Consultants’ mobilization facing Covid-19 pandemic

COVID-19. Surely this term will remain in our minds for the years to come, for it has greatly impacted our lives in 2020, both professional-wise and personal-wise.

Never could we have predicted that this virus would hit that fast and strong, resulting in thousands of losses, and almost half of the Earth population to confinement. What we are sure of, is that this crisis has greatly impacted our way of life and our way of operating businesses.

Consultants’ health & safety first

At Altea Energy, the consultants’ safety always comes first. In a time where Covid-19 has no notion of borders, and with dozens of consultants to mobilize each month around the globe, Altea Energy  had to re-think its operational processes to ensure its consultants’ safety and health at all times, and adapt themselves to the new sanitary rules and countries’ local regulations.

Rethinking mobilization during a sanitary crisis

With regard to mobilization in particular, new parameters had to be taken into consideration during the pandemic: closed borders, mandatory quarantine periods, flights cancelled, hotels that can no longer welcome any guests, lockdown and curfews, immigration processes put on standby, and so forth. All these constraints led to a new organization and operational processes. “All consultants at Altea Energy were informed of the best practices to prevent the contagion of the virus. Consultants who had to travel to client sites to ensure continuity in operations were requested to fill in a health questionnaire as a preventive measure at least 3 days before their trip”, explains Yen Duong, Head of Global Support at Altea Energy.

“Our clients, on their sides, had to rearrange their working schedules to ensure their personnel’s safety while maintaining their critical operations. A close coordination was needed with them to ensure that the mobilization of our consultants was being taken care of in the best possible conditions, given the situation”, continues Yen Duong.

Reinventing global mobility services

In these complex times, mobilization could not happen without the support of local embassies who provided information about repatriation flights availability and schedule. At Altea Energy, the local teams on the ground had a critical role to play to find alternative solutions to ensure the transportation of consultants to site.

In Algeria where the national flights were suspended, Altea Energy had to send a private driver to pick-up consultants from their home to their working site, and vice versa. “We would check our driver’s health 3 days prior to the mission and ensure he does not show any symptoms. The cars are thoroughly cleaned, and the consultant has at his disposal hand sanitizer and a mask, to protect himself and the driver”, explains El Hachemi, Personnel Manager in Algeria.

In Tunisia, consultants were being provided with a flat in town, rented by the company, to spend their quarantine period before going to site. “We had the flat fully furnished and with the necessary suppliers for 2 weeks. It was disinfected by a specialized sanitary company prior to the consultant’s check-in”, says Yen Duong.

Surely, Altea Energy reinvented their global mobility services to adapt to Covid-19 constraints, but with the same concern as always: consultants’ care.

And Yen Duong to conclude: “In uncertain times like this, we fully understand the worry and frustration of our consultants, thus we made sure to keep in touch with everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our consultants for their kind understanding and patience during this period, which has been challenging for all of us. For those who could not go home to their loved ones, for those who could not go back to work for months, for those had to travel in harsh conditions. Thank you all. »