Global payment services provider, CCBill, which has offices in the United States, Serbia, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Malta, also reported a smooth transition to online working for the local outfit, which boasts an 82-strong team.

The firm’s Human Resources Director, Cindy Anastasi, highlighted that the company – since it operates in the IT sphere – actually saw an increased level of business “We do a lot of hosting, so we’ve seen growth as a result of the pandemic,” she said.

Their technological capabilities were key to adapting to the current circumstances, she said.

“Within a week, everyone working in Malta was operating remotely. Our help desk team got everyone set up and, anyone who didn’t have VPN access, was ready to go,” she explained. However, Ms Anastasi stressed the “people challenge” implicit in a full online operation, saying that, while “communication has actually increased, with more dialogue happening online,” the way people interacted had to change.

Onboarding new employees was also a delicate process, she said, while managers had to be trained to adapt to the new scenario. “It ’s a different style of working, so we needed to make sure people could handle it.

There’s a lot of anxiety and stress at the moment, so from an HR point of view, it’s became harder,” she explained. To remedy any issues, Ms Anastasi and the HR team, based in Serbia, organised fortnightly meetings, to put staff’s minds at ease, share information and retain a close connection to each team.

“As an HR team, we also needed to look after the personal aspects. Some employees weren’t sleeping well.

“There were some of our foreign staff who were on their own. Some are fed up of the current situation and are keen to return to the office. But we ’re also having to prepare people for the changes they will see once they return, because it won’t be the same,” she said.

The company doesn’t yet have concrete plans as to when the move back to the office will be, but, commenting in a personal capacity, Ms Anastasi said that, in the future, she would have people come in mainly for meetings and interviews, working from home 65 per cent of the time “as long as the productivity is there”. Moreover, “I would also stipulate a certain amount of face time, organise social events and team meetings,” she asserted, while also stressing the need to train managers to monitor productivity.

“More training can be given to managers, and there can be more investment in activities with high-impact benefits. I don’t think a full transition to remote working is positive, but balance remains key,” she concluded.

This is an extract of an article which appeared in the May edition of The Malta Business Observer