Although it has touched the lives of nearly everyone on the planet, but the financial, physical and mental suffering is not evenly spread. For those of us not on the front lines caring for patients, many anxiously seek other ways to ease the hardships of the individuals, families and organizations most severely affected by this crisis. Employees are finding and creating multiple ways to channel their help and support.

• DTCC has customized it’s HR policies and practices to address Coronavirus-related concerns including new guidelines and/or resources: talent acquisition and new hire onboarding; employee medical situations and bereavements; intranet site for employee health/wellbeing, special payment arrangements for staff still working in offices; guidance to people managers; confidential mailbox and dashboard to address individual employee concerns; extensions for PTO usage requirements.
  
  
• DTCC’s Diverse Talent Management & Advancement team established the Covid-19 Disaster Relief Program. Employees have supported their communities through virtual food drive, telephone donations, personal protective equipment, and hygiene kits, volunteer time to distribute food, creation of photos and videos to encourage patients.
  
  
• Planned series of events to encourage global employee engagement and mutual support through workplace transition.

• DTCC’s relief efforts raised $174,000 to facilitate corporate donations. It’s Business Continuity and Resilience (BC&R) and Global Security Management (GSM) teams determined a supply of 8,040 N95 masks to be donated globally for local healthcare workers and first responders. We have also responded to urgent needs for communication equipment at the temporary COVID-19 hospitalestablished by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at NYC’s Javits Convention Center. Employees have supported their communities through virtual food drive to help with much needed food for North Texas Food Bank, developed hygiene kits for Manila first responders, DTCC Tampa employees and their family members volunteered alongside Tampa Mayor Jane Castor at Feeding Tampa Bay’s mass food distributions throughout the month of April. Our employees helped distribute more than 8,610 grocery packages.
  
  
• Successfully concluded series of virtual events co-hosted with ERGs:
  • 6 week “Monday Meet Ups – 10am EST /Tuesday Teas – 4 am EST” series hosted from NY/NJ region; Monday morning sessions and 25 for the Tuesday sessions (4am ET). 450 employees registered for the 6-week series and on average we had about 125 people in attendance for the Monday sessions (10am ET) and about 25 for the Tuesday sessions (4am ET).
  • Maintaining Balance When Work/Home Life are Combined - tangible guidelines around navigating change and transition and the challenges of working from home with our families, and the struggles many parents are having with online schooling.
  • Remote Working: Tips & Tricks for Working Effectively – Ignite (Multigen) ERG co-chairs led a discussion around creating a routine for working from home, including the importance of creating separate space (where possible), “dressing the part” and taking time to connect with colleagues (e.g., Skype coffee chats or lunch dates).
  • Adapting & Adjusting to Change and Adapting & Adjusting: Mental Health and Well Being - First session by MVP (Veterans) ERG co-chairs shared experiences from being deployed overnight to spending prolonged periods in isolation and/or confined spaces in times of constant crisis. Second session was hosted by weThrive and focused on our Mental Health First Aider team in the UK.
  • Remote Leadership: Keeping Your Team Engaged & Motivated - ARISE (Asian) ERG co-chairs hosted a session with a guest from our Global Integration team who shared numerous resources for maintaining engagement and performance in a remote setting both as an individual and as a leader.
  • Keeping Lines of Communication Open -BOLD (Black ERG) and PRIDE+ (LGBTQI ERG) leaders engaged attendees in candid conversations about sharing our feelings, treating others with empathy and the importance of continuous communication, even when we’re feeling fatigued.
  • Building Your Network - UNIDOS (Hispanic & Latino) leaders shared best practices and resources for building and maintaining personal and professional networks, including corporate membership and partnership benefits and online learning resources made available through our Leadership & Development team.
  • Resiliency Workshop w/Georgie Dickins – 175 attendees
  • Impact of Covid-19 on Health & Wealth of Diverse Communities w/Dr. Corey Hebert
  • Asian Pride and Empowerment in an Era of Rising Xenophobia w/Sylvia Kim – ARISE ERG
  • PRIDE+/PFLAG Learning Workshop: “Advanced Ally’s Guide to Tough Situations”

Prachee Kale