Stay Engaged While Working Remotely

In this new environment, organizations need to re-think their daily operations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people should avoid all social gatherings in groups of more than 10 people. The situation is developing rapidly, but this could be the new normal for the next 8-12 weeks.

Here’s some tips on how to run your business virtually and stay connected with your team.

Communicating with your customers

Update your website and tell your customers how the situation is impacting your operations. We recommend you add information directly on your homepage.
Update your Google Business profile and make sure it includes your current hours. Let people know if your physical location is closed and direct them to your website.
Update your social media pages. Create a post and update also your bio/about us section if your hours have changed or your physical location is closed.
Be consistent and make sure people can find the relevant information when they look you up online.
Let people know what’s the best way to reach you (phone, email, text, Facebook Messenger etc.)
Keep your customer engaged with regular social media posts.
Direct people to your online store if you have one and it's still operating. Consider setting up an online store if you don’t have one yet.
Add frequently asked questions on your website and consider also setting up an email auto-reply with answers to those questions.

Working remotely with your team

Make sure you have remote access to all important information.
Collaborate with co-workers by using shared documents, doing conference calls, or by creating an email list or a chat room.
Establish regular check-ins with specific times.
Provide several communications methods, because email alone isn’t sufficient. Video is a great alternative as video conferencing gives participants many of the visual cues that they would have if they were face-to-face.
Establish rules of engagement, for example we use video conferencing for daily check-ups, but text/Slack when something is urgent.
Let people know what is the best time and method to reach you.
Set up time for remote social interaction, for example spend a few minutes in the beginning of your video conference talking about non-work related things or organize a virtual team lunch or happy hour.
Make sure to set up a time for lunch (and maybe even do some stretches!).

If you end up having some extra time, this situation is a great opportunity to learn a new skill. Here's a list of our favorite resources.