Inside Look: How COVID is Shaping Work and Fresh Ideas
For UNHCR’s Innovation Service, shifting gears has inspired new ways of thinking about the way work gets done.
By Amy Lynn Smith — Independent Writer + Strategist
Nathalie Rami walked into the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR’s) Headquarters to begin her new position as Deputy of UNHCR’s Innovation Service in October 2020 — well into the COVID-19 lockdown. The sprawling office was almost entirely empty, other than security staff, scarce Human Resources (HR) personnel, and one other person starting at UNHCR that day. Even the Information Technology (IT) person Rami was scheduled to meet to set up her computer wasn’t there, because they were in quarantine after being in contact with others who had COVID.
“It seemed a bit apocalyptic, because you have this huge building that’s empty, with empty coffee cups still on people’s desks with stains because they hadn’t been washed when people had to leave,” she says. “It was surreal — like something out of a movie.”
As reported in the first story in this two-part series, UNHCR’s HR team had to act quickly to protect UNHCR staff, both in Headquarters and in the field. Here, we take a closer look at what working through COVID has been like for one unit: the Innovation Service. For some personnel, the changes weren’t all that significant. Others had to come up with creative solutions to continue operating while spread across multiple countries, as some people returned to their families outside of Geneva while working remotely. Not only are many of these solutions working well as the pandemic rages on. They may lead to smarter ways of operating in the future.
Almost business as usual
For Salva Vassallo, Senior Resource Manager Associate, very little about his job has changed during COVID, other than not having to commute to the office.
Vassallo and his colleagues already had the option of working from home a couple of days a month, something considered shockingly radical when it was introduced a few years ago. He acknowledges this isn’t the case in every unit of UNHCR, especially at Headquarters. But when he and his colleagues began working from home, it wasn’t exactly a novelty.
Vassallo’s work is almost entirely computer-based, which is why so little is different for him. He’s in charge of back-office operations for the Innovation Service, leading duties such as administration, HR, finance, budget, logistics, supply, and partnerships. For example, he already uses Adobe Sign for documents, which is all electronic, no paper required.
“What this pandemic has shown is that with people working from home, the results at the end of the day are there,” he says. “People get hired. Consultants get paid, regardless of whether I’m in the office or sitting in my living room.”
The advantages of a home office
When he used to work at home occasionally, Vassallo would usually just work from his sofa. But when it became the norm in March 2020, he set up a dedicated corner with a proper desk and good natural light and enough ports for his devices. From the window where he sits, he can see his dog in the garden — who has reaped the benefits of Vassallo working from home.
“When I would go to the office I could tell she was sad, and when I would come home she was happy,” he says. “She goes into the garden when she wants and gets treats whenever she wiggles her tail.”
Working from home has also given Vassallo the freedom to take his daughter to school and pick her up, and he simply makes up the time by working a bit later to ensure all his work is done. Plus, he saves an hour and a half per day on his commute, which means more time with his family and greater work efficiency, not to mention lower fuel costs.
“I’m not really one for chit-chat, so I don’t miss that part of being in the office with other people although I know some people do,” Vassallo says. “But the time I would have spent going down the corridor for a coffee and spending 15 minutes talking to someone can now be used for work or home tasks. We’re trusted to get the work done. We all know what we have to do every day and we do it.”
When asked the question on everyone’s minds — will UNHCR return to working from office spaces at some point once the pandemic is truly over — Vassallo thinks COVID may have revealed that there really isn’t a need.
“It’s been nearly two years now and the organization is still standing,” he says. “We’re still paying people, preparing documents, having meetings by video, and so on.”
Vassallo points out articles he’s read that indicate some organizations may eliminate their office spaces altogether to save millions of dollars in rent and utilities. What UNHCR may do remains to be seen, but Vassallo admits he’d have no problem working from home indefinitely.
“I feel working from home has been so beneficial for me,” he says. “Absolutely nothing about my work has changed other than physically being in the office with others.”
Delivering a high-touch programme at a distance
Before the pandemic, the UNHCR Innovation Fellowship Program was very hands-on, with two face-to-face gatherings of each cohort and active engagement back at the office during participants’ year in the program and beyond.
But when COVID forced UNHCR to establish remote work for everyone who didn’t need to be physically at their station, the team behind the program had to rethink everything. According to Emilia Saarelainen, Innovation Officer, who heads up the initiative as a joint program of the Innovation Service and Global Learning and Development Center (GLDC), the program content hasn’t changed much. But what has evolved is how it’s delivered — and how Fellows interact with each other.
“We had already selected the 2020 cohort, who had applied for a program with face-to-face workshops,” she says. “So when we had to take this engaging, interactive workshop completely online, we had to consider how to change the design while being mindful of people’s initial expectations.”
Although she says they considered postponing the 2020 cohort, it quickly became clear the pandemic wasn’t ending anytime soon. That’s when the Fellowship program, along with other programs at the GLDC, went online. Because of the timing, the Fellowship program was one of the first.
“The big question was, ‘How do you replicate the experience you have in a face-to-face workshop in an online setting?’” Saarelainen says. “First, the challenge was technical: what tools and platforms to use to bring people together and enable collaboration. We also had to think about how long sessions should be. Once we were familiar with the tools and tested session lengths, the big question became how to help people make genuine connections online.”
