The first tentative steps

The dawning of the Year Of The Rat, the first of all the zodiac animals, augured well for the clever, quick thinkers. Little did they know that their resourcefulness was about to be tested.

COVID-19 laid waste to most of the traditional, extended New Year celebrations in China, with Spring and Lantern Festivals cancelled all over the country. From the end of January, lockdowns were imposed to contain the growing threat of a pandemic, effectively pressing pause on life in China at a time when it traditionally bursts into colour.

And for our people there, almost overnight, everything changed.

Carol Zhu is the marketing director for Elsevier, which employs just over 200 people in China. She is based in Shanghai.  

“We started isolation and home-working on the third day of Lunar New Year on 27 January,” says Carol. “Initially we were supposed to go back to the office on 3 February after the ten-day public holiday. But the rapid spread of COVID-19 changed all that.”

“We immediately formed a marketing task-force and only after a few short weeks we announced the official launch of the Elsevier COVID-19 resource centre on WeChat and in only three working days we launched the COVID-19 and viral disease research global outlook map facilitated by Baidu, the Chinese local search engine. Since then we have published 72 marketing articles on WeChat and other social media which have been viewed more than 300,000 times in less than two months. The work we have been doing in Elsevier has contributed hugely to the global sharing of information about COVID-19 and the team is proud of our involvement towards the global effort.”

In Beijing, the timing was a little different, with RELX’s main office of around 200 colleagues closing in the first week of February.

“At first it almost felt like an extension of the New Year holiday,” says Nancy Chen, senior government affairs manager for RELX, based in Beijing, “except I would just be working from home instead of celebrating. However, after a few days of lockdown trying to work from my bedroom with my two-year-old baby daughter constantly interrupting, and with the development of the COVID-19 epidemic in the news every day, I began to realise this was going to be a challenge.”

For Olivia Zhang, marketing manager at Genilex within LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Insurance business in Beijing, the lockdown did more than just change her working pattern. “I had to cancel a family holiday to Shanghai Disneyland and a tour of southeast China,” says Olivia. “But in terms of work, well, we adjusted pretty quickly but it was a challenge to get the balance right between work and home life.”

For Josephine Lee, chief operating officer for Reed Exhibitions China, based in Shenzhen in the south near Hong Kong, the start of the lockdown was pretty difficult. “The lockdown of the cities was quite scary,” says Josephine. “Everywhere was empty. And besides working and staying at home there was basically nothing to do.”

“For our business though, the immediate priority was to work with the business continuity management teams and our customers to move as many shows as we could to later in the year. This meant constant dialogue with all sorts of stakeholders and keeping our teams fully informed.”

The lockdown at New Year and the need to work at home was not straightforward for Nick Chen, sales manager for Accuity China - part of Risk and Business Analytics, either. “In the beginning it wasn’t easy for me at home. I have a five-year-old boy who, like all children, can be naughty at times and he’d crawl all over me from time to time when I was trying to work. And as a family, like millions of others, we were worried because no one knew when this was going to be over.”

With offices rapidly closing, the challenge was on to move over 1,100 people out of offices to working from home within days. Technology, a focus on wellbeing and outright creativity provided the cornerstones of the homeworking success.

“Our HR, technology and management teams provided effective tools, tips and new ways of working at home,” says Carol Zhu. “But what really surprised us was just how readily our customers adopted digital platforms to talk with us, rather than having to meet face-to-face. As we start now to look to the future, I think this will serve us well and provides opportunities for us to work even smarter for our customers.”

“During the lockdown, we organised numerous webinars reaching close to 40,000 attendees, generating 260 leads and receiving 341 trial requests within a month. I am so proud of that. In fact, despite the challenges, we met our first quarter new sales target thanks to our strong team collaboration.”

For Nancy Chen, it’s been a similar story.

“Our China management team and HR issued a working policy update every week, briefing everyone on how our businesses in China were coping with the situation; what local initiatives had been done to keep the business active and on top of that, remind us that the safety and wellbeing of employees remain the company’s priority. All of this really helped reassure us at a time of uncertainty and self-isolation.”

