I didn’t layoff anyone. I hired everyone. — a Covid-19 Story
Last year the pandemic forced millions to lose their livelihoods and the effect still continues. Many are still receiving unemployment, downsizing their living situations and actively looking for employment. Since I work for one of the largest global staffing firms in the world, VDart, I knew the signs we’re coming before the March 2020 lock down. Qualitative economic variables could be seen early on. I saw clients start requesting candidates who can only work from home, yearly job roles turn into contract roles, and locations of jobs transitioned from local to global. These were clear signs that the job market was about to undergo a major shift. At this point I shifted my role from technology to a sales/marketing role and I heard that our leadership team had a meeting regarding what the year would look like for everyone.
Decisions were made on the first week of the Covid-19 lockdown and they went something like this: We’re not going to lay off anyone. We’re not going to cut salaries. We’re not going to stop giving out bonuses and appraisals. We’re going to continue hiring as we normally would. We will survive.
When Sidd Ahmed, CEO and President of VDart Group, created VDart, he did so during the 2008 recession. The economic situation then has similar traits to what we saw in the middle of 2020. Markets were crashing, people were looking for jobs, and sustainable income became everyone’s top priority (along with maintaining health precautions of course). You see, during times like this, a staffing company becomes a critical organization that can impact families directly. Taking some of the the learned lessons from the 2008 recession we made sure our VDart family was taken care of and corners wouldn’t be cut in maintaining success, wealth, and enhancing the quality of life of our staff.
As we entered the world of working from home and virtual offices, the role of the marketing team became more significant than ever. I knew we would have to transform every aspect to meet the new normal. So we doubled all roles at VDart. All graphic designers, videographers, content creators, social media coordinators, SEO managers, and web developers positions we’re doubled in a single year. We did an entire brand launch digitally. We converted all of our conferences virtually. We assisted organizations such as NMSDC and GMSDC in their digital marketing efforts. We on-boarded and trained 12 college level interns in digital marketing; the company took on 100+ interns all together. Offices were opened in new countries. We created 2 new digital products and launched them. We refused to stop the momentum of pre-covid.
The rationale I took was simple (also makes sense scientifically if you think about it): if the environment changes, then we must change, however, we get to decide what that change would look like, the environment doesn’t get to choose for us. Our VDart family was provided with job security and sustainability, and our clients and partners were provided with hospitality and a sense of urgency. And it’s going to be like this in 2021. Full speed ahead.
