The impact of the COVID19 pandemic: In conversation with Philippe Huinck

Philippe Huinck, CEO Corporate Services Asia Pacific shares his thoughts about the COVID19 pandemic, and his thoughts about what business leaders should consider next...

It’s a challenge unlike any other, testing the human spirit, strength, creativity and more. COVID-19 is changing our world, forcing us to rethink on many accounts. Like many organizations, Sodexo too is fighting this battle from the frontlines, while preparing for tomorrow. Sodexo’s CEO for Corporate Services, APAC, Philippe Huinck, provides his perspectives in this Q&A. 
 

1. What is your overall perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic situation?

The majority of the human population alive today has certainly never experienced a crises of this magnitude. It is not only a health crises but one which is having significant impact on our economy, business, cultures, our way of living, working and interacting with other people. 

Yes, these are challenging times, but I believe this is also the time for us to come together to fight this crises with discipline, empathy and agility. Here I would also like to highlight on the valuable support that facility management teams are offering to the healthcare sector as well as all essential service providers. Silently working behind the scenes, the contribution of these ‘essential workers’ in the maintenance of health and hygiene of the people and places they serve is immense. 

With our resilience and capacity to adapt to change, innovative and creative minds, I feel we can tide over this period, dented, but not fully damaged. 

 

2. What is the impact on our business? 

We have been on the front lines of the COVID19 response since it first emerged in China. In Asia Pacific, we established clear business continuity and pandemic plans and have been working 24/7 to ensure that our teams have the right tools and information to reduce transmission risk and mitigate any suspected or confirmed cases, whether at work or at home.

All organisations have a role to play during this time and especially those providing essential services or products. Hence, we are working with our clients and mobilizing our employees, to keep the business operational where needed while helping to reduce the spread of this virus and mitigate its impact. 

• We have ensured continuity of operations according to local situations. For example In Wuhan, China our team continued to provide catering services for the medical teams in hospitals at the epicenter of the novel coronavirus.
• Our staff strictly adheres to the enhanced measures and social-distancing guidelines that we introduced.
• In response to the pandemic’s economic impact, we immediately adopted measures, such as reducing presence at sites, lowering service frequency and cancelling or postponing some services. However, some of our clients needed reinforcement and hence wherever possible, we reassigned our people whose workplaces had closed to other sites urgently requiring additional team members. 
• We are also working proactively with other business sectors like retailers, e-commerce and manufacturing firms, even to find jobs for some employees hit by the COVID-19 economic fallout, who cannot be placed with other clients.

3. How are our customers reacting? What’s our strategy?

Our clients range from pharma, healthcare to facility management, manufacturing and more. Each of these sectors have their own challenges and are working within the government guidelines in each country to sustain their operations and continue their business in the best possible way during this crisis. As a service provider we continue to offer our support and expertise to help our clients with their business continuity. 

Looking ahead, we know that a lot is going to change about the traditional workplace we are looking at how we can support our clients and consumers to meet these changes.
 

Philippe Huinck, at his home workstation

 

4. How are we managing our supply chains? 

Our Supply Team has been continuously monitoring supply levels of equipment and raw materials to provide continuity of our service for clients and consumers. We are working closely with suppliers to monitor availability and ensure high standards of quality and safety. We're also mindful of the difficulties encountered by our suppliers and we're trying to support them as well. For instance, we have implemented agile financing solutions, in particular for SMEs and local suppliers.
 

5. Where do you see the opportunities in the current situation?  

In the post-COVID world there will be many things that will change about the way we work and about the workplace. Social distancing will influence how we utilize our space and how we interact with our colleagues and how we spend our breaks. Hygiene requirement will put strict control on the maintenances of the office buildings as well as consumption of food. 

Another important development will be in the large scale adoption of various technologies that will enable teleconferencing and enterprise chat. Eventually even as the rules around social distancing will get relaxed, these technologies will continue to remain and would become an integral part of our working lives. 

With so many changes in offing, Sodexo, with our extensive experience in facilities management, food, technical services and workplace solutions will be working with clients to create appropriate solutions that will help them keep their employees safe while also continuing to bring ease and efficiency into the ways of working.

6. How are you managing your team / workforce?

I’m very proud of our team at Sodexo! They are our heroes, especially our frontline workers. Starting with China, across APAC and globally, they have been working hard, both at sites and our support offices, supporting our clients and ensuring that work continues. It is not easy and we recognize their contribution and are immensely grateful to them. 

To ensure the health and safety of our people we've been following all the necessary hygiene measures at our offices and sites. Our staff are regularly updated and trained on best practices to maintain hygiene and prevent the spread of the virus. 

Where possible, and in line with local authority recommendations, we have put in place alternative working arrangements to protect them and reduce the spread of the virus. For office-based employees this mostly means home-working or split-team working. Even as we work from home, we want our team to stay connected and also have fun with each other. For example, in Malaysia we have been running educational quizzes with our staff who had to stay home. 

Yet, we know that despite all our efforts, we may just not be able to retain all our on-site staff in some countries, while strictly adhering to local employment legislation. As a result, we have decided to establish a global Sodexo Employee Relief Program to help effected on-site staff. This program is for our employees, by employees. Our leaders globally are giving up their annual remuneration and a portion of their salaries to create this fund.

 

7. What advice do you have for business leaders?

I think as leaders, one thing we should all focus on, is to lead by example. So when we instruct our employees on any point, be it related to safety or hygiene practices, business related decisions, or in communicating to the team during crises, we should be mindful to practice what we preach.

It is also important that we remain visible, approachable and calm. While we may not have all the answers, regularly communicating with our teams and larger employee base on what we are doing, is where our focus should lie and even being transparent about questions we don’t have answers for, will help keep trust and faith in the leadership team and in the organization.

Lastly encourage self-care. These are trying times, and we should let our people know that we understand, we are there for them and we want them to take care of themselves and their families.