Call for Leaders – 3Q is a new category where Business Review features our 3 questions with some of Romania’s top business professionals, bringing a positive, insightful, or otherwise constructive view of their markets in the context of the current crisis.

Current conversation: Miroslav Majoros, CEO Telekom Romania

What are the measures you took for your business during this period?

Everything we do now we do to keep our customers and Romania connected. We have taken measures to provide telecommunications services in normal parameters throughout this period, but in safe conditions for the health of our employees, customers, partners and suppliers.

We operate on five strategic pillars. First of all, we do everything possible to protect employees and facilitate work from home. Second, we provide protection equipment for frontline people: stores consultants, door-to-door and technical teams. We have and are reshuffling all processes to enable the business continuity. We ensure the network readiness for traffic increase and we launched education campaign to support prevention efforts.

As every company should do, we do our upmost to protect our employees. For example, we have immediately implemented at massive scale the Work from Home program: at this moment, out of 5,000 employees of the company, approximatively 3,200, representing 64% of the total number of employees, work from home. 100% of the workforce eligible for work from home operates from home.

In support of this change, we have an internal program to support all these colleagues. We have provided useful tools and guides to help them adapt to the change, manage their daily activity more efficiently, remain motivated and productive.

Second to human health is the safety and stability of the network, as traffic has surged since the middle of March. Along with this strategic role comes the need, for Telekom Romania as provider of universal communications, to support its residential and B2B customers’ businesses as much possible, and as long as this crisis will last.

In addition, I would like to reaffirm that no matter how things are going, we make all necessary efforts to keep operations running, to serve Romanians from all around the country. We developed special packages and offers, which facilitate their access to information, work from home, education and entertainment, in the best conditions on the market.

We launched a series of initiatives also to improve the digital customer experience. To bring added comfort in the context of limiting travel and direct interaction, we encourage the adoption of our online platform, with simplified features.

Except for the shops in commercial centers, which are closed, all communication channels with customers remain open and function normally (shops, cashiers, call centers, mobile sales team and technicians team). Of course, at the same time, we apply specific measures to protect the health of customers and employees. Technicians teams are prepared to intervene promptly at the requests of our clients, in safe conditions.

Finally, yet importantly, we stay connected to the needs of society and identify opportunities to make our contribution. We have embraced the message #StayHome and we have built an awareness campaign for our employees and for the whole society, which we hope to transmit to as many Romanians as possible, with the help of key opinion leaders and mass-media.

What’s your advice for business leaders for this crisis?

In these times, we are first of all human beings and we can help protect human life. Our first role is to help communities and society. Now, more than ever, true leadership is shown when one gives back to society. Protect life, protect the business in order to protect economy, inspire teams to stay united to a common goal. We are committed to support as best as we can. For example, Telekom will support the initiative to create first ventilators with 3D printed components in Timisoara.

Secondly, as leaders, we should remain with a clear and global focus. We are not in the middle of a crisis, but in several, with parralel and interrelated consequences. We cannot lose perspective and address only one. We should invest the best today, in order to safeguard tomorrow.

What’s the most positive business news you’ve read today and want to share it?

Amidst the information and fake news flood, I see people who want to contribute. I see doctors, economists, scientists and so on sharing at large their knowledge to help humanity go through this hard time. I see traditional rivals joining efforts. It is regrettable that such acts of kindness and generosity are visible only on the verge of a global crisis. Hopefully, countries will shake the global paralysis they were in at the beginning of the outbreak, as Yuval Noah Harari stated in a recent article, and will truly join efforts beyond national interests, to pass this universal crisis.

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