Doha: Qatar Foundation (QF) made up of more than 50 entities working in education, research, and community development, was one of the first entities in the country to take precautionary measures against COVID-19 for the safety of its employees.
In line with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2020, being marked today with the theme to address challenges of an outbreak of infectious diseases at work, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, The Peninsula spoke to Asma Al BInali, Head of Internal Communications, QF about the measures taken by the entity for the safety of its employees.
According to Asma, QF launched a COVID-19 Page on March 3 on its intranet portal and is dedicated to COVID-19 updates that are relevant to QF community and Education City. The objective was to keep them well-informed and up to date with all information as we received them. The page also includes any national updates, hotline numbers or resources related to coronavirus.
QF later introduced remote working guidelines to its employees.
“As we transitioned into a digital workspace effective March 15, we have created a document for our employees to refer to and includes all the information they may need to ensure business continuity,” said Asma.
“It included Microsoft Teams Tutorial (the software we use to collaborate and work remotely), extensive FAQ document (bilingual) that addresses any questions employees may have, whether it is Human Capital related or even IT-related, all areas were covered and ways of working and code of conduct,” she added. A Health & Wellness Page was launched on April 19 to support the QF community in managing their health and well-being by adopting healthier habits into their daily lives.
“It is a dedicated page on our intranet platform that offers employees everything QF has to offer around health and wellness, including tips on improving physical and mental well-being. This includes workout sessions, webinars and videos around these topic. The page gets updated on a regular basis,” said Asma.
As QF launched the health and wellness page on Maktabi portal in the same week QF organized the first virtual Discover QF around the topic of mental health.
“We collaborate with WISH to give us and discussed on all on how employees can manage their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We had nearly 500 employees attend the session, the highest attended talk yet with over 30 questions submitted,” said Asma.
