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Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning your Business|Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?As much as we like to think that our offices are clean, many are not. Some are just so dirty that they can cause sickness and disease, which is dangerous as the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 is still rampant. So, how do business owners keep up with the new normal, given the safety and health protocols in place by the government?

Learn what’s the new normal in cleaning business spaces by reading below.

What Is The New Normal?

The new normal is not new to the human race anymore. With crises arising ever since humans existed, they’ve brought drastic changes to the overall routine, economy, lifestyle, and even culture and traditions worldwide.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the new normal means significant changes in how people communicate, work, and even clean business spaces. It involves implementing stricter safety and health protocols such as social distancing or maintaining at least a distance of six feet away from other people to avoid transmitting the virus.

Cleaning During The Pandemic

Now that you know the meaning of the new normal, it’s time to know the things you should know when cleaning your business spaces during the new normal.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning your Business|Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?1.Wash Hands And Wear Gloves Before Cleaning

Many people don’t think about this, but there are plenty of germs and bacteria on their hands when they’re doing their work. When it comes to office & commercial cleaning, wearing gloves and face masks is now highly recommended. This is now the art of the new normal when cleaning business spaces.

When wearing safety gloves, it’s important to remember that they’re meant to protect the wearer against exposure to chemicals or toxins in the environment. Gloves should be worn while touching liquids in the same way as if they were on the part of the body. It’s important to make sure that you don’t accidentally inhale them because the liquid can get trapped in your mouth, which can cause serious illnesses.

2. Disinfect Your Business Spaces

Disinfecting is not all about putting chemicals onto surfaces. You need to understand that the more times you can remove germs from your office, the better off you’ll be because the more likely you are to prevent an outbreak.

To make sure that you and your employees are safe, learning how to disinfect offices is a good thing to do. If you want to try something else, there’s always the option of hiring a professional to disinfect your office.

Here are some disinfection tips you can try:

  • Disinfect the office using a steam cleaner: If you want to know how to disinfect offices, there are several different methods. One thing that you can try is a steam cleaner.
  • Use bleach: Another great method that’ll help you learn how to disinfect offices is through bleach, which is easy to use and affordable. Many people like bleach because it can kill any viruses that come into contact with it.
  • Use hydrogen peroxide and vinegar: There are other ways to learn how to disinfect offices. One of these is by using hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. These are both great because they’re both easy to use and inexpensive.

3. Keep Everything Clean and Sanitized

The key to effectively disinfect your office during this pandemic is to keep everything clean and remove different things that may cause germs to spread. For instance, if you have many surfaces in your office that are hard and flat, make sure that you wear gloves when you wipe them down.

Make sure that you sanitize things around the restroom and the kitchen counter, too. Again, don’t forget to sanitize your handkerchiefs and towels as well.

4. Maintain Social Distancing

Even during commercial cleaning, cleaners are advised to maintain social distancing. Because of the nature of the novel coronavirus, keeping a safe distance will help isolate the virus and prevent the disease to spread.

5. Frequent Scheduled Cleaning

As you probably noticed, cleaning is now more frequently done than ever, which is now an essential aspect of the new normal.

Every room, cubicle, corner, and space used in the business establishment must be disinfected before and after use. The government has mandated routine cleaning in compliance with the quarantine and health protocols.

Conclusion

Be sure that you change your office surfaces frequently and clean them thoroughly. Keep things clean and sanitized at all times as well. And, if you really can’t avoid germs, then it’s always a good idea to take steps to prevent them from spreading from your desktops, toilets, kitchen surfaces, and other places around your office.

Learning how to disinfect offices is a great thing to do because it’ll keep you and your employees safe from the outbreak.

The Benefits of a Diverse Workforce in Business

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StrategyDriven Diversity and Inclusion Article |Diverse Workforce|The Benefits of a Diverse Workforce in BusinessThe debate over diversity in the workplace is one that has taken up acres of newsprint across the years, and which remains a hot button issue through to the present. It’s not one we’re going to solve here, but it is worth looking at some of the reasons diversity is considered to be so important. It’s not just a matter of ticking boxes, as you’ll see below.

Diversity of background brings diversity of thought

While there is nothing objectively wrong with hiring from the same talent pool each time you bring someone in, the absence of diversity can hurt a business in terms of results. If you have a team of six people, and all six grew up in the same kind of area, had the same education and the same life experiences, there’s a decent chance – though not a certainty – that they’ll think the same way about problem solving. Really, you want a Plan B, and ideally C and D too, so a range of experiences helps.

