Yodfat Afek Arazi is the CEO of the Bat Yam Municipality, in which 160,000 residents live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen the coronavirus reached us,\u00a0we needed to quickly adapt the way we organizationally function very quickly<\/strong>. The number of employees was reduced, people started working from home and remotely. In routine days, no one knows what remote work is; many places simply don\u2019t allow it at all. And suddenly, I say to our employees: \u2018Don\u2019t come in. Work from home\u2019. It\u2019s a perceptual challenge that alters everything, but it\u2019s also a technical challenge. Computers, connections, internet. All these need to be quickly dealt with for employees to work optimally. A week later, the Ministry of Education decided to reinstate remote schooling and teaching, but what is important in this incident is the message we conveyed to our residents: we are with you.<\/strong> We were able to give them the sense that we\u2019re working for them and finding solutions even when the government wasn\u2019t providing solutions itself. We\u2019re currently working on what the municipality will look like after Passover. It seems like students will probably stay home; jobs, we hope, will gradually change their current routines. How will it work? Our employees, for example, will not be able to return to the office because three people work in a small room here. That means I have to rearrange the organizational structure and plan who will work from home when. The work needs to be adapted in a way that takes into account the fact that employees aged 60 and over will likely stay at home for a long period of time. We need to rethink the way services are provided and more. Food distribution is one example. We started distributing food and noticed in our lists that some families from the Ethiopian community never took the food packages. We realized that we were missing something here and so we started looking into the issue. It turned out that there was no connection between the food basket we were distributing and the specific needs they have in order to make their traditional food. So we fixed the problem began distributing them the things they wanted and needed. I passed this information onto MAOZ so that Network members could also adapt themselves to their respective communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yodfat Afek Arazi is the CEO of the Bat Yam Municipality, in which 160,000 residents live<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":1665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
It\u2019s not easy \u2013 when you\u2019re talking about local and central government \u2013 this whole idea of \u200b\u200bworking from home. In contrast to the private sector, working from home hadn\u2019t existed in the public sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially, everything went crazy. We were focused on the coronavirus emergency, situation assessments, reducing the staff size, providing solutions to problems in the field and implementing scenarios targeted for emergencies.
It took a few days of adjustments before we quickly shifted to operating in an emergency routine. I\u2019m deliberately not using the word \u2018crisis\u2019, because this is not just a crisis. <\/strong>This is going to be our routine for the coming days, weeks, and months. This is not some one-time event; it\u2019s our life at the moment. And we\u2019ve got to work with what we\u2019ve got.
Bat Yam is a complex city with a very diverse population. The elderly make up one-third of our population, there is a significant population receiving public assistance, as well as a high rate of children with special needs.<\/strong>
We knew full-well that we needed to find quick solutions for everyone<\/strong>. We established dedicated call centers \u2013 for the elderly, for psychological services, welfare and emergency call centers. As soon as the crisis broke out, we knew that the elderly population would need a call center, so we created a survey to map their needs. We started calling them at home to ask. We thought they just needed food and medicine \u2013 and sometimes that\u2019s true. But sometimes they just want to talk, to feel like they\u2019re with someone<\/strong>. We make hundreds of calls to Bat Yam\u2019s elderly residents on a daily basis. And that\u2019s important because it helps with guideline enforcement. An old man who feels lonely when he has no one to talk with will head on down to the bench below his building, something which is dangerous now. When someone calls to ask him how he\u2019s doing and talks to him, it\u2019s not just a social service solution. This is also a means of helping us ensure that all people stay home.<\/strong>
As part of our quick response framework, we\u2019ve dealt with education a great deal. When remote learning was put on hold because of a dispute between the government and teachers\u2019 organizations, I called up our Education Department manager and told him that in two days, we would start a city-wide internet-based education framework for all age groups. And it happened. <\/strong>A digital app for education in the city was launched with lots of content and a set of hours tailored for each age group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things that was important to me from the beginning and certainly remains so today, is planning ahead. It\u2019s not simple and always clear-cut, but we have to plan ahead \u2013 whether it\u2019s a day ahead or two weeks ahead.<\/strong> Our employees and volunteers are to provide residents with solutions, and managers are busy with their routine work, as well as with planning for the future. These are two things that must happen together. It provides confidence and more assurance for the organization, even when the situation outside seems chaotic.
So when the Ministry of Health began restricting traffic and people\u2019s movement, we were already prepared with a detailed plan for what this would look like in Bat Yam. We knew we were ready.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
MAOZ has accompanied me in all sorts of planning steps along the way. We recently started working on preparing for the day after the coronavirus, focusing on how we\u2019ll advance the new municipality.<\/strong> This crisis has also brought about opportunities with it \u2013 suddenly everyone is connected to technology. This has created opportunity on the private, local and state levels.
Employees and managers have learned about this thing called \u2018working from home\u2019 and people have learned to communicate over the internet. This means that as a municipality, all service-providing can go online. We can, for example, change the property tax help center.
There is going to be a leap in how we provide better, more tailored services faster.<\/strong> One of my employees said to me today: \u2018I love the coronavirus; I hope it\u2019ll continue\u2019. What he meant was that something new and fast is happening here; it\u2019s special and, in a certain way, positive.
What MAOZ did very quickly as soon as the coronavirus erupted was constantly remind us Network members that they\u2019re with us<\/strong> \u2013 they\u2019re here to help us whenever we need it. And this has had a huge and unusual effect in reality. MAOZ\u2019s power for me right now is the power of the Network. It\u2019s full of a ton of accessible, important wisdom from people you value and learn with and from.
It\u2019s lonely to be a CEO on an average day<\/strong>. However, my loneliness is a million times greater now. In the municipality, I have to function as if I\u2019m the military Chief of Staff.<\/strong> When I need help, I can\u2019t let my employees know. I have to be strong for them. MAOZ is a safe space where I can get help, think and consult \u2013 especially when I\u2019m dealing with the loneliness of being a CEO. There is a real security \u201cnetwork\u201d that feels safe and secure in times like these.
That\u2019s why we have a group for CEOs. We\u2019re all facing the same challenges, dealing with similar tasks. And there are special insights that are important and that we can transfer to each other and learn from one other.
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that MAOZ \u2013 and I have been feeling this for years, but even more so today \u2013 is a platform that simply propels me forward. I send a message, call and feel comfortable saying: \u2018I need help\u2019.
I join a Zoom meeting and then together, with the team, with the Network, I can momentarily put all the weight of my job to the side and develop, think and solve problems. And mostly let someone else come and support me as I do my work<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"