NEW YORK, (December 16, 2020) – Signe Pihlstrand, SanovaWorks Vice President
Things Turn Out Best for the People Who Make the Best of the Way Things Turn Out
No way around it: this has been a rough year. That hasn’t stopped us at SanovaWorks. Moving forward and making the most of our energy and resources, we produced results and work initiatives that make us proud; and look back at 2020 as a pretty amazing year. Much of our energy was based in response to COVID-19. We produced webinars and a remote worker series to help others transition into the new normal. We also started initiatives observing our commitment to diversity inclusion in our workplace and the world, helping voters get to the polls, and restoring our mental balance.
Dermatology Webinars for the Changing Market
Realizing that like many companies, we faced potential revenue loss due to COVID-19 and not being able to have live conferences – we figured out how to make our own lemonade-stand if you will: showcasing and upping our game in the virtual and digital activities that we’d already been doing. When COVID hit, we launched a series of informational webinars within days, providing valuable material for healthcare providers to help them respond to the changing environment. That idea grew. We host many successful webinars with sponsors and esteemed faculty.
Visit Journal of Drugs in Dermatology Webinars
Mental Health Days
We started offering Mental Health Days to encourage our employees to relax and de-stress during the craziness of coming to grips with COVID-19. The company closed, and no meetings were held. Team members were encouraged to engage in activities that restored their mental balance.
CODIAC
We established the Coalition for Diversity Inclusion and Change (CoDIAC). CoDIAC. CoDIAC is an in-house committee, which promotes awareness of matters surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. We work as a group to identify specific areas for learning and change. CoDIAC then facilitates the adoption of change within the organization.
Support for Parents During COVID-19
We are making an extra effort to support our employee parents, many of who are either home-schooling or juggling having kids home part-time, with ever-changing schedules. This includes supporting any schedule changes or workflow modifications that they need during the pandemic.
Spreading (Desperately Needed) Remote Best Practice Tips
SanovaWorks has been operating fully-remote since 2012, realizing the many benefits of a remote workplace for both the company and staff. We were fortunate and able to take the time to prepare for the change, laying the groundwork, and having a pretty seamless transition. We’ve learned a lot about the best way to operate as a remote company. We have tons of tips and tapped into our team to share our wisdom of remote best practices. This advice, during the hectic change-over that many companies went through, and are still experiencing, was greatly appreciated.
Diary of a Remote Company
Juneteenth
This year we made Juneteenth one of our annual paid company holidays. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day, is an American holiday celebrated annually on June 19. Juneteenth commemorates African Americans’ Independence Day. This pivotal year marks the 155th anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States in 1865.
Election Day Off
SanovaWorks joined with other companies and gave our team the day off on Election Day. We encouraged everyone could get out and vote. Time To Vote is a nonpartisan movement, led by the business community, to contribute to the culture shift needed to increase voter participation in our nation’s elections.
Virtual Conferences
Like every other conference provider, we lived through the should we?/will we have to?/yes, of course, we have to transition in conference planning this year. Our first SOCUV – Skin of Color Update Virtual 2020 was a smashing success.
By offering a virtual conference, 900+ registrants, including new attendees, accessed our evidence-based research and practice pearls. Well on our way to the same success, ODAC Dermatology, Aesthetic, and Surgical Conference; will be ODAC 2021 Virtual Learning Experience is this January. We have surpassed our registration goals and are excited to share that we will offer new virtual education opportunities, such as our Virtual Solution Rooms, which allow intimate gatherings where attendees can interact with faculty in small groups.
Team Sanova Fitness Challenge
Understanding how important it is to move our bodies, we are starting a company-wide fitness challenge. The motivation is to inspire team members and the pandemic-weary to keep an active body to support their active minds. A group is testing out the app we will roll out soon to the rest of the company.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Our ODAC Dermatology, Aesthetic, and Surgical Conference runs every year over MLK weekend in January, so most of us are usually working on this Monday. This year with our virtual conference offering last day being January 17th, we will be able to honor Martin Luther King by closing our company for this day in observation.
Virtual Volunteer Day
Every year we dedicate time to serve and give back by providing days off to participate in volunteer opportunities. Usually, a group of us around the NYC areas volunteer as a group, and staff members from elsewhere volunteer in their own communities. This year we had our first VVD – Virtual Volunteer Day, participating in virtual volunteer activities, such as writing letters to seniors or children in hospitals, making calls for fundraisers, and helping with census phonebank calls.
Continuous Publishing Model for JDDonline.com
This year we moved to a continuous publishing model for JDDonline.com/Journal of Drugs in Dermatology. With a lot of preparation and planning to put into place, our new model permits the faster publication and allows us to disseminate our cutting-edge content online as soon as it’s ready, to be followed by publication in print.
I have to agree that there is a lot about 2020 that we hope never to repeat. Hindsight is indeed 2020. Looking back, I am proud of our year and Team Sanova. Through all the challenges, we came together in support of each other and finished strong.
We are looking forward to what 2021 brings!
Signe Pihlstrand, VP, SanovaWorks