JAIME Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. chairman, said the company is looking at three phases of adjustment in the post-new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) environment.
Answering shareholders’ query on how the company will adapt to what is considered to be a new normal in post-COVID-19 scenario, Zobel said the pandemic has shown it is difficult to plan for the long term under the current environment as the company was forced to “shorten our cycle planning.”
In the first phase, Zobel said the Ayala Group is preparing for the reentry of the workforce, with the safety and health of employees on pre- and post-enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) the group’s priority.
“Phase two is ensuring the business resiliency a few months after ECQ. Spend a lot of time readjusting to a new work environment as the ECQ is lifted,” said Zobel.
Zobel said this also entails “monitoring consumer behavior, market behavior, and regulatory shift to make assessments how the world changed.”
Zobel said the current environment has made it more pressing for companies like Ayala to use technology given that people can no longer move as they want to.
“Phase three is what call the new normal,” said Zobel, adding this could be in the third or fourth quarter of this year.”
By that time, Zobel hopes the company “starts to understand the situation a little better. “
In this stage, the company may start to expand its workforce, while adjusting its “market tactics.”
“In the case of employees… how (do we) balance their well-being and productivity, our customers, how do we retain them over the long term? And our operations and sustainability, how do we handle those environment?” said Zobel.
