Category: Management

4 ways to recession-proof your business

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Unless you have somehow managed to avoid the headlines, I’m sure you’re quite aware that a deep dark recession is coming our way. In fact, it’s practically knocking on our doors. As if this isn’t bad enough, the knock-on effect is causing issues too; relentless client queries being a big one. So how can we weather the storm as business owners? How can we be one of the ones who come out of it stronger than ever and ready to grow when the economy bounces back?

4 ways to recession-proof your business

1, Change your mindset (and quickly)

Henry Ford said “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” and it’s true. If during the recession, you think that you are going to come out of it, then you will. Just make sure to surround yourself with people who support you and reconnect with why you started your business. It will make a positive mindset so much easier.

2. Increase your marketing activity

The temptation is to cut marketing to save on some costs but that will do more harm than good. The recession will show some clients that they aren’t getting the service that they want so how can you expect to win them if you’re not marketing yourself?

Increase your marketing in the right areas. For example, refresh the copy on your website, review your marketing to see what is working the best, send out weekly emails to your clients, call them every month, call prospects who went cold to see how they are doing, and increase your activity on your LinkedIn.

3. Make it easy for your clients to pay little and often

Clients will say they have no money (they are struggling too), but you will find that they do for the right service. If you swap your services for ones that they really need now, they will see you as essential and they will pay for your service. You can also help them in other ways such as switching them over to a direct debit payment method or by giving them a payment holiday on their normal monthly payments.

4. Increase your practice efficiency and reduce your overheads

The best changes that you can make for your business during a recession is to cut your overheads in a way that will increase efficiency. For example, what can be automated or eliminated? Automating certain processes will cost initially but they will increase productivity. The same goes for things like outsourcing and offshoring.

Don’t forget to involve your team in this process. Ask them every week what they think can be improved on and you’ll see that they will have some great ideas.

Another task that you can do which will cut overheads is to get tough with your long-term debtors and low-performers. If you tackle these head-on during the recession, you may find that costs will reduce while efficiency soars.

Re-engaging with and reintroducing furloughed employees

Posted on | by Jade Donno

During this global pandemic approximately 7.5 million employees have been furloughed (more than 1 in 5 of the UK’s workforce) and, for many, this has been for a significant period of time. You may have even furloughed some of your own employees.

For employees that have been furloughed, the challenges of returning to work go beyond struggling to remember passwords, trawling through hundreds of emails to identify the three that are of importance and taking a couple of days to get back into ‘work mode’. It’s not the same as if they have been on holiday for 2 weeks!

For many employees, there will be apprehension around returning to the workplace, a potential loss of confidence in their capabilities, feeling ‘out of the loop’ and adapting back to ‘working life’ as well as possible concerns around working from home or returning to the workplace with child care commitments.    In addition to this, some employees may be feeling resentful at being furloughed whilst others may be experiencing guilt that colleagues worked whilst they did not.  Many will also be fearful of the risk of redundancy.

For businesses to successfully survive this current crisis, great care should be taken when reintroducing furloughed employees back into the workplace, whether remotely or physically coming back to their place of work.  Taking an approach similar to that taken when employees return from a long absence e.g. maternity/paternity leave, long term illness or sabbatical.  Key areas to consider are:

  • Giving sufficient time for the individual to settle in
  • Equip your managers with the tools to support their teams
  • Giving reassurance that their safety and wellbeing are a top priority
  • Creating a new sense of belonging
  • Considering changes to working hours and/or practices

Giving sufficient time for the individual to settle in

It takes on average 3 months for a new joiner to start to feel settled within their new role and whilst it is unlikely to take this long for returning furloughed employees, businesses (and managers) should be prepared for individuals to take a number of weeks to become fully productive and comfortable in their role.  To ease the transition ensure your managers:

  • Regularly check in with the individual, giving the individual the opportunity to discuss their wellbeing and ask questions
  • Set realistic, short term objectives/tasks and singular where possible to give both focus and a sense of accomplishment
  • Ask employees what you can do as an employer and/or manager to make the transition easier
  • Make available training (refresher or new) and where possible, it is in a format that can be easily accessed e.g. eLearning, guides, webinars
  • Consider using annual leave to enable a phased return

Equip your managers with the tools to support their teams

Managers will be key to successfully reintroducing furloughed employees at all levels of your business.  Ensuring managers have access to the right information (from Employee Assistance Programmes to business/department objectives), the right technology to manage teams remotely as well as ensuring they understand flexible working options and have access to HR advice when needed is vital in both supporting their needs and helping them support the needs of their teams.

Giving reassurance that their safety and wellbeing are a top priority

A high number of employees will be apprehensive about returning to the workplace and will need reassurance that their safety and wellbeing is your top priority.  The same applies to individuals working from home.  Ensure you have in place:

  • Suitable levels of PPE supplies (from sanitising gel to high vis vests)
  • Risk Assessments from managing interaction in communal areas to returning to use specialist equipment
  • Health & Safety refresher training (where possible, in formats easily accessible remotely)
  • Information Security refresher training (where possible, in formats easily accessible remotely)
  • Guidance on setting up a suitable working environment at home.  This could be a DSE checklist to more detailed guidance or training
  • Easy access to support services such mental health first aiders, employee assistance programmes and HR teams
  • Social distancing and safety measures are clearly communicated to both employees and customers

Creating a new sense of belonging

Re-engaging employees with the business vision, strategy and values as well as helping them re-establish working relationships help create a feeling of belonging that in turn positively impacts commitment and performance.

Careful consideration of internal communication channels to ensure accessibility as well as content that encourages a sense of belonging is just as important as managers enabling employees to re-establish working relationships with colleagues not only within their immediate team but also across the business.

Providing opportunities to feedback to business leaders on how employees are feeling as well as ensuring those identified as high potentials/future leaders in decision making all create a sense of belonging.

Considering changes to working hours and/or practices

Many employees who have been furloughed have established new routines that may not reflect traditional working hours and businesses may need to adapt to stay successful.  From changing working hours, work locations as well as moving from a time based/presentism mindset to an outcome based approach are all becoming a reality that businesses face.  Things businesses could consider include:

  • Introducing core working hours (e.g. 10:00 – 14:00) and enabling individuals to flex their hours around this
  • Consider rotating furloughed workers in similar roles where returning all employees is not an option
  • Consideration of working from home options, even for roles that are operational (perhaps a day a month to catch up on admin or project work?)
  • Short term working to reintroduce employees to the workplace whilst reducing salary costs
  • Subject to government guidance (still to be issued), part furloughing staff so they return in a limited capacity

The effort placed in ensuring furloughed staff return to an environment that gives them time to re-adjust, provides adequate support, keeps them safe and creates a sense of belonging will impact a business’s bottom line and both business leaders and managers are essential in ensuring success.

How to prevent upwards delegation working remotely

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Do your staff members often come to you with questions or problems that they could potentially work out themselves just by using their initiative? More often than not, do you end up saying “just give it to me and I’ll get it done, it’ll be quicker?”

While it might be quicker to do this one task right now, what you’re actually doing is training your staff to be helpless. You’re training them to come to you when they are stuck instead of taking some time to work it out for themselves. Ultimately, this ends up taking up a lot more of your time.

To stop upwards delegation, especially now that many teams are working remotely, here are some quick tips for remote managers.

number 1

remote working requires more frequent and clear communication, especially when it comes to delegating tasks. Give clear briefs and explain the impact this task has on the work of others to inspire action.

Discussing important tasks or projects directly with your employee will ensure that they can ask any questions and you can address any concerns in real-time. It also allows you to set clear expectations and to have them confirm that they understand.


number 3

Monday.com, Zoom, Slack, What’s App…use virtual tools to communicate quickly and effectively with your whole team. Make sure that everyone has access so that they can see what is assigned to who and how they all relate together.