A broader conversation helps everyone learn

If done organically, the building of a diverse workforce means that people who aren’t ordinarily exposed to a certain way of thinking can have their horizons broadened. This is as true for the perceived “outsider” as it is for the “insiders”. Everyone can gain some insight into another way of doing things, and it makes a business stronger.

Over time, bias can be corrosive

It is somewhat natural that people will seek out others like them in a lot of scenarios, whether that’s two white men gravitating towards another in a mixed group, or two fans of the same singer or radio station. That can be beneficial for harmony, but if it is reinforced over years and even generations it can lead to a business that is not prepared for a changing world. The infographic below explains how diversity can boost a business, and why it is important.


Infographic Design By Ezra Coaching

How explainer videos plays important role in your startup business strategy

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In today’s scenario, videos are gaining ample popularity not just due to its excellent benefits, but also due to its affordability and effectiveness. Indeed, videos are helping businesses to hit their goals. Video marketing allows marketers to grab the visitor’s attention in a very short span of time.

By creating alluring and informative explainer videos, one can easily express almost everything and make people familiar with your business offers. Yes! With 90-sec video, you can easily add value to your business marketing and make your brand globally recognized.

Still not satisfied? You are at the right place. Through this article, I will take you through various reasons that will help you understand why 90% of the businesses are using explainer videos to complete their desired actions and achieve their business goals.

How explainer videos can help startup businesses to gain success

Let’s get started…

Generate more traffic

When we talk about startup business, then going viral is one thing that can help them improve their business productivity. And to increase web traffic, videos play a great role. A viral video will help you gain popularity and allow visitors to know how the organization can help them achieve their goals.

According to the analysis, 82% of internet traffic comes from attractive videos. If your videos are good, you can easily double your organic search traffic. Remember, the more the traffic, the higher the conversions. So, if you want to see fantastic results in your startup marketing strategy, then don’t forget to add videos in your plan.

>Improves brand awareness

Another reason why organizations are using explainer videos is to increase their visibility on the web. Increasing brand awareness is another step that can help you increase your customer base and sales. And to achieve such desires, videos help a lot!

Uploading videos on the right platform will help you raise the awareness of your brand and allow you to make the right decision at the right time. According to HubSpot, 85% of the customers always prefer watching videos from the brands.

So, if you want to streamline your startup business strategy and increase the number of sales without putting much effort and time, then start creating short and creative explainer videos.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | How explainer videos plays important role in your startup business strategy

Source: walkaroundvideos

Prefer reading- 5 Ways to incorporate an explainer video to your marketing strategy

Highly affordable and effective

No matter whether it’s a startup or a huge organization, every organization wants to generate a positive impact on their business without breaking the banks. Well! That’s where videos come into play.

The best part about the explainer video is that you don’t have to invest huge money. There are various softwares and video production companies that allow individuals to produce videos faster that are both clearer, enjoyable and affordable. So, start leveraging the power explainer video to measure the success of your business without breaking your banks.

Earn a better ROI

Videos also play a vital role when it comes to long term investment and ROI. If you are spending money on creating videos, then you can expect a huge return. Around 51% of marketers consider videos as one of the best types of content that generate huge ROI.

According to the research, 85% of the people are likely to make a purchase after watching explainer videos. So, if you want to hype up your business sales and increase conversions to generate better ROI, then start investing in videos, as video marketing has huge scope in improving the opportunities and staying competitive.

Makes the explanation easy

For a startup, explaining the product or service is not a cakewalk. But yes! With explainer videos, it is something that is possible. If you have explainer videos on your landing pages, you can explain complex products/services easily.

According to the statistics, 97% of the organizations believe that with the help of explainer videos, it becomes really easy to make people understand the concept/products/services easily. Always remember, more will be the understanding of the concept, the easier it becomes to engage the visitors and convert them into leads.

Around 69% of the people get to know about the product or services by watching effective videos. Thus, to make people better understand the concept, start using video in the best possible way. Whenever you create a video, make sure it has a proper story.

Encourage social shares

Have you ever realized whether social sharing can help you enhance your productivity? Yes! The organizations that are focusing on their social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. are able to analyze their sales and increase their productivity. And to increase the number of social shares, videos can help a lot.

According to the statistics, the organizations that are creating social videos are able to generate 1200 times more shares as compared to long formatted content and images. Always remember, the higher the number of shares, the more the revenue.

So, if you want to see better results for your startup business, then upload entertaining and effective videos on your social media and see a positive impact on your ROI.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | How explainer videos plays important role in your startup business strategy

Source: position2

Rank Better in Google Search

Almost every business wants to appear in the top searches of Google. Because if your website is ranking at the top, then the chances to attract more visitors and convert them into quality leads increase. To increase the website ranking, you can add videos in your marketing strategy.

