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Useful Tips To Help Your Business Run Smoothly Post-Pandemic

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Post-Pandemic|Useful Tips To Help Your Business Run Smoothly Post-PandemicComing out of this pandemic will be a pain for everyone, but even more so for businesses trying to adjust and come out strong.

Things will have, no doubt, changed in some capacity. If they haven’t, well, maybe you should consider freshen up your look, style and technology.

So, let’s consider some key points once you’ve planned to open.

Getting Back To Normal

Being closed for potentially up to a year has been devastating for many small businesses, larger too but usually they have the capital to survive.

Therefore, it stands to reason that you may not know how to return to operating a business once everything is safe to do so.

Consider your employees, if you have any. It’s only right and fair that they are involved with the discussions of reopening as much as possible.

Once open, try and reintegrate yourself and the whole team on a smaller scale. Don’t take too many orders and don’t open everything on day one. Take your time, have fun with it, don’t overwhelm yourself or your team.

Using New Systems

If your business hasn’t been operational for a while, then it may just be that a few of the old methods and systems are out of date.

That’s okay though, fortunately this is the perfect time for you to try and look for new things. Maybe your software/hardware needs updating? Or maybe it’s your actual equipment that needs looking at? Have a browse around your industry area and see what’s new, or if you’re innovative, then now is the perfect time to start creating and discovering.
Even if you decide you want to stick with what you know and what you’ve got, you can’t go wrong implementing a computerised maintenance management system, or CMMS for short.

If you’re not too sure what this refers to, it is basically a system that centralises all maintenance requests and general information. Making it easier than ever to get issues fixed, track down old reports and get updates as you go.

It’s really worth investing into a CMMS. It will save you money long term when it comes to fixes, and will make you feel incredibly professional too, which is a big bonus.

We are living in the future now, where CMMS itself is evolving into an even greater beast, a mechanically organised beast.
Introducing, Intelligent Maintenance Management Platform, otherwise known as IMMP. It’s the next logical step in maintenance software, giving you real time-saving predictions, intelligent suggestions and even task automation, based on data collected from all kinds of native apps, integrations and even IoT technology.

Rebuilding Customer Loyalty

If you’ve been gone a while, maybe even longer than some competitors, then it’s possible that your customer base has been damaged. Whether they have moved on to rivals or just not interested in your products or services now.
So how do you regain that customer trust again? You really need to work hard on personalisation and customer service.
Prove to them why you’re the best at what you do and what you’ve got to show them.

How to update your website for a profitable post-Covid push

COVID-19 has raised serious questions for businesses, primarily how can they respond to the crisis and what changes will it cause going forward for consumers? Businesses are always looking for new ways to survive the peaks and troughs of consumer behaviour, and with lockdowns starting to lift, there are several ways for businesses to strategize to make the most of the post-COVID period.

Be clear about brand purpose

Many brands stuck to the side lines with traditional marketing until the outbreak was under control. But post-COVID, ensure that the marketing you put out to your audience is purposeful and considered. You don’t want to appear to be profiting off the misery of the pandemic, nor is it the time to poorly execute marketing campaigns in a bid to be seen as a ‘good’ company. Make sure that the messaging on your site is clear and simple, and above all sensitive, without being overly salesy.

Evaluate product offerings

It’s no secret that the pandemic has forced us to rethink how we live our lives each day, so businesses need to take this into account when it comes to their products and services. Some products will now seem irrelevant to the users’ needs while others will be more important than they once were, given the situation we now find ourselves in.

For example, if your products or services are primarily aimed at outdoor or in-person events, these may not have been necessary to your audience throughout lockdown. It’s important that businesses take this opportunity to reevaluate their audiences’ needs so that they’re as relevant as possible for your target audience, which can also help you mitigate any dip in sales from the past year.

Consider the customer experience

With more of us at home than ever before, businesses need to develop new strategic perspectives and reshape the customer experience. One way businesses can achieve this is to consider the user’s journey and the added functionality they can include to improve the customer’s digital experience.

