WFH: Do's and Dont's

It has been a few days since we all got into the work from home mode and I am sure by now most of us have settled well in it. Spending a lot more time in my home office got me browsing through some sheets that had a layer of dust on them literally and otherwise. I got my hands on the new year resolutions I had made this January and had almost forgotten about it by now. I had done a lot of brainstorming and very passionately penned down a list of personal and professional goals that I wanted to accomplish this year. I'll share the most important one here. You guessed it! I wanted to revamp my company's marketing strategy completely and had kept a number target that I wanted to achieve by June and then December. I knew instantly that this quarantine time could be best utilised for strategising and laying down a solid plan for the goals I had in mind. I am sharing a few essential pointers here which you can adopt in your marketing strategy too. Don't forget to let me know if you do!

1. Keep the ethics in place: We all want more sales and conversions for our business, but this isn't the right time to be greedy, especially if you are a part of any of the essential items industries. The prices of toilet paper, sanitizers, toilet rolls have all shot up. There are also some disturbing videos floating on the internet where people are fighting for stocking up the essentials. Only one thing that can come before profit-making is humanity. Don't cash on people's fear. This may make you a lot of money right now but will do much more harm to your business when things are back on track.

2. I came across a great graphical analysis of data by Neil Patel, showing which industries are seeing more online traffic and sales and which industries are declining in sales due to the global pandemic. For obvious reasons, travel, agriculture, construction are some of the industries that are facing an all-time low. For such sectors, I believe that the best way forward is to play up while the competition is low! They can delve into exercises such as competition analysis, team management, training, future marketing plans, to name a few.

3. It is Brand Building time folks! Forever branding is lying on your backburner. It is now time to bring it up. Work with your digital teams on your logos, graphics, websites, emailers and effective communication to begin with. If time and resources allow then you can move onto more significant ventures like launching mobile apps; or deviating more time and resources to customer engagement, LinkedIn profiling and strategies to improve customer experience.

4. This brings me to the next point. Focus and nurture personal relationships with your vendors and customers. In this challenging time, the least you can do is offer help or advice to your vendors and customers. Establishing personal relationships and adding value to other people's life works way better than any form of direct marketing.

These marketing efforts might not have a direct and measurable effect on your sales sheet, but it will undoubtedly help in the sustenance of your business. It can also become the launchpad for your future endeavours. Another unprecedented situation that the coronavirus crisis has gotten the entire world into is the work from home culture. The internet is flooded with memes on work from home, and I see paradigm changes that the work culture is going through irrespective of the industry!

I would like to give some advice (free of course) on how WFH can be managed effectively without affecting your efficiency.

1. Fixed hours, self-check alarms and dedicated workspace should be the starting point. If you still don't have either of these three, then I assure you that by the end of the quarantine period you won't be able to sustain your current standing. The need of the hours is understanding and transitioning from work-life balance to work-life boundaries.

2. Call for a video call! It is imperative to stay connected with your colleagues, and there is no denying that the best way to do it right now is a video call. While a video meeting may not be as effective as a real one-two-one, but it is still more effective than a voice call. Drop in to say good morning or check up on your team on a video call will be more engaging and elating than an email or a voice call.

3. Know the difference between a distraction and a break. Unless unavoidable don't get up from your chair, fix your break timings and maybe match it up with the schedules of any household chore that has to be done.

4. Set realistic goals. A new work environment and schedule may be daunting for some time. Don't get into the cycle of setting unreasonable goals, not achieving them and feeling bad about it. Give your self sometime till you can function full throttle.

5. Ensure some me-time every single day. While health should be everyone's priority these days, it is essential to give yourself at least thirty minutes every day to work on a hobby, listening to music or just dancing away the blues.

In the midst of settling down in a home environment, coronavirus outbreak scare, financial challenges, etc. managing employees can be a significant attention-seeking area for entrepreneurs and business owners. One needs to be empathetic, supportive and authoritative at the same time to make sure that these unique work environments do not disrupt the workflow.

I want to share a few pointers on how we are keeping our team together and motivated without letting it affect their performance.

1. Maintain a constant personal and professional connection with the teams: Irrespective of the number of employees, try and maintain a schedule where the employees are meeting virtually to discuss their professional challenges and accomplishments. Maybe even host a watch party on Friday nights!

2. It would be the best time to move onto project management platforms like Asana, Wrike etc. if you weren't already using them. Smooth and seamless flow of task from one person to the other is prerequisite to delivering any project successfully.

3. Employ an HR person or self-service software to keep the communication between you and your employees two way. They should be able to voice out any issue that they are facing or any suggestion that they have regarding the functioning of the company freely.

4. For the very same reason, hold a QnA session with all remote employees as frequently as possible. Involve them in discussion and decision making and win their trust and loyalty in return.

5. Employ some reward or recognition system. Appreciation for hard work goes a long way in getting even more diligence.

6. Lastly, invest in a work tracking software like Hubstaff to know the productivity of each employee and make your future employee strategies based on that.

Without a doubt, these are testing time for employers as well as employees. Companies and professionals need to stay focused and fearless in order to come out victorious from the current global challenges. Reassure yourself and your colleagues that we are all in this situation together, and we will all overcome it only by staying united in spirit.