Stronger Together, EMC and Cambodia in the Time of Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage Cambodia with the new wave of outbreak causing significant increase in number of cases and deaths. As of April 20, 2021, Cambodia recorded more than 7,000 cases and over 50 deaths. For the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the capital city Phnom Penh is in lockdown in an effort to curb the spread. While this presents unprecedented challenges, here at Emerging Markets Consulting (EMC), we understand and respect the decision. It is our shared responsibility to shelter in place and work from home, hoping that this will help slow the spread and save lives. During these difficult times, we send well regards and sincere gratitude to our frontliners, especially medical and essential workers.  

EMC shifted quickly to remote work. More importantly, we effectively manage productivity, delivering results to clients on a timely manner. As a leading management firm in Cambodia, EMC values performance. Even prior to the pandemic, EMC has flexible work-from-home policy. We trust that such initiative allows our employees to have effective time and work management and ultimately, better work-life balance. Recently with the curfew measure, EMC has gone beyond what is required to ensure the safety and comfortability of our employees. While actively and gradually reducing the number of people working from the office in March, EMC also offered the option to completely work from home for the time being. A simple yet powerful tool such as timesheet is used to monitor individual work status. Employees are encouraged to key in periodically to inform everyone else of their preference. 

Employee wellness is our priority. In addition to the regular scheduled office and project team meetings, project leads conduct check-in with their respective team members. Moreover, employees host virtual get-together to engage socially, discussing current events. It is especially important during this time that we take care of ourselves and everyone around us, both physically and mentally. Consequently, our recent pulse survey shows that 85% of our employees feeling supported by their managers while working from home. Similarly, many believe that they are well informed about the safety measures being taken in the case that we are allowed to return to the workplace in the immediate future. All employees understand that EMC supports their decision.   

Technology helps EMC stay connected and remain productive. In particular, EMC employees leverage Office 365 to maintain collaborative working environment. For instance, we conveniently moved our weekly in-person knowledge sharing session to online meeting a communication platform called Teams. Many employees also enjoyed daily reminders via Cortana.  

Truly this is a period of uncertainties, but EMC is committed to our core values of quality delivery, lifelong learning, and strategic collaboration. We continue to put our people first and to foster their development. While there is currently an absence of warm interaction in the office as per usual, we remain engaged and active digitally. We look forward to returning to the office when it is safe again, but for now we are doing our part by staying home. We are stronger together.