With more businesses reopening their doors as lockdown restrictions are eased, many people, including scientists and medical professionals, think a ‘second wave’ is highly likely. So how will you approach your COVID communications next time, are you ready for the second wave?
Now is a good time to reflect on how well your firm has managed over the past few months, whilst everything is still fresh in everyone’s minds. Getting feedback from staff, partners, clients, suppliers and business associates will help you get a better handle on what you did well, what could have been improved. In turn, this will help to identify what systems and procedures you need to have in place to hit the ground running should a second wave and further lockdown restrictions be imposed.
Areas to consider and have a plan in place for are:
Working from home arrangements
What things can be improved for staff to make it easy to carry out their duties from home?
This could include:
- Supplying additional office equipment, wi-fi boosters etc.
- Suggesting different working times to fit in with childcare or other family members who are also working from home.
- Identifying the best ways of keeping staff informed of government initiatives to help businesses and ways in which your firm is helping clients.
Where some staff struggle to work from home, could arrangements be made for them to work safely from the office?
Staff welfare
How well did your staff cope with either working from home or being furloughed?
You may want to look at the ways you communicated with your staff (phone, email, video calls, etc) and how often. How regularly did you ‘check-in’ on individuals to see how they were coping with the changes, rather than assuming that if they had a problem they would talk to you about it?
Look at the reasons for communicating with staff, it shouldn’t just be work-related. Some firms put in place weekly online social activities for staff to get involved with from playing Pictionary during lunchtimes to Friday evening drinks. It’s important to keep everyone connected, whether they are working or have been furloughed.
Client communications
How proactive were you at keeping all clients up to date with news and information on relating to the Government’s COVID-19 support measures? Could this have been done sooner in the process?
Think about how quick you were to respond to and disseminate information. In preparation for the ‘second wave’ consider what you would do differently and what communication channels you would use.
If you’d like to gather feedback from your clients on how well you have communicated and supported them during the Coronavirus, click here for our special CV-19 client survey.
Client service
What more could you do to help your clients during the pandemic and through a potential second wave?
Brainstorm with your team ways in which you could help clients, whether that’s by disseminating information about loans and grants, helping them to submit funding applications or helping them restructure their businesses for the post COVID world.
Also think about how you can bring clients together, whether through video calls or online forums to help them share experiences with other business people and to help them realise that they are not on their own.
You may also want to consider the processes you have in place for enabling clients to drop off or collect their books and records during the lockdown. In a similar vein, ensure you make it clear how clients can get in touch with you, where possible embracing video calls to create as personalised experience as possible.
The firm’s external profile
Finally, as part of your review of COVID communications, consider your external presence. What, if anything, did you do over the past few months to maintain your firm’s profile on a local/regional/national basis?
Firms that have helped to safeguard their own futures have done so by being visible throughout the pandemic. They have provided online advice and support for businesses and individuals, whether they were clients or not, with a mantra of ‘We’re in this together’. They have upped their game when it comes to social media and having an online presence by attending virtual networking groups, participating in online forums, writing practical and useful blogs and generally being visible to those that need support.
With the prospect of many businesses not surviving this current pandemic, this in turn will have a knock-on effect for accountancy firms, particularly if a second wave hits later in the year. Firms can help protect themselves by taking stock of their recent actions and identifying what they can do to improve their staff and client COVID communications the next time it, or something similar, happens.