“We improved the functionality of our website during the pandemic to improve user experience and enhance the online shopping journey of our customers”, say printing specialists You Love Print. The business enhanced their site to automate shipping costs as customers added products to their cart, for a more efficient shopping journey and to provide real-time information to users. Consider similar ways in which you can improve your website to create a better experience overall.

Reassess SEO

Businesses with an online presence should already be optimised for search engines, but post-pandemic, it’s more important than ever that your site appears high up in the rankings for your key search terms. This is even more crucial for brick and mortar stores who haven’t been able to rely on foot traffic to gain sales.

With more people shopping online than ever before, SEO should be a priority for any business, post-COVID, but companies need to take a different approach going forward. Businesses need to improve page loading times and speeds, to help customers navigate your site more easily, and create evergreen content within your niche. It’s also important that Google My Business listings are optimised for local search.

Ramp up digital interactions

Use this opportunity to promote apps, mobile tools and digital transactions. If your business doesn’t already utilise these tools, now is the time to consider how you can innovate to deliver your product or services in a digital way. Think about how you can offer further assistance to your customers and use digital tools to deliver these offerings in a personalised way.

Buyers want organisations to treat them as individuals and digital interactions can be an effective way to achieve this level of personalisation. Post-pandemic, customers will be seeking out more personal interactions, which is something businesses should strive to offer.

Final thoughts

Case numbers are finally starting to decrease and while it’s difficult to know when normality will be completely achieved, businesses can start to consider ways to ramp up their activities to increase sales. Your business should find ways to mitigate the losses experienced during the pandemic by adjusting marketing strategies, innovating and focusing more on SEO to make the best out of this challenging situation.

Starting a Business for the Post-Pandemic World

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Post-pandemic World|Starting a Business for the Post-Pandemic WorldThe world has changed. That is what everyone is saying as we are in the midst of a once in a generation global crisis. Change can be daunting. Whether you are a potential new business owner or someone who has been in the game for years, you knew how your industry operated before, and you at least had an idea of how to navigate within that system. Now you have to figure out a whole new way to play.

Change Is the Name of the Game

The pandemic has caused a massive change and forced many businesses to fold. However, companies that have been around for decades and make it through the crisis will recognize that change is nothing new when it comes to business. While some industries may face more frequent and drastic changes, every business needs to adapt sometimes.

Restaurants may seem like an industry that hasn’t faced much disruption overall. However, even they have to monitor the latest dietary trends. Then, of course, one of the largest shakeups came with the rise of fast food.

Some industries face change at a greater rate, but all industries change over time. Some of the most successful companies don’t just change how they operate within an industry but switch industries altogether. Many of the largest companies now operating today started out doing something completely different. Some companies that started out doing something entirely different include:

  • Nintendo – This video game manufacture began as a playing card company and also ran a taxi company, food company, TV network, and hotel chain.
  • Nokia – This popular mobile phone brand started as a paper mill.
  • Wrigley – One of the biggest chewing gum companies started out selling soap and baking powder.
  • Marriot Hotels – Began as a street-side root beer stand.
  • Samsung – This electronics king got started by exporting noodles and dried fish.
  • American Express – The credit card company that originally delivered parcels across the country.

The point is that businesses have to learn to adapt to survive and thrive. Sometimes a change in business comes from forced outside conditions, and other times it comes from inspiration from within. Inescapably, though, it always comes eventually. Starting a business in the current climate is a great way to prepare yourself for success because you can’t rely on following an already laid out way of doing things. You need to innovate immediately.

Filling a Gap or Flooding the Market?

If you are planning on creating a new business that you will hope to launch as the world opens back up again, it is important to recognize the market you will be entering.

Once the world returns to normal, some industries will operate in much the same way as they did before. However, others will operate in a vastly different fashion. There are also going to be a number of industries that don’t recover to pre-virus levels, while others will be bigger than ever before.

You need to figure out where your proposed business lies along these spectrums so that you can fully understand the risks of your endeavor.

Many businesses were forced to close down during the pandemic, but the industry need will return to pre-pandemic levels. That means there will be a lot of holes to be filled, and you could be stepping in at the perfect time to provide the service that people need. Many other services that boomed during the pandemic are likely to drop off dramatically as the disaster recedes.