According to the analysis, the organizations that are creating videos are 53 times more likely to show up at the top of Google. Yes! Videos can act as a core element for your marketing strategy. But, whenever you produce videos, always have your target audience in mind. It will definitely allow you to see fantastic results in a short span of time.

In a Nutshell

There are no two opinions that videos are both economic and effective parts of digital marketing. It helps both startups and huge organizations in capturing leads and escalating their business growth. Having an engaging and educational video not only helps in promoting business but also allows in building strong customer relations.

So, if you want to create real miracles and take your startup business at the next step, make the best use of explainer videos. But still, if you have any query, or want to add something in the above list, feel free to share your opinions in the comment section added below.

Top Considerations For Businesses’ To Staying Safe Online

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Cybersecurity, from a business’s technological point of view, is essential more than ever simply because it is more prevalent to have parts of the company that would need the use of the world wide web. From emailing different departments to accessing documents over the network or cloud services, to businesses that use the web for communication and engagement with clients and customers. In today’s standards, modern-day business ranging from all small, medium, or large scaled enterprises, will need to be even more vigilant and incorporate web technologies, along with safety and cybersecurity, as part of the business framework and will need to adapt protocols or procedures to make sure of workplace safety and that the company and its assets are protected.

StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | Top Considerations For Businesses' To Staying Safe Online

Network administrators are usually the go-to department for medium and large enterprises and corporate entities, that will be in charge of keeping the workings of the internet of things functional and performing to the best standard for the company. Ranging from the creation of user accounts, privileges, and to monitor software and traffic coming into the business network, to port monitoring and implementing software installation and updates were needed on the different devices, around the business. But for a small business, cyber security may be more doable with being confident and its capability to deploy its own procedures that can help protect the presence of the company when being online.

Here are a few things to consider for any business whether small, medium or large, that would be generally good working practise to adapt within the online procedures, to protect the company from threats from online.

Firewalls

Firewalls are a security system that will monitor all the network traffic and the software that will run through the ports on the network. Generally, Firewalls are the first port of call when protecting the network from numerous types of attacks, but there are other things that can help reduce this risk even further.

VPN’s

Meaning Virtual Private Networks can be implemented to further the security of data transference across the network, especially if the business network needs to communicate to the wider web, which is untrustworthy, to complete tasks. Firewalls and VPS’s can come in software but also can be found in the router settings for some brands.

Virus Scanning Software

When a company has its work that is primarily sorted out on a device such as a PC, or even have the use of services such as emails and Voice Over Internet Protocol communications, it is usually a good idea to make sure that there is a Virus Protection element implemented, to minimise the chance for viruses or malware that can compromise your data and business logic, even data breaches.

PC Procedures and Conventions

The idea for password conventions and procedures is to educate and train company users and employees to have a decent basic understanding of what is to be expected by them, in order to contribute to the security of the company. Such as passwords not to be shared, and created with an uppercase, inclusive of numbers and a special character. That they should not be allowed to plug personal devices or even log into private email accounts while working on the companies PCs.

Being secure and safe online is an important focal point for many businesses, these points mentioned here are a few generic ones to be considered. What do you include as part of your way of keeping the company safe online? Let us know in the comments below.

10 Top Tips for Making an Employee Redundant

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Redundant|10 Top Tips for Making an Employee RedundantMaking an employee redundant is never easy, but it can be more manageable if you follow the right steps. Discover more, here…

Redundancy is on people’s minds more than ever before. Since the coronavirus pandemic started, the UK government has tried to mitigate these redundancies. But, unfortunately, it’s not always possible.

If you’ve done your best to follow government guidelines to save your employees and you still plan on making an employee redundant it’s important that you do it the right way.

In this post, we’re going to cover what redundancy is, whether COVID-19 has made redundancy more commonplace, and share some tips on how to make an employee redundant. So, to make sure you tackle this task the right way, read on…

What Does it Mean to Make an Employee Redundant?

Before we share our top tips on how to make an employee redundant, we’re going to briefly go over the definition of redundancy, so you know what it entails.

Redundancy is the dismissal of an employee because the employer no longer requires anyone to do their job. This could be because the business is:

  • Changing what it does
  • Upgrading to new technology or machinery that makes the employee’s job redundant
  • Changing location or closing down
  • Doesn’t have enough money to retain certain job roles

For a redundancy to be considered so, the employer must demonstrate that the employee’s job will no longer exist. This way the employer can’t use the excuse of redundancy to unfairly dismiss an employee for other reasons.

