The 2020 BT-Pembroke Lecture marked a series of firsts - it was their first annual celebration of the relationship between BT and Pembroke College to take place online, it was the first to have over 100 attendees from across the world and it was the first based on a non-technical subject.

Dr Richard Caddis, BT’s Director of Health, Safety and Wellbeing & Chief Medical Officer presented, ‘Black swan or new normal? The changing face of managing during Covid-19’. Richard examined BT’s response to Covid-19 and explored what this and past pandemics can tell us about pandemics in the future.

He stressed the importance of looking at the data before making decisions, but making sure it is the right data. Richard outlined the challenges that we face in the next 12-18 months in terms of physical and mental health, and ended on a positive note - we will get through this together!

5 take-home messages from the 2020 BT-Pembroke Lecture:
• Research - understanding the virus helps to develop contingency plans and manage the response
• Communicate - clear and regular communications with your workforce is key: ‘what does this mean for me? What are you doing to keep me safe?’
• Prioritise wellbeing – prioritise the protection of physical and mental health, safety and wellbeing of employees and their loved ones
• Embrace change – pivoting to utilise existing technologies in new ways can provide valuable support to staff and customers
• Promote resilience – people have risen to a huge challenge already and there is more to come, companies need to keep supporting staff and communicating

You can now watch the virtual lecture, copies of the slides and read the latest full write up from Pembroke College Cambridge's event page