Basically, opening a new restaurant where you have half the competition you would have had if you had opened your doors in 2019 will be a much safer bet than starting a business that sells medical masks.

The Importance of Insurance

One thing that the pandemic has certainly shown is the importance of insurance. Health insurance, cancellation insurance, and business insurance that covered disruption are three prominent insurance options that many people who had them were very grateful for once the pandemic hit. While hopefully, we will not face another crisis of this level anytime soon, these are still great safety nets to have.

Whenever you invest a lot of money in anything, like your business, home, car, wedding, or self, purchasing insurance is a good option. People planning to get married in early to mid-2020 who had to postpone may not have benefited from buying wedding liability insurance. However, if they bought wedding cancel or postponement insurance, they were certainly breathing a sigh of relief.

The same goes for business owners. Those who left business disruption insurance off their coverage plan were left out in the cold when forced to shutter their doors due to lockdowns.

The Digital Age Has Truly Grown Up

The world has been transitioning to digital more and more over the past few decades, and the pandemic pushed that movement forward even further. Many businesses who adopted a more digital approach with things like having employees work from home don’t plan to go back to the old way of doing things. Many former office jobs have switched to being fully remote and will stay that way while others will keep a partially remote aspect.

There are many benefits to having your employees work from home. Your good employees are often more productive because by cutting out their commute, they are less tired and more able to focus. At the same time, it is easier to identify your bad employees and demand improvement or part ways. You can also rent smaller offices or have no main office at all. Either option can save a lot of overhead costs.

Due to this and other factors, you may find that this is the perfect time to start your new business. With many industries, you won’t find yourself at a big disadvantage to your more experienced competitors, since they will be learning the new way of doing business right alongside you.

Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning your Business|Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?As much as we like to think that our offices are clean, many are not. Some are just so dirty that they can cause sickness and disease, which is dangerous as the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 is still rampant. So, how do business owners keep up with the new normal, given the safety and health protocols in place by the government?

Learn what’s the new normal in cleaning business spaces by reading below.

What Is The New Normal?

The new normal is not new to the human race anymore. With crises arising ever since humans existed, they’ve brought drastic changes to the overall routine, economy, lifestyle, and even culture and traditions worldwide.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the new normal means significant changes in how people communicate, work, and even clean business spaces. It involves implementing stricter safety and health protocols such as social distancing or maintaining at least a distance of six feet away from other people to avoid transmitting the virus.

Cleaning During The Pandemic

Now that you know the meaning of the new normal, it’s time to know the things you should know when cleaning your business spaces during the new normal.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning your Business|Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?1.Wash Hands And Wear Gloves Before Cleaning

Many people don’t think about this, but there are plenty of germs and bacteria on their hands when they’re doing their work. When it comes to office & commercial cleaning, wearing gloves and face masks is now highly recommended. This is now the art of the new normal when cleaning business spaces.

When wearing safety gloves, it’s important to remember that they’re meant to protect the wearer against exposure to chemicals or toxins in the environment. Gloves should be worn while touching liquids in the same way as if they were on the part of the body. It’s important to make sure that you don’t accidentally inhale them because the liquid can get trapped in your mouth, which can cause serious illnesses.

2. Disinfect Your Business Spaces

Disinfecting is not all about putting chemicals onto surfaces. You need to understand that the more times you can remove germs from your office, the better off you’ll be because the more likely you are to prevent an outbreak.

To make sure that you and your employees are safe, learning how to disinfect offices is a good thing to do. If you want to try something else, there’s always the option of hiring a professional to disinfect your office.

Here are some disinfection tips you can try:

  • Disinfect the office using a steam cleaner: If you want to know how to disinfect offices, there are several different methods. One thing that you can try is a steam cleaner.
  • Use bleach: Another great method that’ll help you learn how to disinfect offices is through bleach, which is easy to use and affordable. Many people like bleach because it can kill any viruses that come into contact with it.
  • Use hydrogen peroxide and vinegar: There are other ways to learn how to disinfect offices. One of these is by using hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. These are both great because they’re both easy to use and inexpensive.