One solution to that question was to set up smaller peer groups that met online for two-hour sessions with a facilitator throughout the year. According to Saarelainen, that strategy proved successful — participants seemed to like connecting in that way — although the team continues to search for increasingly better ways to create connections.
Of course, there were connectivity challenges at times, something everyone who has been in a virtual meeting can relate to. So-called “Zoom fatigue” has also set in, which requires continued attention to making the online program as engaging as possible, while making sure it remains meaningful and provides value to participants.
A learning and growth process for everyone
For 2021, the program coordinators had the benefit of everything they’d learned in 2020, even though they had hoped at least one in-person workshop would be possible. But when it became clear the entire program would be virtual, it was helpful to set expectations for the candidates applying to the program.
There’s one significant aspect of the program that did change because it was offered entirely online: It could accommodate more than the usual cohort of around 25 Fellows. For 2021, the program expanded to 44 participants, with 15 of them coming from other UN agencies or partner organizations. “Because it was online, there was no reason to limit ourselves,” Saarelainen says.
During the workshops, the program intentionally brought together UNHCR personnel with outside participants in each group.
“People working at the same organization can tend to think in similar ways,” she says. “Breaking it up to bring in people who are not in that context gets you thinking differently.”
Looking to the future, Saarelainen can see the benefits of keeping the workshops online. She says the team is looking at options such as keeping only the first workshop online, and also continuing to offer virtual small-group sessions to enhance the community-building aspect of the program that has always existed.
“I think there are advantages and benefits to doing things virtually that we haven’t fully explored,” Saarelainen says. “For example, how is the dynamic in the group? I think it might democratize it a bit. An online setting can help bring out the not-so-loud voices — making it more equal and inclusive. I think there’s great potential there.”
Building relationships remotely while innovating more than ever
Circling back to Rami, the emptiness of headquarters wasn’t the only void she felt starting her new position working remotely.
“I knew we had a team of about 20 people or so, and the night before a new job you are excited about meeting all these new colleagues and having the first feeling of what your job might look like, but that wasn’t there,” she says. “After I finished my paperwork that first day, I just started working from home.”
The Innovation Service team has an all-staff meeting every Monday, but since Rami started later in the week, it gave her the opportunity to take a different approach: She announced on Slack (an online communication platform) that she was officially in her new role and set up one-on-one virtual meetings with every member of the team her first week.
“It was strange but somehow not totally unfamiliar, because I’ve worked virtually with colleagues before,” she says. “But trying to build connections remotely with the team is still challenging when you’re new to the organization and your role.”
“For example, during meetings, putting the video on is really important for me, especially when you’re new to a team,” she says. “Being able to see colleagues you have never met in person before has been very essential in getting to know the team and building relationships.”
Shifting the dynamic of work and connectivity
Given the lack of interaction that would normally happen in an office space, Rami has also been intentional about starting team meetings with a few minutes of conversations about people’s lives: what they did over the weekend, a movie someone has seen — and in some cases, the entire meeting ended up being more friendly conversation than work.
“It wouldn’t probably be that way if we were all working together in the same space because you would have so many ways to connect with colleagues,” she says. “But for me these online non-work related conversations are essential to build the connection with colleagues. I’ve also initiated walk-and-talk meetings with a few other colleagues. We have to do what we can to break the barrier that working remotely creates.”
But staying connected goes beyond working within the Innovation Service team. Rami says an important aspect of their work has been making sure UNHCR can remain in contact with the people they serve: refugees and other persons of concern. Not only do they need to be digitally connected, but it must be safe and secure.
She says there has been an increased emphasis on data analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of the pandemic. It not only makes UNHCR’s work more efficient, it improves decision-making. For example, UNHCR has been collaborating with colleagues in the field and other areas of the UN to use predictive modeling to anticipate the spread of COVID in refugee settlements.
“There’s been a lot of data within the Innovation Service to adapt operationally, and rethink our programming and the focus of some of our programming in the situation of a pandemic,” Rami explains. “As a team we’ve had to come up with more creativity not only for ourselves but for UNHCR. A lot more divisions and teams in UNHCR are asking us to help them find ways to do things differently — teams that might not have come to us for innovation before the pandemic, but they’re doing so now.”
COVID-19 has also propelled new programs forward. Case in point: Service delivery has become more complicated, with new types of risks and ways of working. Now that many personnel can no longer deliver some services directly to persons of concern, there’s an increased emphasis on having refugees be the first responders and take the lead instead.
“It’s not entirely related to the pandemic, because UNHCR has always been committed to greater participation and inclusion of persons of concern in the design and implementation of its programming,” Rami says. “But we’ve seen a lot of innovative and creative solutions developed and implemented by refugees and other persons of concern aimed at providing critical services to their community during the pandemic, and these initiatives need to be enhanced and supported further as it ultimately will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian work.”
COVID has presented challenges for everyone at UNHCR, regardless of where they’re based. But particularly for the Innovation Service, it’s been an opportunity to put their principles into practice with even greater impact. More than ever, they’re continually looking for new and improved ways of working, no matter how circumstances may change, and supporting colleagues across UNHCR in developing creative solutions for meeting the needs of the people they serve.
