It has been more than a year since a global health crisis took the world by storm. What began as a minor outbreak soon turned into a full-blown pandemic that claimed millions of lives in the process. The highly lethal and contagious coronavirus forced people indoors, while businesses, schools, and even governments were left with no other choice but to shut down. Frontliners came to the rescue.
Fortunately, humanity is resilient. The initial shock at the quickly spreading virus circling the globe was soon replaced by initiatives to fight against it. One by one, businesses, schools, and governments found a way to operate remotely to greatly reduce the possibility of contracting the virus.
But even if half of the world’s population were now indoors, there are still people who can’t do their work remotely. These people have become the unsung heroes of the pandemic—the essential workers and frontliners. Without their passion for serving the people, the economy might have suffered more.
But while the frontliners are busy doing their jobs to protect the people, who are there to protect them? They are still human beings who are vulnerable to the virus, after all. It’s no longer enough to just be grateful for their service when they’re literally putting their lives on the line to serve their communities.
What they need is the tangible support of people in power who can implement actual change. Take, for instance, SMRT, the leading public transport operator in Singapore. With Chairman Seah Moon Ming at the forefront, they are continuously improving their services to safely get people to where they need to go every day. But that’s not all they do; here’s a quick look at what they’re doing for the people:
Promoting People-centric Services for Convenience
Public transportation is a necessity. It allows everyone to travel from one place to another at an affordable price. And unlike those with private vehicles, commuters depend on public transportation services to get them where they need to go, even if they don’t have a driver’s license or money to spare.
So many people depend on public transportation for their day-to-day routines, such as going to work, but that can be affected by sudden breakdowns due to sub-par maintenance. This can easily become an inconvenience for the hundreds upon hundreds of people that depend on these transport services but have no other options.
Without reliable public transportation services, the frontliners won’t be able to perform their jobs in optimal conditions. Or they may be able to show up despite all the challenges they are facing just to get to work, but that can come at the cost of their own health and safety, which can then affect the people they are trying to serve.
However, if the people in charge can eliminate the obstacles that frontliners must go through just to be able to do their work, these essential workers won’t have to bend over backward every single time. This, in turn, can make the frontliners more equipped and ready to serve the public’s interest.
Using Apps and Social Media Platforms for Real-time Updates
In the digital age, it seems foolish not to utilize the power of the internet and real-time communication platforms to improve customer service. Commuters need all the help they can get during these trying times, and luckily, some services provide some assistance to those in need.
A good example of this is Singapore’s SmartConnect, an app that commuters can use to get real-time updates or information about the arrival times of trains and buses. Through this app, commuters can plan their travel routes ahead of time and receive updates about any disruptions to the schedules.
The app can also provide proof-of-travel documentation for commuters who were inconvenienced during a service disruption, which could have caused them to be late for work. And the app can allow commuters to directly report any technical defects in the network through an assigned messaging platform.
Maximizing Automation for Cleanliness and Hygiene
Lastly, modern technology is becoming a driver of success for businesses everywhere. This applies to public transportation services exposed to hundreds of people from all walks of life every day, which can be considered a health hazard during the coronavirus pandemic.
But through robotic automation technology, cleaning the train stations have become much easier for the maintenance staff and safer for the commuters. Plus, the robotic cleaners can clean two to three times faster than any human, and they can be operated remotely to clean on a specific schedule.
This means that the other maintenance staff can spend more time doing other important tasks while the robot cleaners handle the basic cleaning. Using automation in cleaning and hygiene management can allow service providers to maintain a higher standard of cleanliness without putting human lives in danger.
There’s nothing wrong with depending on essential workers and frontliners to keep the economies afloat during these trying times. But what’s not okay is to leave them out there to fend for themselves when there is something you can do to help them. So, take a good look at your resources and think about what you can do to keep the frontliners safe from harm.
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