When the crisis strikes, ODIN Engineering pulls together

The coronavirus crisis has left its mark on ODIN Engineering, creating an entirely new daily round for both employees and management. More than half our staff has been sent home with salary compensation, while the rest are working at the office, on the production floor or from home.

However, none of that deters us from continuing to develop, design, maintain and service our clients’ business-critical special-purpose machinery. Even if we all have our own individuality at ODIN Engineering, we still pull together.

Henrik Buhl Lauritsen, project manager at ODIN Engineering, has been working from home since early March. Even though he dearly misses his routine working day at the company in Slagelse, being at his home office in Nyborg has not affected his commitment to the job even in the slightest bit:

“I invest the time I would otherwise spend travelling to and from work in Slagelse in working longer on my projects. This has made it possible for me to make some headway with work that has long been lying buried in my drawer. For example, I’m now preparing new quotations and following up with customers, and I’ve finally got round to some minor jobs that have been lying around,” he says.

Michael Bøgeskov, who works as purchaser at ODIN Engineering, is one of the few employees who went back to work at the company’s office after Easter. He is rather busy at the moment, taking care of the duties of several of his other colleagues, who are currently sent home.

“There’re now only a couple of guys other than me at the department. We’re not only giving our clients the best service possible, but we’re also working hard to bring in new projects so we’ve something to do when the company is up and running and we’re in full complement again,” he says.

Several of ODIN Engineering’s customers have shut down due to of the coronavirus crisis, which affects several job functions internally at ODIN Engineering.

“For the past five weeks, I’ve been taking care of customer enquiries, quotations and orders, and tasks in support of production in general. Items that have to be shipped, picked and packed — tasks that are usually done by our planner, the warehouse manager and the finance department,” says Michael Bøgeskov. He continues:

“Even though we’re going through a difficult time, this is also a time that is exciting for me personally. I’m glad to be among the few people who get to come to work, and I even get some insight into a host of new work functions.”

The commitment of the employees at a time when most of ODIN’s team is at home makes ODIN Engineering’s CEO, Mads S. Rasmussen, particularly happy:

“We at ODIN are good at pulling together when it really matters. This healthy work attitude is shared by both management and employees, who make sure that everything is running smoothly. This can make any business owner proud.”

ODIN Engineering takes good care of its employees

“There’s a bit of an art to keeping everything up and running when so many of our employees have been sent home. I understand how hard it probably is for those who have had to switch from having a key role at the company to having to stay at home from one day to another,” continues Mads S. Rasmussen.

One of the employees who has been sent home with salary compensation is Christina Hollænder, who ordinarily works as accounts assistant.

 “It’s hard to be left out of the community at a time when I can neither work, nor take part in any of ODIN’s virtual social events. I terribly miss my regular daily round and my daily routines,” she says.

 Nevertheless, Christina Hollænder was summoned to the office for a couple of days at the end of April, when she was needed urgently to help with the payroll run:

“It makes me happy to know that I’m needed at the office, and it was wonderful to be back for a while and have the chance to meet some of my colleagues,” says Christina Hollænder, and adds that she’s also glad to be part of a workplace that takes good care of its employees during such a crisis:

“The management was extremely quick to respond to the coronavirus crisis. You could really see that ODIN was at the forefront of the Danish Health Authority’s guidelines. Knowing that I’m part of a workplace that is devoted to employee safety makes me feel happy and safe. I look forward to coming back to work again so much.”

Teams as a meeting platform is here to stay

 How do the management and the employees then get together internally during the coronavirus crisis, when more than half of the staff has been sent home?

The answer at ODIN Engineering is Microsoft Teams—a video communication and cooperation platform that is an effective tool for both professional meetings and social activities:

“Teams has effected an internal change that’s here to stay. It has functioned impeccably and has had an incredibly disciplining effect from day one. It has now become an integral part of the operations in these coronavirus times, when we hold meetings without being together physically,” says Mads S. Rasmussen, and continues:

“We made it clear to the employees from the very start that everyone should have a picture of themselves on Teams and turn their camera on during the meetings so we can have the same social interaction on Teams that we normally have physically at the company.”

This also delights ODIN Engineering’s employees, who have gradually grown accustomed to the virtual meeting platform:

“It took some getting used to at the very beginning, but now it works really well. We have short, targeted meetings that’re very effective. It also works well for the colleagues. This is definitely something we can use after the coronavirus crisis,” says Michael Bøgeskov.