It’s hard to believe that we are about to enter the third year of Covid. To say that the world has changed is an understatement. It seems that pandemics will be with us into the future but hopefully we are learning valuable lessons from Covid as to how to at least live with them.
As this eventful year draws to a close we asked the Maximus team how they have managed with this new way of life – particularly as far as their work is concerned but also how they were affected personally by Covid.
We had some interesting replies especially from senior administrator Ansie Swanepoel, employee benefits administrator Susan Davis and healthcare specialist Lorraine Mashale and administrator Kamiela Arend.
As Susan says: “What we originally thought was a three- week work from home situation turned out to be a complete change to the way of life as we knew it.”
Lorraine reminded us that: “27 March 2020 was when South Africa came to a complete standstill”. It was on that day that Level 5 lockdown started and the first death from Covid in SA was announced. Twenty-one months later the number of deaths is now close to 90 000. It’s been a terrible tragedy for so many.
But how has Covid affected Maximus in our stated aim to provide a high level of service to our clients? Although some of our staff have been coming into the office periodically, most are still mainly working from home especially now with the current resurgence of the virus.
Ansie told us that from the start she has adopted a strict work from home regimen so that her normal work ethic would not change. She says she has tried to stick to a “normal routine” by “getting up at the same time as always and dressing as if I were going to the office”.
But what of the difficulties doing business during Covid? Susan tells us that “2021 has been by far the biggest challenge. Our service providers still have the bulk of their staff members working from home and they are often facing Covid burn out and in some cases have become de-motivated. Some are distracted by children and house chores with a resulting drop in response times”. In one instance an employee from one of the companies Susan deals with told her that “two of my colleagues have passed away this year due to Covid and I have been given a further 52 corporate clients to manage!”
Lorraine has had to deal with a problematic and inconsistent internet connection at home but nevertheless has managed.
Ansie says that “by sharing my personal cell number the contact and communication has been positive; however there have been more after hours calls from clients with requests”. Nevertheless, as Ansie says: “clients have loved the interaction, no matter the time of day!”.
And how has Covid affected our team personally? Firstly, Ansie says she has greatly missed the everyday interaction with colleagues. This must be one of the biggest downsides to working from home. Ansie also says that load shedding has hindered work routine when there is such a reliance on the internet for just about all communications. On a personal note Ansie says she has “seen a lot of heartache and pain with the loss of family members, friends and jobs due to Covid”.
Lorraine says that continuing to be able to provide a service in these most difficult of times has “given me strength to put in those extra hours even though there were days when I felt mentally and emotionally drained”.
Susan says that, despite the difficulties experienced at some of the companies she deals with, her focus has been “to always get member claims and queries dealt with in as quick a turnaround time as possible”.
Kamiela found it difficult initially to work from home due to family disruptions. This meant she had to re-organise her house to provide for office space and a workable environment.
Kamiela added: “I found myself working longer hours and it was difficult to switch off, creating unnecessary anxiety and burn out. It took hard work to keep the balance of the home and work environments separate.”
On a positive note, Kamiela found that the levels of service and communication to our clients was “very good”. The use of new technology such as Zoom & Teams helped considerably especially with training. WhatsApp has become a useful communication tool as well.
Certainly, nobody can say they have been unaffected by the pandemic. We can only hope that the new year will bring further progress in what is a universal war against the virus. In the meantime we are proud of our record of continuing professional service to our clients and come 2022 there will be no let-up in our endeavours to continue providing a service of the highest quality.