If an employee has an issue or needs help with a task, take the time to coach them through it. Instead of giving them the answer, ask them questions to help them get to a solution by themselves.

number 4
number 5

It’s a difficult time where everyone is craving some social interaction. Plus, who doesn’t love to be praised for good work? If a team member has done a good job or they’ve picked up a task really quickly or they’ve made a difference to your day, tell them. There’s nothing more powerful than positive reinforcement, especially when it comes to motivation.

‘What would you do if I wasn’t here?’

Stop saying “I’ll do it, it’ll be quicker” and start asking “what would you do if I wasn’t here?” Delegating isn’t an easy thing for most managers to do and it’s even harder when your whole team is working remotely, so don’t put even more pressure on yourself by taking on the tasks of your employees too. It may take some time investment in the immediate, but if you coach them through any issues as they arise, you’ll be training your employees to be innovative workers who will take the initiative.

How to say “no” nicely (and not damage business relationships)

Posted on | by Jade Donno

How to say “no” nicely (and not damage business relationships in the process)

One of the most important things you can learn as a business owner is how to say “no” nicely and not damage any business relationships in the process. Yes, it is possible. Not only is it possible but it is also essential; essential for the health of your business and essential for your sanity!

So how do you say no politely? How do you stop saying yes to things that waste your time, and drain the energy and resources that could be better spent elsewhere?

3 steps to say “no” (nicely)

1, Start by expressing a desire to help

A “no” can be softened if you start with a statement of regret so let them know that you wish you could help. Something like “Thanks for thinking of me. I really wish I was in a position to help/work with you but I’m afraid that…” This shows your good intentions which makes a “no” easier to accept.

Holding hands

2. Blame yourself and explain to them why

woman crossing arms to say no.

In simple terms, you essentially need to tell the person why “it’s not you, it’s me.” You don’t want them to feel bad for asking or for you to come across in a negative light for saying “no” to their request, so make it clear that you can’t say “yes” because of your own limitations. Maybe your focusing on a specific area of work or you don’t have the time to give them the service that you’d want to. Maybe your business just isn’t the right fit for them.

It helps to provide the person with a simple explanation about why you’re saying no, so keep it short and clear. The most important thing here is that they understand why you can’t help them.

3. Point them towards help

Although you’re saying no to someone, you don’t want to damage your reputation or your relationship with them, so try to help them if you can. After all, you expressed your desire to help at the start of your refusal, so put your money where your mouth is.

Can you offer them an alternative person or business who could help? Can you direct them to a specific resource? If you can give them advice or a next step to move forward, they’ll be left feeling very grateful to you rather than disappointed in you.

hand pointing

Start saying “no” the right way

Saying “no” the wrong way or saying “yes” to projects or people you’d rather not…both of these are doing more damage in the long run. To start saying “no” the right way, follow these 3 simple steps: start with a statement of regret, explain why you’re saying no, and end by offering them the help that you can. If you do this then you’re not damaging any business relationships and you’re preserving the essential energy and resources that you need to propel your business forward.

5 easy ways to cut overheads during a recession

Posted on | by Jade Donno

So many businesses are in the position where they need to cut overheads but how do you do this without having to make anyone redundant or reducing their hours? How can you do this without having to trawl your financial reports? If you’re looking for easy ways to cut your overheads during a recession, here are 5 steps that you can take.

Number 1

What processes can you automate or eliminate? What tasks can be passed down the hierarchy or outsourced to reduce wage costs and free up staff for work of a higher value? How can you streamline your workflow? What do you do for clients that doesn’t really add value?

