COVID-19 and the changing relationship between CEOs and staff

On the first day of the CBI’s Annual Conference, Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, joined CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn to discuss the changing role of businesses, their role in social responsibility, and how barriers between senior management and staff have fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Laxman Narasimhan, CEO, Reckitt Benckiser
• Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, Director-General, CBI
• Chair: James Harding

Highlights from the session

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed many businesses, and Laxman said his first year as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser had seen the 200-year-old company act with the energy of a start-up.

The power of brands

Throughout the session, Laxman spoke of the changing behaviour of firms and the need to engage with communities and stakeholders to make a difference. He spoke of Reckitt Benckiser’s achievements working with Transport for London across 270 underground stations, looking to build back better in a safe environment through the installation of hand sanitiser stations to ensure both travellers and TfL staff were able to be in a safe environment.

Laxman went on to note the powerful effect his firm had during the pandemic with Dettol partnering with Tik Tok. Together they were able to deliver a campaign to promote hand washing which reached 125 billion views – something of a scale much larger than many public health campaigns were able to achieve. Because of the power brands have, businesses can utilise this throughout the pandemic.

The changing role of CEOs

The pandemic has changed the role of a CEO, with Laxman saying it now stood for Chief Engagement Officer as much as anything else. The changes brought by COVID-19 meant that CEOs had to be honest about what they could do, and where they needed to listen. Both Laxman and Carolyn spoke of the removal of barriers between senior management teams and their organisations.

The new ways of engaging with a workforce were not always smooth, with Laxman recalling the time he was on a call where his mother wandered in to tell him the rubbish hadn’t been taken out! But the new working environment meant a lot of the pretence had been stripped away from CEOs, he argued, and helped show their human side to employees.

However, despite the changes, Carolyn said it was still important to get senior teams together in person on an ad hoc basis, to show how effective teams could still work well together – and importantly not let technology get in the way of building those relationships. In addition, Carolyn said that firms should not forget the importance of one-on-one calls.

Engaging staff and new ways of working

Discussing social responsibility, Carolyn noted the pandemic has accelerated the conversation about purpose, where it is now driven by employees and the difference they can make.

Carolyn agreed with Laxman that there had been a sea change in engagement with staff, and he said that success would come from “leading by listening”. The need to communicate effectively had been done in partnership with employees, and unions, to help deliver safe working spaces. But getting the balance right, particularly when dealing with a high volume of decisions, was about empowering the wider company, so employees could feel confident in coming forward with solutions and fresh ideas.

Whilst both Carolyn and Laxman noted the positives from the new digital-led way of working for many firms, there was an understanding that new challenges would arise, including dealing with an isolated workforce, and the mental health of all employees.