{"id":1922,"date":"2020-04-27T02:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T02:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2025-04-23T20:07:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T20:07:46","slug":"sealord-staff-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/2020\/04\/27\/sealord-staff-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Sealord Welcomes Staff Innovation During COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sealord<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Credit: Stuff NZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

As more businesses move into new ways of operating during Alert Level 3, Sealord is show -casing some of the measures it has taken to keep its Nelson-based site safe.<\/p>\n\n

Sealord\u2019s chief operating officer Doug Paulin says the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up a number of challenges for Sealord, like it has for many business.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cAs a food producer, we have been fortunate to continue operations from the start of Alert Level 4, however we had just two days to get our business ready. Keeping our factory workers and vessel crew safe has been our highest priority. I imagine other businesses in Nelson Tasman will be feeling similarly right now and I would be happy to chat through our experience if that would be helpful. I also urge companies to engage with their staff and encourage contributions to any specific challenges they may face,\u201d he says.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

The company has been running a \u2018Share Your Innovation\u2019 competition with staff to reward those that have been coming up with ingenious ideas during this challenging time.<\/p>

Winning ideas included:<\/p>

  • Setting up a \u2018drive-through\u2019 temperature check for all staff and essential visitors before they can enter Sealord\u2019s site each day.<\/li>\n\n
  • Installing clear PVC screens between factory workers in the processing facilities.<\/li>\n\n
  • Using a farm drenching gun for decanting hand sanitisers from large industrial containers into smaller plastic bottles for individual staff use.<\/li><\/ul>

    Paulin says innovation is one of the company\u2019s strategic pillars.<\/p>

    \u201cStaff are always encouraged to contribute ideas to improve operations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken this to the next level. We have been incredibly impressed with the way our people embraced the safety measures in place, and put forward additional ideas for making it work.\u201d<\/p>

    Sealord Capital and Engineering Manager Adrian McGillan came first place in the \u2018Share Your Innovation\u2019 competition for his suggestion to create a \u2018drive through\u2019 temperature checking station at the entry to Sealord\u2019s site on Vickerman Street. This significantly reduced the time it was taking to transition staff from their home bubble to their work bubble, plus it helped reassure staff that they were safe on-site as everyone was checked inside their cars before entry.<\/p>

    Sealord Project Co-ordinator Row Forbes also won for her idea to protect staff by using clear PVC screens in the company\u2019s two fish processing plants, recommending a local supplier who was able to install the screens in the weekend leading up to Alert Level 4.<\/p>

    Mr Paulin says maintaining strong engagement with staff has been critical, a number of whom are working from home.<\/p>

    \u201cRunning staff competitions is just one of the ways we\u2019re continuing to connect. Increasing direct communication has also been a major focus. For instance, we have introduced daily and weekly video updates from myself and our CEO respectively, and are making the best use of online tools to ensure communication is seamless.<\/p>

    \u201cThe next staff competition off the ranks is Sealord\u2019s \u2018Best Home Office\u2019. So far, we\u2019ve had ironing boards as stand-up desks and tents in the garden as makeshift office spaces for people with kids at home.\u201d
    <\/p>

    Photo: Stuff.co.nz, Martin De Ruyter.<\/p>

    <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Credit: Stuff NZ As more businesses move into new ways of operating during Alert Level 3, Sealord is show -casing some of the measures it has taken to keep its Nelson-based site safe. Sealord\u2019s chief operating officer Doug Paulin says the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up a number of challenges for Sealord, like it has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2977,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions\/2977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}