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covid-19remote

Responding to COVID-19 together

Vincent Korstanje Vincent Korstanje
March 3, 2021
Many of our partners and customers have asked us to share how Kigen has approached managing this crisis, and in the spirit of sharing any information that might be useful to others, here’s what how we have responded to COVID-19, what we’ve learned, and how we’re thinking about the path ahead.

Kigen’s code to working during COVID-19

  • Protect our workforce: For both the physical and mental wellbeing of our workforce, while supporting our broader global community.
  • Support each other by working flexibly, embracing family life (alongside home-schooling interruptions, blocking off focus times for self or family are encouraged), and pull together to get us all through these challenging times.
  • Start all decision-making with the facts.
  • Partner with our industry peers and learn from one another: Numerous peers have helped, and we have the benefit of being a part of Arm and having access to the experience of our extensive ecosystem.
  • Ensure business continuity: Support our members and customers and minimize disruption to our day-to-day business operations and performance.

We live by candor and open communication, and believe that clear, concise and honest dialogue is essential to support everyone through these uncertain times.

Supporting our people

This is our first priority. Kigen was launched as a standalone business in 2020 in the midst of lockdown and has operated remotely for over 40 weeks. Our teams span 11 countries and quickly pivoted to supporting the demand for the right setup to work remotely, adjusting flexibly to the needs of those who have to juggle caring duties of other kinds – working from home with kids, homeschooling or intergenerational support.

Putting wellbeing first

We recognize mental health and wellbeing is vital across our happening hub of 100+ employees in Belfast and other smaller, but equally vibrant and welcoming offices around the world. To support this better, we’ve observed dedicated days of downtime where we can have a company day to take care of ourselves and our loved ones away from screens. Discovering new simple joys has been an overriding and global phenomenon through this troubling pandemic, and our Days of Care (two in 2020, and one in late February of 2021) are an opportunity to readdress balance.

Kigen's Days of Care are an opportunity to regain time for a better work-life balance.

Our teams have all had access to tools for mental, physical and emotional wellbeing via Unmind – something we are very proud to join in.

Communicating often and transparently

We live by candor and open communication, and believe that clear, concise and honest dialogue is essential to support everyone through these uncertain times. We have monthly virtual all-hands call that round up updates from all areas of the business. These are supplemented by Q&A feeds in Slack where all the responses are available for catch up along with recordings of these calls for those who are unavailable. All key field teams aim for a mix of broadcasts and regular virtual syncs, catering for multiple time zones to suit our global team.

Transparency is also about inclusion. This is why I initiated a guest spot on our Leadership Team, which invites a non-executive member of our team to participate in the management discussion and decisions. Challenges, fresh perspectives, questions from different vantage points, all help us make sure our agile and dynamic pace more informed and robust.

Moving forward virtually

Whilst this has been a challenging time for many, we are proud that our teams have worked cross-functionally to make supporting our customers their priority. We conducted our GSMA SAS-SM accreditation – a process which includes an intensive audit to ensure our compliance to GSMA standards virtually. 

We continue to build our world-class team, interviewing and onboarding our new talent virtually. As we look ahead to our future, and consider what a return to offices would look like, we continue to have an open and engaged dialogue on what we want our company culture to be. Together, we are considering the implications and benefits of a fully remote or flexibly occupied collaboration environment for our work-life balance and performance. We are listening and learning what helps our teams do their best work.

Throughout the past year, we have learned the huge potential for transparency and trust in how technology can impact wider society.

Mobilizing employees

Throughout the past year, we have learned the huge potential for transparency and trust in how technology can impact wider society. We want our business to help create durable and lasting value to society as we enable IoT that contributes to making our world more sustainable, equitable and greener.

Kigen team is cheering each other off-screen on a run or bike at our Strava group

Our employee driven Kigen Community is connecting with various ways in our mantra of ‘Be excellent to all’ and ‘Think big, act fast’. This organic movement makes us very proud that our teams have intently come together to be there for each other in virtual ways: from celebrating key delivery milestones or solving online mysteries together on-screen to encouraging each other off-screen on Team Kigen’s Strava group on a run or bike! While the challenges and hours managing this situation are significant, what we learn will benefit our company for years to come.

If there is anything else you have seen work well in your organizations that can benefit us all, please share – we are all in this together.