“Our technology team has been fantastic. They have updated virtual meeting facilities and enhanced remote access capability so that we are able to conduct meetings and access on-line resources across RELX just as we used to do in the office. I attended an Elsevier Greater China online meeting in early March. All Greater China employees joined a whole-day online video gathering looking at plans for 2020. It was pretty impressive.”

“I speak a lot with stakeholders in Chinese government bodies and that has been mainly through WeChat, the most-used social media tool in China. I can feel a sense of common empathy between us now which helps ease the conversations and I am getting to know people better as we share homeworking experiences. Particularly how to keep the children quiet. And, for me personally, I have learnt through the lockdown to have more self-discipline to find the fine line between work and life, not to over-stress myself, leave plenty time for my daughter and keep productive. Thanks to RELX’s flexible approach, I didn’t find it especially difficult to cope with the new rhythm.”

“I am not a fan of working from home, so initially it drove me crazy”, says Min Chen, chief technology officer and VP of product for LexisNexis Legal & Professional Asia Pacific. “I am based in Shanghai and I have a team of around 240 employees across the Asia Pacific region.”

“But given the tech-driven nature of our business we are fortunate in that a lot of our work can be done remotely. Even though COVID-19 is a painful challenge, there is a silver lining in this shift in how we work. And this pushes us toward new ways of gathering and sharing information. Before this pandemic, most of our customer discovery was through face to face interaction. With lockdown, we grew our ‘remote research’ skills to new heights. We figured out a few innovative ways to capture precise feedback from customers on product usability testing through remote calls. It’s been very successful.”

Josephine Lee shares a similar experience in lockdown. “We ran a lot of small team meetings to engage employees and ensure they understood the overall picture and priorities each week. We did everything we could to keep them motivated and make sure they had access to tech tools that worked well for them. It was also important to make sure they knew that while they were physically working alone, they were not alone. We did a lot to support people’s mental wellbeing. For me, working at home has, in some ways, enhanced efficiency as I am able to save travelling time.”

“We used Teams and WeChat to stay in contact with customers and colleagues during the lockdown. These have been very effective. We also started launching online match-making sessions and online seminars to help our exhibitors to meet buyers online as they can’t visit their customers physically. The online seminars provided excellent networking and branding opportunities for our customers. In just six weeks we ran up to 100 sessions and attracted 240,000 participants in total.”

“I think staying calm and positive has been really important. Also, I became very creative in using the same ingredients for different dishes as we did not want to go out every day for shopping, in order to minimise the risk for infection.”

For Simon Tian, senior solution sales manager for Elsevier’s eBooks, based in Beijing, the move to homeworking was relatively smooth. “Because RELX is a global company, we are familiar with remote working, so for me the transition was quite smooth.”

“We continued to engage with customers and colleagues through a range of technologies - working on new solutions together. We are not complacent, but the China eBooks team achieved its first quarter target and that is testament to the resilience of our people, customer loyalty and the technology available to us.”

“The lockdown actually presented us with a unique planning opportunity,” says Nick Chen. “We have made good use of the time to review and plan further ahead. Something we don’t always have enough time to do. As a result, we came up with a more executable plan. We are very confident about it too. And on a personal level I have also discovered I am a pretty good cook.”

“RELX provided multiple resources during that difficult period. Among other things our leaders brought in some external specialists to help with mental wellbeing too which was invaluable. And our real estate team has been working hard to get our office ready for our return. All these things gave us a lot of confidence that the business was in control.”

As the peak of the pandemic passed in China there has been a gradual and phased relaxation of restrictions across the country and our people have been returning to their offices. It’s not like it used to be just yet, but there’s palpable relief. From being able to grab a Starbucks and taking a walk in the park, to finally meeting up with family, friends and colleagues in person the changes are bringing hope that the worst in China is over.

“We started to go back to the office on 16 March,” says Carol Zhu. “However, office occupation is limited to 50 percent each day at present so we can keep our social distancing and we are all wearing masks. It is a relief to be able to go outside again. The metro used to be extremely crowded but now we have the luxury of one arm’s distance between standing passengers. Shanghai is much quieter right now.”