3. Keep Everything Clean and Sanitized

The key to effectively disinfect your office during this pandemic is to keep everything clean and remove different things that may cause germs to spread. For instance, if you have many surfaces in your office that are hard and flat, make sure that you wear gloves when you wipe them down.

Make sure that you sanitize things around the restroom and the kitchen counter, too. Again, don’t forget to sanitize your handkerchiefs and towels as well.

4. Maintain Social Distancing

Even during commercial cleaning, cleaners are advised to maintain social distancing. Because of the nature of the novel coronavirus, keeping a safe distance will help isolate the virus and prevent the disease to spread.

5. Frequent Scheduled Cleaning

As you probably noticed, cleaning is now more frequently done than ever, which is now an essential aspect of the new normal.

Every room, cubicle, corner, and space used in the business establishment must be disinfected before and after use. The government has mandated routine cleaning in compliance with the quarantine and health protocols.

Conclusion

Be sure that you change your office surfaces frequently and clean them thoroughly. Keep things clean and sanitized at all times as well. And, if you really can’t avoid germs, then it’s always a good idea to take steps to prevent them from spreading from your desktops, toilets, kitchen surfaces, and other places around your office.

Learning how to disinfect offices is a great thing to do because it’ll keep you and your employees safe from the outbreak.

10 Top Tips for Making an Employee Redundant

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Redundant|10 Top Tips for Making an Employee RedundantMaking an employee redundant is never easy, but it can be more manageable if you follow the right steps. Discover more, here…

Redundancy is on people’s minds more than ever before. Since the coronavirus pandemic started, the UK government has tried to mitigate these redundancies. But, unfortunately, it’s not always possible.

If you’ve done your best to follow government guidelines to save your employees and you still plan on making an employee redundant it’s important that you do it the right way.

In this post, we’re going to cover what redundancy is, whether COVID-19 has made redundancy more commonplace, and share some tips on how to make an employee redundant. So, to make sure you tackle this task the right way, read on…

What Does it Mean to Make an Employee Redundant?

Before we share our top tips on how to make an employee redundant, we’re going to briefly go over the definition of redundancy, so you know what it entails.

Redundancy is the dismissal of an employee because the employer no longer requires anyone to do their job. This could be because the business is:

  • Changing what it does
  • Upgrading to new technology or machinery that makes the employee’s job redundant
  • Changing location or closing down
  • Doesn’t have enough money to retain certain job roles

For a redundancy to be considered so, the employer must demonstrate that the employee’s job will no longer exist. This way the employer can’t use the excuse of redundancy to unfairly dismiss an employee for other reasons.

Redundancies can be compulsory or non-compulsory. This depends on whether you allow the employee to take their redundancy voluntarily or make them take it.

Employee’s Redundancy Rights

To give you an idea of the rights an employee has when you make them redundant, here’s a quick list of what you might have to provide them with:

  • Redundancy pay
  • A redundancy notice period
  • A consultation with their employer
  • The option to move into a different job role
  • Time off work to look for a new job

This probably goes without saying, but do not select people for redundancy based on age, gender, disability or because the employee is pregnant. This will likely be considered unfair dismissal.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Redundant|10 Top Tips for Making an Employee RedundantIs COVID-19 Forcing Employers to Make Staff Redundant?

Coronavirus has obviously had a huge impact on businesses, with the Financial Times reporting that the UK economy has shrunk by a fifth since the pandemic started. The government’s Job Retention Scheme has eased the pressure somewhat, but lots of businesses are still faced with having to let employees go.

Just so you have an idea of the companies that have had to make large proportions of their staff redundant in the UK, here’s a quick list of some of them:

  • Rolls-Royce: 9,000 staff
  • BP: 10,000 staff
  • Centrica: 5,000 staff
  • Bentley: 1,000 staff
  • British Airways: 12,000 staff
  • The Restaurant Group: 1,500 staff
  • Oasis and Warehouse: 1,800 staff

These are just a few of the major companies who have had to make redundancies. So, if you’ve found yourself in a position where you have to make some, you’re not on your own. The only thing you can do now is make sure you carry out the proecdure in a way that’s best, or least painful, for both parties.

