As the world closely monitors and tracks the spread and impact of the new corona virus, business leaders are making decisions about how to mitigate the risk and keep everyone safe and healthy. In the government contracting community, executives are enacting procedures and policies to protect employees, customers and partners while continuing to provide government agencies with the services, solutions and mission-critical support they need.
In this series, WashingtonExec will highlight these leaders and how they are tackling this crisis, in an effort to share best practices in industry and shed light on the virus’ impact on the nation.
Greg Touhill, president of AppGate Federal Group
What innovative workplace policies/practices has your company embraced to minimize the impact of COVID-19?
AppGate was an early adopter of the shelter-in-place and telework construct and hasn’t missed a beat. We’ve tried to maintain a predictable communications cadence for our employees to keep them informed. Our CEO conducted an online all-hands town hall and took Q&A from our worldwide workforce.
Within AppGate Federal, we are leveraging WebEx to conduct live demonstrations of our AppGate-SDP software-defined perimeter product with very positive results. We’re also leveraging Microsoft Teams across AppGate to collaborate.
What has your company done to keep morale up internally for employees?
The boss is a real pain-in-the-butt yet he now broadcasts his image on the weekly video-enabled staff meeting to prove that he did indeed properly dress for work and isn’t phoning it in while wearing his pajamas. While I (the boss) am leaning forward, nobody else seems to want to broadcast their image. Hmmm. Who will be the next domino to fall in broadcasting their image on a Monday morning?
How has the policy for travel or attending large conferences changed?
We have canceled all travel until further notice and have encouraged our personnel to shelter-in-place in accordance with local government direction. We are encouraging participation in virtual conferences, continuing professional education opportunities, and other online engagements.