The outbreak of COVID 19 Pandemic that intensified worldwide in February 2020 COVID-19 changed the way; we are working. I have been managing ten country programs in the Africa Region. Therefore I have been working remotely with nine countries out of 10, using WhatsApp, emails and phone; and with the up and downs of modern technologies. After the deadly toll of the pandemic on humanity, I knew we had to adapt and knew of Facebook Workplace and decided to connect with employees on the platform. With the pandemic, I had to find a way to connect the employees in our Humanitarian organisation. I chose the Workplace created in 2015 by Facebook. For years, the social Network Giant has been using internally and then shared it with employees and organisations worldwide. Workplace empowers and transforms the complete business management, and the application has familiar features such as groups, chat and video calls. I can post the latest news on the general pages, operational updates, UN agencies information, the latest updates on the pandemic and humanitarian news and resources. The group pages are dedicated to each team. All my staff are available one click away. The Workplace also has the advantage of robust and secure servers of Facebook and excellent connectivity.
Workplace empowers and transforms the complete business management, and the application has familiar features such as groups, chat and video calls. I can post the latest news on the general pages, operational updates, UN agencies information, the latest updates on the pandemic and humanitarian news and resources. The group pages are dedicated to each team. All my staff are available one click away.
Here are some of the added benefits:
- Guarantee people see important organisational updates: like with the Facebook News Feed, but about it is all about work. Staff can view updates in a scrolling stream of posts.
- The News Feed is a personalised guide to what’s going on in our organisation, and for AIRD, it is about humanitarian operations, UNHCR, WHO, WFP, UNICEF and other International NGOs work. With this, I can keep my staff up to date with the information that matters.
- Video conferencing and Video Chat are available, and so staff can hold virtual live meetings as if they were in the same workspace. Video calling is a great way to manage remote employees. Workplace Chat is straightforward, on the laptop, desktop and mobile.
- The live video function available, helps me to use it as my office to reach all the staff. Managers broadcast to everyone in the team or company from your phone, laptop, tablet and desktop. And employees can take part in real-time, have the feeling to belong.
- Management of Workplace is straightforward, and it is open to all employees with a companies email address.
- Improve staff engagement in the remote environment. Workplace brings people together and deepens engagement at a time when it’s vitally important that all employees have access to the latest information and advice.
- A secure e-workplace for staff.
- Workplace has three pricing options, Essential, Advanced and Enterprise. Workplace Essential is free, while Workplace Advanced is $4 per active user, per month and Enterprise is $8 per month per user. However, Workplace Advanced is also offered free to registered non-profits and staff of educational institutions.
Finally, as the Director of Operations for our AIRD operations, I have chosen to lead my team with Workplace as it is one of the best instrument for remote working. Others leading organisation have also selected the Facebook Workplace. To name of a few: Starbuck, Walmart, Virgin Atlantic. For the Humanitarian organisations: World Vision International, Concern World Wide, World Wide Fund (WWF), Save the Children, UNICEF, United Way, Boy Scouts of America, Comic Relief, Australian Catholic University and Norwegian Refugee Council among other are the organisation already using this exciting platform.
In conclusion, I would advise using Workplace and contacting the customer service for a free advance option for a registered humanitarian organisation.