Lockdown Diaries - Elias Rizk, Manager, Administration

In all his 13 years at Petrofac, Covid-19 was a challenge Elias had never encountered anything like before. However, his rich career within the Group, combined with his hardy work ethic, helped make him reasonably well-prepared.

“I’m used to working from home, and during unconventional hours – even before Covid-19. So when this deeply unusual – and harsh – situation came about, this experience helped me cope and continue working as normally as possible.”

Hi current role with Petrofac finds him in Algeria, where Petrofac has a footprint since 1997. As Elias explains, the theme of preparedness is something shared amongst his team. Working with Algerian sites, confronting the unexpected, and broader business continuity strategies, are part and parcel of their work.

"The Algeria support team and sites did a great job to support projects and keep business going"

“Full credit to Algeria support team and sites who did a great job to support projects and keep business going, delivering materials on time, for example."

It didn’t take the team long to figure out a way to get our Algerian staff into quarantine, and how to replace those due to go on vacation. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing. As Elias explains, a lot of the required administration in Algeria requires physical paperwork, which wasn’t easy during lockdown.

“The main challenge was handling administration paperwork, which in Algeria often needs to be via hard copies, or sometimes fax – especially when communicating with the Algerian authorities in remote areas where we operate in the south of Algeria. Our drivers were especially helpful – they kept us going throughout restricted periods, delivering documents to all destinations and coordinating thoroughly with colleagues to understand and meet their needs," Elias continues.

“I am really proud to be part of this team – many of us are now working from home, but we’re all doing what we can do keep things running as best as possible.”

“Our business continuity plan allowed us to adapt rapidly to the changes and requirements of working from home, and the Algiers Office was able to provide laptops, printers, mobile phones and stationary required to handle the job."

“I am really proud to be part of this team – many of us are now working from home, but we’re all doing what we can do keep things running as best as possible.”

As Elias explains, difficult circumstances or not, focus on delivery is still there.

"The best we can do is aim to maintain the same productivity in a hard situation – and just keep moving."