“Through this whole experience I have learnt a lot from my manager, my mentor and my peers. Elsevier’s culture is so unique and really inspired us to think broadly, act innovatively and work collaboratively. I am happy to be part of Elsevier and to contribute to the wellbeing of our research and health community.”

“I remember the moment when I sipped a proper Starbucks latte on the first day I returned to the office in early April,” says Nancy Chen. “It felt like some degree of normality had returned even though I am going in only one or two days a week right now. One thing is for sure though, now I feel strongly how important it is to have a social life beyond your family circle. I can tell from their eyes that my colleagues are really very happy to see one another in person, not just behind the computer camera.”

“When restrictions started to ease,” says Min Chen, “I remember the first day I went back to office. I was super excited that I was able to see everyone in 3D again.”

“The transition has been gradual and initially people were quite cautious. But we took actions to give our employees reassurance. And now that the number of new cases is down to zero in Shanghai, everyone is pretty relaxed.”

“Although things are still serious outside of China, we are very optimistic that the whole world will get through this in a few months. Our company may suffer some temporary challenges like everyone else, but as long as we have our people, we will be able to take the right actions to not only help ourselves recover but also help our customers in the post-COVID-19 world.”

For Wenhui Liu, HR and finance director at Genilex within LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Insurance business, it was also a cautious but welcome return to the office. “We split the team into two groups that come into the office every other day, which meets the government’s requirement of only 50 percent of people in the office at any given time,” says Wenhui. “This also allows us to keep social distancing.”

“The first day we got back into the office people were so keen to ask about friends and family. We also shared lunch stories if people had visited restaurants, as they have been closed for so long and many still are. But the most noticeable change is the office is quiet with only half the people in. But the virus has not stopped people from communicating. It had been a long time of isolation, so we have so much to share with each other. We were all happy to see everyone back and safe.”

Olivia Zhang agrees. “It seems that the whole Genilex team has been more united and more collaborative during this COVID-19 period. I think people feel more valued. But overall, I take COVID-19 not only as a big challenge but also a great opportunity for our business. Our online business support, online insurance product design and development and other good practices have helped improve remote communication and collaboration. I feel positive that we will beat COVID-19 in the long run, and I believe Genilex will be more flexible in meeting customer needs, developing and upgrading products and inspiring employees in the future.”

Back in Shenzhen, when the restrictions lifted, Josephine Lee took immediate advantage. “I have been hiking in the mountains with my husband every weekend since the lockdown eased and we have been out for dinner a few times,” says Josephine.

“We started to go back to the office in batches, in line with the city guidance and social distancing. The atmosphere in the first week was quite tense as it was really quiet, but we are glad that we are able to be back as this is a good sign for returning to normal life. A lot of us were happy to return to work after staying home for such a long period. I believe whenever there is a crisis with dramatic changes, there is also the potential for new opportunities. Downturns require individuals and businesses to rethink, retool and adapt, which often results in the long-term in greater efficiency. This is a moment for us to re-energise and evolve.”

For Simon Tian it has been the small things that have made the difference post lockdown. “What I enjoyed most after the restrictions were eased was being able to go out for a walk and breathe freely without a mask in places where there aren’t many people. And I started to go out with my kids to the forest at the weekend.”

“Back in the office it is still very quiet. I like to work from the office and only a few people are in right now. So away from my kids, I can focus on my work and improve my efficiency. The office is the same as before, except we have to measure our body-temperature three times a day and wash our hands much more than before. Gradually more and more people are returning - but unfortunately so are the traffic-jams.”

And finally, like many of us across the world, the first thing Nick Chen did when the restrictions eased was to get a haircut. “I came back to the office the moment it was re-opened. It was a nice feeling as this is a strong signal that things are finally getting back to normal. After a few weeks working from home, we are already able to find ways to work productively in a remote way. However, it’s always good to see colleagues in person rather than through a webcam. The atmosphere is very good and all members in the team are sharing their own thoughts and ideas for the future."

"The final bit of advice I would give to people is to focus on things you can control and don’t worry too much about the things you can’t.”