Our deep gratitude to each member of the [company name] family for their courage, resilience, and commitment. We pray for everyone’s health and safety as we navigate today’s extraordinary challenges.

Since the pandemic began, our organization has been maintaining a sharp focus on employee safety and security by:

• Enabling employees to be near their loved ones in this crisis – Facilitated remote work from anywhere

• Building trust and assuring employees – Ensured frequent leadership connects and one-to-one touch-points through managers and HR team

• Ensuring care by making policies and initiatives more effective – Enhanced medical insurance to cover treatment expenses during home quarantine and updated sick leave policy to provide extra leave days.  Also organized health webinars, yoga, psychology, and self-care sessions

• Easing access to mental and emotional counseling – Facilitated free online medical consultation and access to employee assistance program

• Creating Covid-19 Relief Fund to alleviate financial and emotional stress – Mobilized resources to provide supplies, medicines, ambulances, and locate hospital admissions

• Easing employees’ stress by providing direct healthcare support – Arranged 24×7 ambulance services, oxygen concentrators, hospital admissions, and medical supplies for employees and their family members at the peak of the pandemic.

During these testing times, we want to reassure our employees that, ‘We are with you, always!’

If I were in charge, I would change how content quality is defined at my workplace. A Herculean task, eh?

Quality is a misused term. As a concept, it is misinterpreted, misrepresented, and at times, royally ignored. Quality is also fluid; its definition and benchmarks are easily manipulated. At least this is what I observed while working as a content writer and editor at a business research firm.

In terms of content, a quality product tells a well-woven story, offers clear insights and outcomes for the audience, uses a language that captures attention and inspires creativity, and above all is legal and ethical.

Coming back to the things I want to change, I understand there are five stages in the project management process – Initiate, Plan, Execute, Quality Check, and Deliver. Editors come in at the quality check stage. My problem is the low-quality content I am given to edit and why this low quality is okay for some. I am often told, “The client wants only numbers and doesn’t care much about the language. Just do a quick grammar and spell check.” This drives me crazy. I refuse to correct grammar in a logically flawed sentence.

Conceptually, low benchmarks defeat the purpose of quality. If I were in charge, I would define content quality and set a benchmark at the beginning of each project. Some of the parameters would be:

• Have we answered the client’s question?
• Can our content be understood by any type of audience, such as a layperson?
• Is our data correct? Is our research methodology legal and ethical?
• Is our content legal and ethical?
• Is our content telling a story? Is the tone appropriate?
• Are the sentences short, clear, and logical?
• Have we separated ideas into paragraphs or sections? Have we used clear headings and sub-headings?
• Have we used bullets to list related items/ideas?
• Have we used tables, graphs, and illustrations where necessary?
• Are there any sections that look redundant?

For benchmarking, I would look at content pieces that we aspire to create. In addition to this, I would make changes throughout the project management stage:

1. Introduce the editor to the client and the analyst team: This will remove misinterpretation and coordination issues that coincide with projects with several sub-teams. I will also attempt to establish trust between the parties and remove prejudices, making the project a joint responsibility.
2. Assign tasks based on skillset: A better researcher gets to research and is not forced to write. A better writer is encouraged to write and work with the editor throughout the writing process. The editor is encouraged to fuel the creative voice of the writer, while offering constructive feedback. This will keep the timelines in check and the focus of quality checking would be on improving not just cleaning and correcting.
3. Reiterate quality benchmark and end goal: I will establish checkpoints throughout the execution process to correct and encourage team members. Most teams start and end each task with the goal of checking a box and are not focused on the overall project objective, e.g., what business problem is the client looking to solve.
4. Quality check overall content: This is something that the project manager should do before the document is sent for editing. Are they satisfied with the product? Do they need developmental editing? They should identify the missing piece at this stage.
5. Encourage open dialogue between the writer and editor: I will make this a mandatory step. As editors, we are told to ignore “technical stuff” and focus on language. Writers are constantly told off for their convoluted sentences and redundant content. These conversations could be made more productive with the eye on the end goal.
6. Share learnings: After each project is closed, I will gather all team members for a quick dos and don’ts session. This step will help in reducing the effort spent on similar projects, opening up avenues for quality improvement.

