Here are just a few different pieces of advice that will keep you running your business seamlessly, even during these difficult times!
We’ve been living in a strange world for a while now. Almost a year in fact! The emergence and rapid spread of coronavirus and Covid-19 roughly twelve months ago have left the world in disarray since. All sorts of aspects of life have changed. One area that’s been particularly impacted? Business. Businesses in all sorts of industries and a whole array of fields of specialism have been impacted by this pandemic and many small business owners are struggling to find a way to keep their business afloat and running smoothly. The good news? We can help you with this. Here are just a few different pieces of advice that will help you to keep your business running seamlessly, even during these difficult times!
Make Sure You’re Following Covid Guidelines
If your business can operate from home, make sure that it can. However, if you are running an essential business and are open throughout the pandemic, you need to make sure that you make changes to your commercial premises and operations to keep everyone as safe as possible. This is also important in regards to avoiding fees and fines, as well as preventing breakouts which could result in significantly reduced productivity. Here are some measures that you might want to implement.
Social Distancing
Wherever possible, all of your staff should be at least two metres away from other staff members, members of the public, or anyone else in general. Make sure that everyone is well aware of this and ensure that you prevent anyone working within two metres of one another. If you can’t implement this distance, you may want to consider adding perspex screens between their workstations to minimize the spread of germs. For example, if you run a small shop, your staff may not be able to serve customers at the till with a two metre distance. Here, a perspex glass between the staff member and the member of the public could prove extremely useful.
Provide Hand Sanitizer
If you haven’t already, now is the time to bulk buy hand sanitiser. You need to provide your team with plenty of hand sanitiser so that they can keep their hands clean and reduce the spread of germs around your office space. Ideally, you should get a touch free dispenser that can dispense the sanitiser directly into staff members’ hands without them having to touch anything.
Focus on Team Building
Any good business has a strong team of staff keeping things afloat. Of course, for your staff to work together, you need to make sure that they’ve bonded well and know how to collaborate together. This is where team building can come into play. Of course, when we think of team-building activities, we tend to think of office days out to tasks and challenges. But while teams are remote, team building is going to prove a little more difficult. The good news is that it is possible. The first step you can take is making sure that your team has regular video calls. When they work in an office, they’d be used to seeing and speaking to their colleagues every day. This gives great opportunities for collaboration, problem-solving, and building friendships and trust. While teams are remote, you may want to focus on instilling this in your team via video calls. This gives everyone the chance to check in with each other and speak how they usually would, on more of a face-to-face basis. You may also want to plan virtual team-building events. There are plenty of online games and other forms of virtual team building that can prove pretty effective!
Make Sure Your Staff Are Paid On Time
Of course, your staff needs to be paid on time. This may feel more difficult out of office, but payroll is still so important. After all, if your staff isn’t paid on time, feelings of mistrust and even bitterness or resentment may rise. At the end of the day, your staff is working to be able to afford their bills and to buy the things that they want to. If they’re not paid on time, they can’t do this and may receive fees and fines or late payment penalties. The best way to pay your remote team? By using small business payroll services. They’ll take the burden of payroll off your shoulders and will ensure that staff is paid the right amount, on time, every month.
Invest Extra in Marketing
Right now, many businesses are looking to cut costs wherever possible. Unfortunately, this means that many businesses are cutting the budget for their marketing department or marketing ventures. While this may seem like a simple place to save money, marketing is going to prove pretty important for you right now. Why? Well, at the moment, people are struggling financially. Many companies have collapsed, many people have been made redundant, a lot of people have reduced hours on their contracts or some are having to settle for a lower salary. Either that or people are aware of how many people are suddenly losing their jobs and finding themselves in difficult financial situations – and want to avoid this where they can themselves. All in all, people are spending less money. You’re going to have to put a whole lot of effort into encouraging people to part with their cash. Effective and impressive marketing campaigns could be the make or break of your company right now. So, invest in this area.
These are just a few different pieces of advice that could really help you and your business out right now. Keep them in mind, use them when you need them, and you should find yourself getting on pretty well! Hopefully, they come in useful should you ever need a helping hand through this pandemic!
