TOMRA of Germany has sent PIMI a newsletter completely different from normal PRs. They are speaking about their experience with TOMRA staffs during the new world pandemic. At the prelude they say: TOMRA’s COVID-19 experiences from Japan to Sacramento. We first step our foot in Asia to talk to our colleagues there and understand how day to day changed. They were the ones impacted first and we all can relate to their stories. In order to reflect their experience we had to change the format and introduce each experience by the staff name.
KELLY // Head of TOMRA Sorting Recycling China // Lives in Shanghai
QUARANTINE TIME
I am working from home in Shanghai since February, so the second month now.
HOME OFFICE SETUP
I have a small room in my home, in which I lock myself for most of the day in order to concentrate on work. My
husband and my 2-year-old son are around too, so having my own room is quite helpful in this situation.
BEST EXPERIENCE
With most of us working remotely, we now use the time for internal meetings to regularly exchange plans and ideas and of course to hear how we are doing. I really enjoy these meetings and also use them to train my team. Ultimately, we strengthen our relationships during this time and learn to master any kind of situation together. Besides my team, I also focus a lot on my family and try to spend more time with them.
WORST EXPERIENCE
As I am traveling about 80% of my time, it is now really hard or unfamiliar not to travel and not to meet customers in person. Although we are in constant contact with our clients, call them and ask about their situation, it is not the same as seeing them live.
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RYAN // Sales Manager India, Australia and Taiwan
QUARANTINE TIME
In our Korean office half of us work from home and the other half comes to the office. So I am working in the office, but I can’t travel to my markets – India and Australia. I have not been able to travel since mid-January, and now it’s been more than two months.
SMART RULES
I limit the time I watch the news as it is all about Corona and makes you depressed and losing focus after time.
Being equipped with a general understanding about what is happening around me and being notified in case of new announcements evolving should be enough.
BEST EXPERIENCE
The best experience will be a strengthened connection and mutual care within the team. After this virus outbreak, I did not have a single phone or skype call that was only about work agenda. We always ask each other how we are doing so pay even more attention to our colleagues’ and their families’ well-being. Since many of us work from home, we even take our colleagues on a virtual tour of our homes or say hi to family members over the video chat. I am sure we will have a lot more to talk about when all this is over and we get together again.
WORST EXPERIENCE
Face-to-face meetings are replaced by Skype or Microsoft Teams meetings, which makes it difficult to get in touch with customers living in countries where it is not common to use these online methods yet, such as in India.
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TED // Regional Director Asia // Lives in Korea
QUARANTINE TIME
I don’t work from home at all and still go to the office. In South Korea there has been no travel restrictions since the outbreak. But at TOMRA we allow people with their own office room to come to the office while our service engineers are not. Still, our service engineers continue visiting customers for emergency service calls, point-to-point visit only, and stay at home office, except for an area (DAEGU) where more than 80% of COVID-19 cases in South Korea are found.
SMART RULES
As I am working from the office as usual, I didn’t change my routines except that having a cup of coffee was the first thing in the morning, but now it is sanitizing my hands and mobile phone with wipes ready in front of the office.
BEST EXPERIENCE
The best experience I’ve made during these times is supporting our chinese team, who were the first nation to be severely affected by the virus. To keep them safe and production running, I sent over masks which I at this time
still had enough of. This actually made me very proud and is part of our culture.
WORST EXPERIENCE
As we are still allowed to move around, to travel within the given regulations I can’t think of any bad experience. But well, maybe one: we cannot have lunch together any more.
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XUXIANG // Service Optimizer // Lives in China
QUARANTINE TIME
As a home based optimizer I could rather “stay at home” as usual, but the service schedule was planned before the New Year holidays. In order not to disappoint our customers, I have decided to travel voluntarily on January 31, although the risk is still relatively high.
HOME OFFICE SETUP
For working in the field, EHS has provided all needed masks, goggles and arranged dedicated pick up to avoid unnecessary exposures to public.
BEST EXPERIENCE
The situation changes every day, my passport was stuck in the immigration office, which is closed, the hotel was about to close. In all this misery, one of our clients immediately offered me accommodation in his cozy guesthouse and invited me to his café in his plant. They appreciated the commitment of the TOMRA service during their collapse and wanted to give us something back with their hospitality, truly heartwarming.
WORST EXPERIENCE
I experience changes in the itinerary every day, it is part of our normal life in service. In the last days before my return flight a customer called me with an urgent request. I decided to stay longer and extend my visa. But only one day before my return the immigration office closed and could not give me back my passport. With the national lockdown in Malaysia, the hotels were also closed, including the one where I was sleeping. As a foreigner and with a worsening COVID-19 situation, I had to find a solution within days – you do not want to be in my shoes.
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The last article about “TOMRA” published at “Polymer Industry Media International” was: Plastics And Circular Economy Are Main Concerns of EU Countries