While the answers to some of these questions may take an initial investment, such as automating your processes, the increase in efficiency and productivity will save you in the long run.

number 2
team walking down street

Your employees are the ones on the ground, they are doing the tasks and are experiencing the potential problems and inefficiencies first hand so involve them. Ask them all the questions above that you’ve been thinking about yourself. They may come up with some great ideas that you haven’t even thought of.

number 3
Lady on phone

Make the first two steps a continuous process. For example, in every weekly team meeting, ask your team members to identify one thing which can be improved or made more efficient. If something hasn’t worked or hasn’t been delivered on time, analyse the process and see what changes can be made. If you give your team members new objectives that aim to improve the efficiency of the business, you’ll soon see that you will all start improving the way you do things naturally.


You can’t afford underperformance normally, never mind during a recession, so now is the time to address this. While setting individual targets and having regular check ins will work for some employees, others will need a bit more support. Maybe they need more training in the areas where they are struggling or for a particular software. Maybe they need to be put onto a formal performance management procedure.

number 5
Two men high five.

It’s all well and good talking about positive changes and implementing them, but you need to know if they are indeed making you more efficient and productive as a business. To do this, you’ll need to decide on your KPIs and you need to measure and monitor them. Once you have these figures, review them regularly, and you’ll be able to see if the changes you are making have been worth it.

You can reduce your overheads AND increase efficiency

The best changes, especially during a recession, are those that increase productivity as well as reducing your costs. That way, you don’t have to let anybody go and you don’t have to reduce hours. It’s all about working smarter.

laptop and phone

Returning to work post-covid19: how do you assess your office needs?

Posted on | by Jade Donno

In the short-term, it seems likely that many of us will remain working from home even after government orders to do so are lifted. Why? Because businesses have either found that remote working seems to be working favourably for them or they don’t know how to return to work safely. To answer the three most frequently asked questions from business owners today, here’s a quick guide to help.

Man on laptop - what are my options?

As businesses are slowly given the green light to return to work, business owners have a few options in front of them for how to move forward. Research shows that organisations have favoured one of these three below:

  1. Continue to work remotely and sublet their office space – don’t forget to check vital clauses in your rental agreement to see if this is an option for you.
  2. Using a blend of working from, team days, and hot-desking – this strategy has the benefits of both remote working and being in the office. Many businesses have been able to reduce their office space with this method.
  3. Phased approach to transition back to office work – this involves staggering the workforce where smaller groups or departments come in on alternate days until it’s safe for everyone to return.

To work out which is the best option for you, you need to consider who needs to be at the office the most. Many organisations have found that capping staff numbers off at about 30% is the social distancing sweet spot.

How much office space do I actually need

Business owners are reconsidering whether they need as much office space now that so many people are working from home. This is a smart question because miscalculations when it comes to space, even minor ones, can have a huge impact, especially when it comes to finances. Here’s some guidance to help you:

How do you calculate desk space?

As a rough estimate, you should allow 250 sq.ft. per employee. This means, for 50 employees, you will need 12,500 sq.ft. of office space. This guidance is for normal circumstances, so with the current Covid safety guidelines, you need to factor in 2 metres between each desk too.

How do you assess your office needs?

The formula above is just that, a rough estimate. This changes depending on factors such as office layout, employee density, and cost. For example, the most commonly accepted rule in London is that 100 sq.ft. per employee is the ideal amount of space per person.

To accurately assess the amount of space your business needs to thrive, you need to consider these variables:

  • How many employees you have/want to return to work in the office
  • What kind of staff you have (executive, administration, sales etc)
  • How many desks you will need (will employees need an individual desk or will you consider agile working?)
  • How much equipment you have to accommodate
  • What style of office works best for your organisation
  • Office layout and ceiling height
  • If you plan on taking on more staff in the next few years

What are the Health and Safety requirements now due to Covid?

All businesses will now need to carry out an extensive risk assessment to plan for a safe return to work post-lockdown. The purpose of this assessment is to identify the control measures that you’ll need to have in place to protect your employees and others from the risk of infection.

