WashingtonExec – The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Pinnacle Awards were announced Oct. 8, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place virtually Nov. 12.
Next up is HR Exec of the Year (Large Company) finalist Janet Hanofee, who’s chief human resources officer at SOS International LLC. Here, she talks inflection points in her career, taking professional risks and shaping the next generation of industry leaders.
What key achievements did you have in 2019/2020?
Wow — what a year it has been. If ever there was a time when HR needed to be on the front lines in an organization, it was during the early days of a global pandemic! Our employees feared the virus and what it meant for our company and their future. Our HR focus was to be a source of comforting, positive, helpful and frequent communication. We required our corporate employees to work from home beginning the first week of March. By the following Monday, we had rolled out new policies and guidelines for our employees.
We also launched a SharePoint site with information on COVID-19 and how to stay safe. We created a 24-hour COVID hotline, scheduled weekly Friday Q&A townhall virtual meetings with our CEO, and hired a consulting physician to guide our COVID strategy and response. By the end of March, we had found and purchased over 5,000 antibody tests for our essential workers.
If you think back to those early weeks of the pandemic, most employers were struggling with how to proceed and looking for guidance, but at SOSi, we were already working on solutions. I’m very proud of the work we did in those early days to support our employees.
Of course, we have implemented countless additional support initiatives since, including: providing temperature check stations, touchless faucets, daily electrostatic cleaning in offices, monthly antibody testing, branded masks, sanitizer stations and we even sent our employees toilet paper during the nationwide shortages. There was so much chaos, fear and misinformation nationally that our HR function needed to be a beacon of clear communication focused on solutions.
Throughout this crisis, it has been personally important that our employees feel supported and understand how much we care about their well-being beyond the workplace. That’s the difference between being a good company and a great one.
What was a turning point or inflection point in your career?
Click here to read the full interview posted on the website of WashingtonExec.
