{"id":112414,"date":"2020-06-03T12:21:19","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T10:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expresspros.co.za\/?p=112414"},"modified":"2024-11-26T08:58:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T06:58:41","slug":"business-lessons-from-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expresspros.co.za\/index.php\/business-lessons-from-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Lessons from COVID-19: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Refresh Leadership<\/a><\/p>\n

Full-time remote work for employees was out of the question for most companies a few short months ago, but after weathering a pandemic that changed how we work almost overnight, business owners say there are several lessons to take away from this time\u2013the good, the bad and the unknown.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Increased reliance on technology was one of the most visible changes companies were forced to make as our country went into lockdown. Employees\u2019 homes converted to makeshift offices almost overnight.<\/p>\n

But the quick transition wasn\u2019t all bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these technologies were always a \u2018would be nice\u2019 in our minds, but we were always too busy to investigate and adopt,\u201d said Jan Riggins, manager for two Express Employment Professionals offices in Fort Worth, Texas. \u201cNow that we are using them, we can see how much stronger we will be as an organization as we emerge from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd Isaacson, Express franchise owner in Longmont, Colorado, agrees that more video interactions will increase worker efficiency and time management.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will be much more amenable to these types of interactions because their time is better used and less risk of exposure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The same convenience of technology, however, doesn\u2019t necessarily replace in-person employer\/employee interaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new difficulty will be how to promote and grow employees to take the next step and move up to the next position,\u201d said Daniel Morgan, Express franchise owner in Birmingham, Alabama. \u201cIt will be a struggle because more businesses may just hire for the position and people may not be able to advance their careers as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica Culo, Express franchise owner from Edmonton, Alberta, noted that the majority of her clients are open to sustaining \u201cwork from home\u201d options for their employees. \u201cWe are hearing that virtual meetings are going to stick around.\u201d However, employers indicated that will have to introduce increased accountability measures and companies are also going to have to re-evaluate how performance is measured.<\/p>\n

According to Culo, the biggest lesson that employers have learned \u201cis that they have to be \u2018Radically Open Minded\u2019 \u2013 what we thought would never work, may just work. What we thought would be awful, may not be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biggest Takeaways for Employers<\/b><\/h4>\n

As business owners and managers begin to look in the rearview mirror at operations during the pandemic, Riggins says successful companies realised flexibility was key.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been very interested to see the response of employers during this pandemic,\u201d she said. \u201cSome were nimble and quickly adjusted. I think those are the organisations that will provide the example for others on how to navigate change in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others agree. \u201cI think many employers have learned how resilient their business can be with a little innovation and initiative,\u201d added Bruce Hein, Express Franchise Owner in Sarnia. \u201cFor the first time, some companies are taking advantage of e-commerce, offering free shipping and delivery, redeploying staff to new departments to keep them employed and contributing, and quickly developing new products and services to keep their business relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transparency as an organization was also key during this time of great unknowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegular communication with staff has always been important but it was\/is crucial during this COVID-19 crisis,\u201d Isaacson said. \u201cEmployees who don\u2019t know what the boss is thinking or planning makes them nervous. Silence is not golden.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time has also allowed owners to re-examine business operations, such as streamlining budgets and how to run more efficiently, Morgan added.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo often, we are all too busy to get into the details of running a more efficient business, and now owners have more time to analyze the best ways to run their business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At the Express office in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Director of Manufacturing Excellence John Keuning says a return to pre-pandemic employment levels may take several years and worries employers will do whatever it takes to stay afloat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we will be fighting a long economic recovery battle that might cause bad decisions to be made about compression of work, workload, and cutting safety and\/or quality corners,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all must be true to values and missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons for Employees<\/b><\/h4>\n

Two distinct groups of employees emerged over the past few months in Riggins\u2019 mind-those who remained employed and were expected to be grateful, and those who \u201clost their jobs and were lumped in with the masses of others in the same situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those who will come through this most successfully and who will provide an example for others are those who were flexible,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether they were still working or not, if they were able to figure out how to keep learning, how to be flexible in their job, or how to provide support for others, they then navigated this pandemic successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in a time when so much in every area of life seemed out of control, Isaacson suggests identifying what you can\u2019t control and let it run its course.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing what you can control and doing the best with that helps organise thoughts and alleviate feelings of hopelessness and helplessness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly be felt by businesses for years, said Express CEO Bill Stoller.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s easy to take a high-level look at the damage the virus has done to companies, not everything has been negative,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have learned to be more grateful for good health, appreciate each other more and lean on one another for support. We will come out of this on the other side better thanks to the resiliency and determination of the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Refresh Leadership Full-time remote work for employees was out of the question for most companies a few short months ago, but after weathering a pandemic that changed how we work almost overnight, business owners say there are several lessons to take away from this time\u2013the good, the bad and the unknown. Increased reliance on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":104305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneur"],"yoast_head":"\nBusiness Lessons from COVID-19: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown - Expresss Employment Professionals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Weathering a pandemic that changed how we work almost overnight, business owners say there are several lessons to take away from this time\u2013the good, the bad and the unknown.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/expresspros.co.za\/index.php\/business-lessons-from-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Lessons from COVID-19: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown - 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