The main areas you need to consider are:

  • Offices and workspaces – these need to be set up to support social distancing (e.g. layout changes where desks are arranged with the minimum separation between them, appropriate signage and floor markings to denote safe distances etc).
  • Employee safety – as well as establishing maximum occupancy limits, work patterns and procedures will need to be changed to facilitate effective infection prevention. Employees will also need to be supplied with the appropriate PPE such as face masks and screen separators.
child with paint on hands

18 tips to successfully juggle working from home with the kids

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Thousands of parents have been juggling two to three full-time jobs for the past 11 weeks now: their normal job, 24/7 childcare, and for some, becoming a teacher. With the recent news of schools not reopening now until later this year, it’s looking like this won’t be ending any time soon either.

As if this wasn’t painful enough, the Coronavirus has also piled on other stresses and worries whether financially, medically, technologically or logistically, all of which are just adding to the challenge of making it through this period unscathed.

To help try and ease some of this pressure for parents, this article outlines essential tips that can make working from home with children just that little bit easier.

  1. Designate a place at home as your “office” and create your ideal workspace.
  2. Set boundaries with your children when it comes to your workspace and your work time.
  3. Create a new daily routine that satisfies your work needs and your family needs.
  4. Plan ahead as tasks and projects are likely to take longer.
  5. Be flexible with your schedule as some days your children will need you more (if you plan ahead, this will be easier).
  6. If you have young children, capitalise on naptime. Save the deep-thinking stuff for these moments so that you can work smarter, not harder.
  7. Communicate more than you think you need to with your family and your colleagues. Everyone will understand and will be compassionate if you just communicate.
  8. Create a list of ‘special activities’ with your children that they can only do in your work time. It will give them something to look forward to and keep them occupied while you work.
  9. Communicate with the school so that they can help you prioritise the most important learning areas. If you triage these, it eases the pressure for everyone.
  10. Do some ‘emergency drills’ to teach your children how they should behave when you’re on an important phone call or video call.
  11. Reward good behaviour by offering incentives such as a pizza night or extra screen time and deter bad behaviour by revoking these privileges.
  12. Share household chores to reinforce this ‘we’re all in this together’ mentality. It will make your children feel valued and it will take a lot of pressure off of you.
  13. Take shifts with your partner if possible. You can work the first half of the day while they are in charge of schooling and around lunchtime, you can switch.
  14. Don’t expect to work at your normal capacity as this is a very stressful time for everyone. Plan ahead with work and give yourself extra time to complete tasks. This will set you up for success rather than failure.
  15. Take regular breaks to switch off from work so that you can go back refreshed and renewed with energy. This will make you more productive.
  16. Accept that spare time for your children will probably mean more screen time. This is not the end of the world so try to not feel guilty. Let them know that this privilege is only temporary and make the most of it to get your work done.
  17. Exercise together often, especially in the mornings. If you do a P.E. session with your children in the mornings, they’ll be able to sit for longer periods to focus on their school work.
  18. Be kind to yourself and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Juggling work with 24/7 childcare and schooling is challenging to say the least so remind yourself that it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be good enough.
Girl with headphones

Supervising trainees remotely

Posted on | by Jade Donno

With the changes in working practices COVID-19 has caused and the likelihood that many people will be working remotely for the foreseeable future, it is also worth considering how this impacts on the trainee experience and their supervision.  To help with this, we have compiled some tips and ideas on how you can effectively supervise your trainee and continue to give them a meaningful learning experience whilst working remotely.

Part A: Supervising Trainees

Tip One – ‘drop in clinics’

A key element of the learning experience for a trainee is the ability to ask questions as they go along.  When working alongside a supervisor and team, this is as simple as turning around and asking that question when it crops up.  However, remote working can make this extremely difficult as you can’t see if someone is available to ask that question.  Setting aside time each day (perhaps early morning and post lunch) for a 15 minute ‘clinic’ with your trainee gives them clear times (and permission) to call you with any questions they may have and not feel they are interrupting.

