Managing Your Workload During a Pandemic
2020 has been an unusual and challenging experience for us all. Globally, businesses have faced many difficulties, with some not surviving. For others, changes have been made to ensure that both clients and staff are kept safe.
At LettsPay, like everyone else, we have had to adapt our working environment to make the most of a bad situation. We have all been working from home, with the distractions that come with this: the dog barking when the postman arrives during an important call, children having a tantrum, or worse still, having fun in the garden when you can’t go out and join them, or the broadband playing up at the worst possible moment. On top of this, we have also employed new staff, who have needed training and support. All of this has been done remotely.
It hasn’t been all doom and gloom though. We really believe that there have been many positives to come out of this pandemic. Thanks to the wonders of google meets, we have managed to not only maintain positive relationships with our clients, we have even formed new partnerships. Although we are missing the face to face interaction, video calls have saved time, eliminated travel costs and to top it off, we can wear our slippers during meetings.
Like many other businesses, we have made the decision to continue to work remotely as much as possible. For those of us who can, or want to, we are beginning to regroup at the office just once a week.
This is optional though, and we limit it to just once a week. There is no plan to ever return to a 5 day week in the office - partly because this also reduces rent costs, and saves money on travel expenses, but also because our team enjoys the freedom that comes with working from home. We have found that those extra minutes saved, mean that we can take the dog for a walk, have a chat with a friend on the phone, spend a bit longer doing some yoga, all because we can finish work a little bit earlier. These are all things which we enjoy and help us to look after our mental health.
So, how have we managed to make this work? The answer to this question is simple - communication. This has been the key to our success. We meet for a video call every morning at 9am. The meetings follow a similar pattern, allowing everyone in the team to discuss what they have been working on, what they will be working on that day, and any concerns they may have, as well as sharing their successes. Alongside this, we email, text, or call each other when necessary throughout the day. Different sub teams will hold their own video calls, and will plan their time accordingly. We also use a program which allows tasks to be logged and prioritised. Everyone has access to this, ensuring that all tasks are completed in a timely manner and in an appropriate order.
Obviously, we have run into our fair share of problems - after all, we’re learning and adapting too. But, when issues arise, we address it instantly, and use the strategies mentioned above to solve it. This has meant working late into the night, talking to each other and often working back through our tasks to see where we went wrong. We have a strong ‘no blame’ culture, which ensures that we work together to solve problems quickly. Everyone pulls together.
It is doubtful that we are the only company who is feeling the benefit of working from home. We also know that for some it is still stressful as you might still be finding your feet. When talking to letting agents, we have found that working from home has felt impossible at times. This is mainly because of the nature of your work. Meeting tenants is fundamental to filling properties, but also juggling accounts, making payments to landlords and suppliers is a time consuming task. LettsPay has created a platform which makes working remotely easier. Our product manages accounts and payments in one place to ensure that your workload is reduced, allowing more time for making virtual house tours to help fill your properties.