10 Top Tips for Making an Employee Redundant

Now that we know what redundancy is, and that COVID-19 is forcing more employers than ever to consider it for their employees, it’s time to give you some tips on how to go about it. Whether you’re making one staff member redundant, or hundreds, it’s important that you try to do so with compassion and tact, which these tips will help you do.

1. Be clear and communicate your reasons effectively

The wordier and more complex the message, the more confusing it will be and the more upset it will cause. So, it’s important to make sure the message you share with your employees is as clear and consistent as possible. To do this, try and communicate the reasons why the business has to make them redundant as best as possible.

2. Preparation and practice

This might not be necessary if you’re only making a single employee redundant, because in that scenario it’s better to have an actual one-to-one conversation with the employee.

However, if you’re making several employees redundant, and you’re planning on giving a speech, prepare the script carefully and practice delivering it until you’re comfortable with what you’re saying. Also, prepare to answer questions and try not to talk too much when the staff are giving their input. It’s better to listen to their concerns and answer them effectively.

3. Avoid leaks

You don’t want to go through all the preparation, practice and honing of a clearly communicated message and have news of the redundancy get our before you’re able to deliver it. Also, there’s nothing worse than gossip getting out and causing undue stress to your employees. So, keep it as under wraps as possible before breaking the news that redundancies will be made.

4. Provide a clear end date

Whether it’s to a single member of staff, or many, giving a firm end date will make it easier for them to move on and start looking for a new job. Also, as we mentioned earlier, you might need to provide some time off for them to search for a new job, so factor that in when you plan the employee’s end date.

5. Share resources that can help your employees

There are loads of organisations that offer support for those who are made redundant, especially with COVID-19 making them more prevalent. Sharing details on where your employees can find help might help them feel less alone and anxious about being made redundant.

6. Don’t make your employees keep it a secret

Keeping word of the redundancies under wraps before they’re announced is fine, but once the employees who are going to be made redundant have been informed, don’t force them to keep it a secret from others.

It might seem like a good idea at the time, because it will stop other employees from worrying about their own jobs. That said, all it does is isolate the redundant employees further, as they won’t be able to seek support from their friends and colleagues.

7. Don’t announce redundancies before a weekend or holiday

If you make redundancies before a weekend or holiday, those employees are likely to go home and feel isolated. If you do it earlier in the week, at least they can air out their grievances with you and seek support from their colleagues.

8. Be careful when trying to make the redundancy sound positive

It’s tempting to try and make the redundancy seem like a good thing to put your employees at ease. But, being made redundant is generally a bad situation, so letting them down gently is the better approach.

For example, telling a working mother “at least you’ll have more time with your kids” isn’t a consolation. Most people will either need their job to feed their kids, or enjoy their job and will have chosen to do it for a reason. So, be sure not to make light of the situation.

9. Don’t ask your employees to stick around to finish a project

The reason you’re letting the employees go in the first place is because their job has become redundant. If you tell them they’re being made redundant and then ask them to stay on until they’ve finished a project they’re working on, it’s doesn’t reflect well on you.

10. Look after yourself

Obviously, putting the redundant employees first is a good strategy and should be implemented before you start thinking about yourself. But, don’t forget about yourself once you’ve helped out your employees.

Apart from the stress of giving the news, you’ll likely be losing colleagues and friends as well. So, getting support from others at your company might help you through it. Also, before you make the announcement, it might be good to get the backing of your company, so you know you’re not taking the burden on your own.

Are you Ready to Announce Your Redundancies?

Hopefully, after reading this post, you now have a better idea of what redundancies are, and are aware that you’re not alone in making them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also hope you’ve garnered some useful tips to help you make the announcement to your employees along the way.

Like we said at the start of this post, it’s never easy to make the people you see every day at the office redundant. That said, you can try your best to mitigate their suffering and your own.

Thanks for reading and good luck with the redundancies.