Tip Two – Break work down into smaller tasks

When allocating work to a trainee, depending on their level of experience, it may be beneficial to break the work down into smaller tasks.  Rather than asking them to draft a recommendation, break the task down into firstly conducting the research, then discussing what they have learnt before finally producing their recommendation

Tip Three – New skills

Working remotely and social distancing has resulted in new ways of working that are likely to stay with us.  These ways of working involve new skills (such as running virtual meetings, presenting live webinars and workshops, interpreting a client’s mood without being in the room with them, self discipline and time management) that will be essential for a trainee to develop (as well as the rest of us!).   Ensuring that time is set aside to help a trainee develop these skills will help to enhance the learning experience.  In addition, as many are already more tech savvy than some of us, they may also be able to teach us a thing or too!

Tip Four – Separate wellbeing catch ups and work-focussed meetings

Setting specific time aside to discuss the wellbeing of your trainee that is separate to the normal catch up to discuss progress against objectives and upcoming work will ensure that both are covered on a regular basis and gives your trainee permission to discuss non-work related matters that could impact them (and ultimately their performance).

Part B – Enhancing the trainee experience

Tip One – Encourage trainees to chat

They probably already have their own WhatsApp group and/or other means of staying in touch, but encouraging this from a learning (sharing experiences and ideas) as well as a wellbeing perspective adds value to the trainee experience.

Tip Two – Team meetings

As mentioned previously, running virtual meetings as well as presenting remotely are new skills that would be beneficial for trainees to develop.  Consider how you can use team meetings as a safe place for your trainee to start developing these skills.

Tip Three – Project work

Either as an individual or as a cohort, giving your trainees a business-related (and real) project or projects they can work on and own not only enhances their experience as trainees but can also have a real benefit to your business.

Tip Four – Get their feedback

Whilst many firms traditionally bring their trainees together once (or twice a year) to get their feedback on experiences (as well as for additional learning, creating a sense of belonging etc.) you may wish to consider a more frequent feedback  and idea collation mechanism that ensures current views are captured and your trainees feel listened to.  You never know, they may come up with a suggestion that has real impact on your business!

For any additional advice on supervising and developing your trainees remotely, our team is on hand to help.  If you have any thoughts on the  above or any suggested additions to this advice we would be delighted to hear from you.

Team of hands

8 Key Principles to lead your team and enhance performance

Posted on | by Jade Donno | Leave a Comment on 8 Key Principles to lead your team and enhance performance

Whether leading in person or virtually, there are 8 principles that you can adopt to improve team performance. Many organisations are adjusting to remote or virtual working and the majority of managers have no training in how to manage staff that aren’t physically in the same office, which impacts on team performance.

We’ve produced separate guidance on managing a team remotely, so for now we’ll focus on how to lead, in or out of the office.

1. People don’t set out to be poor performers

The majority of people have good intentions and don’t want to be poor performers. There are 3 factors to consider before deciding on someone’s performance:

  1. The situation or environment that they’re working in
  2. Organisational culture
  3. Leadership

2. We get the team we deserve

The culture of a firm is shaped by the worst performance that a leader will tolerate. If a leader is too busy to notice or wants to avoid talking to a low performer, other team members will take note.

In general, it’s good practice to speak to all staff on a regular basis regardless of performance. That way, if a high performer slows down, you’re already aware of what might be behind it e.g. illness, caring for dependents etc.

If you haven’t been having regular conversations, the first step is to establish what’s going on. At the moment Covid-19 is the most obvious cause, since we know many people have had problems with things like access to broadband, a space to work, sickness and childcare. You may not be able to solve all problems, but you can fix some, if you know about them.

3. How your team perform is your responsibility

At first glance this seems unfair. Surely an adult is responsible for their own performance? But leaders are there to set priorities, ensure everyone has the information and tools to get on with their jobs and maintain a culture where staff are able to discuss anything else they need to get things done. For example, if a leader doesn’t give a clear explanation of what needs to be done and then creates an environment where no one can ask more questions, a member of staff could deliver something different, or spend a long time trying to guess what is wanted.

There is also a risk that if you tell staff to set their own priorities, they might not have the same vision for the business as you do. As a leader, you need them to follow your plan.