With my eye on delivering aspirational quality, I will constantly check my approach and alter if necessary. This approach may require more time and resources, and could lead to a power struggle. But in the long term it should work.

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BC Teachers Left in Dark and Out in Open

Another Surrey school has been put under lockdown for two weeks. This comes days after local music teacher Darlene Lourenco said she contracted COVID-19 from her classroom. Darlene spent several days in the ICU and feels it is no less than a miracle she is back home. Many such stories go unnoticed.

In an open letter to the parents last week, BCTF President Teri Mooring talked about encouraging children to wear masks in school. Mooring said, “The school community has come together and made mask wearing normal and expected. It really helps everyone in our schools feel safer.”

As per the latest measures, schools are not considered a public place, at least classrooms. Children are not considered spreaders. “The COVID-19 exposures started almost as soon as schools opened, and now we know there has likely been in-school transmission at multiple sites. The first month has been filled with confusing and inconsistent public reporting, online speculation, and serious lags between an exposure and effective contact tracing,” said Mooring in the letter.

Mask wearing is just one of the issues. We spoke to two Surrey teachers who revealed that lack of transparency with respect to exposures was the key problem. “We are just told there was an exposure. No names, no class, not even if it was a staff member or a kid in my class. At least 4-5 kids are absent every day, there’s no way to know if they were exposed,” says a very upset teacher whose senior dad lives with her. She is scared, worried, and angry but at the same time understands why schools are important. Her own child goes to school so she can work. She is just like any other frontline worker. But unfortunately, her job is not considered that “critical”. “I feel teachers are seen as one dimensional. It’s like no one expects us to have families or even considers us humans,” she adds.

Edited Version

One more Another Surrey school has been put under lockdownclosed for two weeks following several COVID-19 cases. This comes just days after local music teacher Darlene Lourenco was reported to be in the ICU, fighting for her life. said she contracted COVID-19 from her classroom. After Darlene spentding a fortnight several days in the ICUhospital, Darlene said and feels it is no less than a miracle she is back home.

Darlene’s story triggered a series of protests across the province. Many such stories go unnoticed.

In an open letter to the parents last week, BC Teachers’ Federation President Teri Mooring wrote an open letter to parents, urging them to talked about encouraginge their children to wear masks in school. Mooring Teri saidwrote, “The school community has come together and made mask wearing normal and expected. It really helps everyone in our schools feel safer.”

The BCTF was forced to step in as health officials continued to have different rules for As per the latest measures, sschools. For example, schools are not considered a public places and now follow “relaxed” health screening guidelines, at least classrooms. , as cChildren hildren are not considered spreaders. However, statistics tell a different story. According to Teri, “The COVID-19 exposures started almost as soon as schools opened, and now we know there has likely been in-school transmission at multiple sites. The first month has been filled with confusing and inconsistent public reporting, online speculation, and serious lags between an exposure and effective contact tracing,” said Mooring in the letter.

Lack of mask mandate Mask wearing is just one of the issues. We spoke to tTwo Surrey teachers, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed who revealed that the main problem is lack ofzero transparency with respect toaround exposures was the key problem. “We are just told there was an exposure. No names, no class, or not even if it whether it was a staff member or a kid in my class. At least 4––5 kids are absent every day, there’s no way to of knowing if they were exposed,” says a very upset teacher who lives withse her senior dadfather lives with her. She is scared, worried, and angry but at the same time She understands believes in the importance of why schools and education. are important. Her own child goes to school so she can work. She is just like any other frontline worker. But The problem is unfortunately, her job is not considered that “critical”. “I feel teachers are seen as one dimensional. It’s like no one expects us to have families or even considers us humans,” she adds.