The COVID-19 crisis has changed or at least shed a new light on many aspects on our daily life: how we perceive our everyday essential needs, how we value the great outdoors, how to optimize our personal living space and some of us probably tried some new recipes.

How did COVID-19 change work life at AMOMED?

However, for many of us, one of the greatest changes was the adaption to a new kind of work life. Suddenly, to those who are not used to working from home, the morning commute was reduced to a few steps within our own house or apartment. We had to quickly learn to adjust to the new situation. There was no time for any ‘what if’-scenarios and at the time, we didn’t know yet that we were going to spend nine full weeks in our home office.

From Friday, March 13 to Monday, March 16, work as we knew it changed. Over the weekend, we scrambled to get groceries and by Monday morning, our work life shifted from face-to-face to digital: meetings were held online via Microsoft Teams or Skype; urgent questions were asked and answered via WhatsApp; online chats were used again after falling out of fashion for a while; and there were copious phone calls on a daily basis. And the parents among us had to juggle childcare or home schooling at the same time!

Soon we found out: working from home is possible – without any interruptions in the workflow.

But what about the social aspect? No more joint lunches. No more exchanging ideas during coffee breaks. No more afterwork happy hour drinks. No more personal interaction of any kind. What to do? Some of us also took the social interaction online. Joint Skype lunches and MS-Teams-happy hours with cocktails in hand became a weekly occasion. This way, we never lost our sense of community that we treasured so much before and now again after the Corona-lockdown.

But not only the communication between employees was important. Our medical team shared the most recent insights with our staff through webinars and reported on current medical developments. We received regular updates by Human Resources and our management with up-to-date information about government measures and how the company was going to put these into action week by week. In addition, employees were able to give anonymous feedback on their stress level and could ask questions or raise concerns anonymously through a tool called TeamEcho. Through a short 5-point questionnaire, HR could assess on a weekly basis how our AMOMEDIANS were feeling and if there were any issues that had to be addressed.

COVID-19 also changed the way we communicate with health care professionals

Of course, also the way we interacted with our clients – the health care community – had to change. In-person visits were no longer possible and medical professionals were indispensable in their daily life-saving work.  Our field force swiftly adapted their approach to setting up calls and online meetings to talk to physicians. Our teams made themselves available whenever it fitted the tight schedules of the medical staff.

And since events such as congresses or symposia were cancelled across the globe, we also had to take our message online and worked with renown organizations including the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM).

While the global crisis of the COVID-19 virus posed a lot of challenges, it certainly also offered new opportunities. Extensive business travel may not be as important as we once thought, saving time and resources. Working from home has become a viable option for changing the way we work in the future. Digital communication with health care professionals may even be more convenient for some as it is more flexible in terms of time and place.

And, a time of crisis brings people together. The AMOMED family has become even closer and we feel reassured that we can always rely on each other for achieving our daily mission: providing medicine when it matters most.

AMOMED‘s Offer for Intensive Care Medicine

AMOMED offers medicinal products, which can be used in cases of cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarction or sepsis. Learn more or register here to gain access to our AmoMED Academy for studies and product insights. You can also contact us at office@amomed.com or +43 1 545 01 130. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.