4. If someone is a long-term low performer, then you haven’t lost anything if they leave

It can be difficult to sit someone down and tell them that they aren’t performing well. If you’ve gone through the process of discussing their circumstances and the environment you’re working in, then thought about whether your organisational culture and leadership could be an issue and still have issues with performance, you’ll know that you’ve tried everything possible to resolve it informally. Many businesses rush to consult an HR specialist, before speaking to their employee, which can create unnecessary resentment.

5. We underestimate how much we actually know and how long it takes someone else to do it for us

When delegating a task, we tend to underestimate how much we know and how long it would take for someone else to take over, so when someone first starts a task they may look too slow. It’s frustrating when you’re busy, but delegating successfully does mean spending time creating detailed instructions. If you prefer not to write, or struggle to remember what you didn’t know when you first started working on the job you want to delegate, you could try recording video tutorials, explaining what you’re doing and why.

6. Everyone has a learning curve and no one is a mind reader

As mentioned in point 5, we have to make allowances when someone is carrying out a new task. They may have questions you haven’t thought of, or not understand why you’ve taken a shortcut or used a particular method. A little investment in time in the early stages will save time in the long run and you should see an improvement in performance as they get more practice.

If you’re concerned that staff are coming to you with the same questions, or are moving too slowly, a coaching approach is useful. Rather than giving answers, you could ask “what have you thought of or tried?”

7. Hire for attitude first, experience and skills second

No one can predict what might affect your employees in the future, but you can reduce the risk of low performance by getting the hiring process right. Companies tend to focus on the qualifications and experience that a potential employee has, but it’s important that their values are aligned with your business. For example, one business may value creative problem-solvers, while another needs people to solve problems by following set processes.

8. Making it always safe to talk to you is what makes a great people manager

Everything is tied together by communication. Leaders need to know what’s going on and what might affect productivity, not just what the output is. Two things that are highly effective, but often forgotten are:

Know when to apologise – if you see something’s gone wrong due to unclear communication, it’s helpful to say “I could have been clearer”. It emphasises that you’re open to answering questions where instructions aren’t clear.

Praise where it’s due – recognising good performance publicly encourages the rest of the team and keeps everyone motivated.

Must do's for remote workers

2 Must-Dos to Help Your Team Work From Home

Posted on | by Jade Donno | Leave a Comment on 2 Must-Dos to Help Your Team Work From Home

It’s looking like remote working will be the ‘new normal’ as we ease our way out of lockdown. While this is the best decision for the safety of employees, it’s not great for business.

To make it through the current crisis in the best position possible, you need to add “helping your employees create a new working routine” to your business strategy. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Help them create a new daily routine

In such an uncertain time, we all need structure in our day-to-day lives. Having a routine not only gives us a sense of control and purpose, but it also reduces stress and increases our productivity too.

To help your employees work from home, here are 4 steps that you can introduce to them:

  • Step 1 – Write down what you NEED to do each day
  • Step 2 – Discuss your routine with your spouse or family
  • Step 3 – Keep to your routine and adjust to what works best 
  • Step 4 – Focus on being consistent but be prepared for change

2. Communicate often and check in regularly 

After you’ve given your employees the tools for creating an ideal work routine, you then need to provide them with support to help them work as productively as possible.

Everyone will need different levels of support during this time, so here are a few ways you can engage with them and check-in to see how they are coping:

  • Use instant messaging apps and video-conferencing software for quick communication.
  • Maintain a regular meeting schedule to give them an extra layer of structure to their day.
  • Find new ways to collaborate, maybe on more of a personal level (e.g. a book club or an exercise class).
  • Be responsive to your employees and pick up the phone now and then to check-in with them.

Make remote working as productive as working in the office! 

By helping your team with their daily routine, you’re investing time in them and therefore the future of your practice. This is essential to make it through this difficult time so give your employees the tools and the support to work as productively as they do in the office.