Putting appropriate plans in place

Scheduling work for staff members in advance

At Blue Whale Media, we are proactively scheduling work in advance for our staff members, should the need arise that they have to work from home. During these stressful situations, it’s essential to have a plan in place for how you’ll communicate with your employees. Our team uses Slack to communicate during office hours for updates with managers and other members of staff. If our team ends up working from home, then our staff members can use that to communicate efficiently.

Ensuring people have the equipment to work from home

You can keep your team communicating, even if they need to work from home. Using software such as Slack, Skype, Facebook, and other teamwork solutions. Most offer free versions and the ability to collaborate with multiple team members simultaneously. You can team chat, send documents, track projects, and much more.

Communicating with your staff more frequently than you need to is essential, even if nothing new is happening. Frequent communication will put most employees at ease and show them that you’re aware of what’s going on.

Increase your social media presence

Your customers are already on social media, but these days, they are likely to be checking it more frequently to get the latest updates on the virus. Whether you’re posting about the illness individually or trying to offer light, positive content. You can take people’s minds off the panic snd increase your posting frequency to ensure you are showing up in their news feeds.

Keeping Clients Informed

Now is also the time to make sure you are sending out regular email communications, website updates, and social media posts. If you can’t be seen in person, make sure you are seen digitally. Most people are spending more time on social media; if you aren’t making an effort here, then you’re missing an opportunity.

Everyone is facing this crisis together, so be transparent about what your business is going through. Customers can empathise with you when facing a crisis, as long as you communicate with them properly.

When customers are separated from the work that’s being done behind the scenes, they may appreciate the service less and value the service less. Describe the steps you’re taking to mitigate risk and give them insight into the steps you’re considering.

Using social media is a great way to communicate with your audience and keeping them up-to-date on critical information:

• Are you still operating as usual (hours, locations, activities, etc.)
• What measures is your business taking to keep your customers happy and healthy?
• Are there alternative ways they can communicate with you that doesn’t involve in-person contact?

Focus on high office moral

Within the Blue Whale Media office, we are trying to keep our staff moral upbeat by doing several things. Our creative team is keeping each other’s spirits up by:

• Choosing song playlists that are cheery and memorable.
• Playing Alexa Quizzes throughout the day for away from screen time.
• Doughnuts within the office, many of our staff members, enjoy a sweet treat from time to time, especially in times like these where anxiety may be high.
• During office hours, each member of staff is choosing happy news articles to share instead of the current news of Covid-19.

As a business owner, the most important thing you can do is to ensure that your employees are safe, physically and mentally. The best way to do this is by practicing good hygiene, avoiding physical contact as well as ensuring your staff members are happy and free of anxiety.

Staying on top of the news

No matter what the bad news is on the news, there will always be a silver lining. Obviously, at the moment, it is a bit difficult to see through the darkness, but you have to be proactive about your media consumption. In the Blue Whale Media office, we have the news on the TV, but only have the sound turned up when it’s important to listen. In the meantime, we have upbeat music to keep our staff’s spirits high.

Pausing the headlines to get your sanity back doesn’t make you ignorant and it’s understandable that news you find concerning.

If your business is struggling as well as your staff due to the coronavirus, try to use some things that we are doing to survive the pandemic.