employees and potential employees in the market. Ms. May Oo Hlaing also shared in detail how Otsuka Myanmar is running the onboarding process to be effective and engaged by utilizing technology during working from home period. 

“Whatever unprecedented time we are in, nothing can stop the progression of human beings if we always find innovative and effective solutions to make through.” Ms. Aye Mya Thida, HR Director of Coca-Cola Myanmar stated. “I would say that in this kind of pandemic situation, nobody can stop us. So, we can transition from the traditional way to the digital way. We didn’t stop our recruitment training, development training, staff engagement, and well-being for them. We didn’t stop anything. We just changed our approaches.” Then, the speakers discussed their perspectives on very good questions raised by the participants. 

To watch the full video of this webinar, CLICK HERE

To book a demo session of the Talent CRM software by JobNet mentioned, contact us at sales@JobNet.com.mm

Even during the last 6 months, JobNet never stops supporting the HR community in Myanmar. So far, JobNet has held two HR professional webinars in June and October. For further information about JobNet’s professional series or services for employers, please contact info@jobnet.com.mm .