Redundancies can be compulsory or non-compulsory. This depends on whether you allow the employee to take their redundancy voluntarily or make them take it.

Employee’s Redundancy Rights

To give you an idea of the rights an employee has when you make them redundant, here’s a quick list of what you might have to provide them with:

  • Redundancy pay
  • A redundancy notice period
  • A consultation with their employer
  • The option to move into a different job role
  • Time off work to look for a new job

This probably goes without saying, but do not select people for redundancy based on age, gender, disability or because the employee is pregnant. This will likely be considered unfair dismissal.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Redundant|10 Top Tips for Making an Employee RedundantIs COVID-19 Forcing Employers to Make Staff Redundant?

Coronavirus has obviously had a huge impact on businesses, with the Financial Times reporting that the UK economy has shrunk by a fifth since the pandemic started. The government’s Job Retention Scheme has eased the pressure somewhat, but lots of businesses are still faced with having to let employees go.

Just so you have an idea of the companies that have had to make large proportions of their staff redundant in the UK, here’s a quick list of some of them:

  • Rolls-Royce: 9,000 staff
  • BP: 10,000 staff
  • Centrica: 5,000 staff
  • Bentley: 1,000 staff
  • British Airways: 12,000 staff
  • The Restaurant Group: 1,500 staff
  • Oasis and Warehouse: 1,800 staff

These are just a few of the major companies who have had to make redundancies. So, if you’ve found yourself in a position where you have to make some, you’re not on your own. The only thing you can do now is make sure you carry out the proecdure in a way that’s best, or least painful, for both parties.

10 Top Tips for Making an Employee Redundant

Now that we know what redundancy is, and that COVID-19 is forcing more employers than ever to consider it for their employees, it’s time to give you some tips on how to go about it. Whether you’re making one staff member redundant, or hundreds, it’s important that you try to do so with compassion and tact, which these tips will help you do.

1. Be clear and communicate your reasons effectively

The wordier and more complex the message, the more confusing it will be and the more upset it will cause. So, it’s important to make sure the message you share with your employees is as clear and consistent as possible. To do this, try and communicate the reasons why the business has to make them redundant as best as possible.

2. Preparation and practice

This might not be necessary if you’re only making a single employee redundant, because in that scenario it’s better to have an actual one-to-one conversation with the employee.

However, if you’re making several employees redundant, and you’re planning on giving a speech, prepare the script carefully and practice delivering it until you’re comfortable with what you’re saying. Also, prepare to answer questions and try not to talk too much when the staff are giving their input. It’s better to listen to their concerns and answer them effectively.

3. Avoid leaks

You don’t want to go through all the preparation, practice and honing of a clearly communicated message and have news of the redundancy get our before you’re able to deliver it. Also, there’s nothing worse than gossip getting out and causing undue stress to your employees. So, keep it as under wraps as possible before breaking the news that redundancies will be made.

4. Provide a clear end date

Whether it’s to a single member of staff, or many, giving a firm end date will make it easier for them to move on and start looking for a new job. Also, as we mentioned earlier, you might need to provide some time off for them to search for a new job, so factor that in when you plan the employee’s end date.

5. Share resources that can help your employees

There are loads of organisations that offer support for those who are made redundant, especially with COVID-19 making them more prevalent. Sharing details on where your employees can find help might help them feel less alone and anxious about being made redundant.

6. Don’t make your employees keep it a secret

Keeping word of the redundancies under wraps before they’re announced is fine, but once the employees who are going to be made redundant have been informed, don’t force them to keep it a secret from others.

It might seem like a good idea at the time, because it will stop other employees from worrying about their own jobs. That said, all it does is isolate the redundant employees further, as they won’t be able to seek support from their friends and colleagues.

7. Don’t announce redundancies before a weekend or holiday

If you make redundancies before a weekend or holiday, those employees are likely to go home and feel isolated. If you do it earlier in the week, at least they can air out their grievances with you and seek support from their colleagues.

8. Be careful when trying to make the redundancy sound positive

It’s tempting to try and make the redundancy seem like a good thing to put your employees at ease. But, being made redundant is generally a bad situation, so letting them down gently is the better approach.

For example, telling a working mother “at least you’ll have more time with your kids” isn’t a consolation. Most people will either need their job to feed their kids, or enjoy their job and will have chosen to do it for a reason. So, be sure not to make light of the situation.

9. Don’t ask your employees to stick around to finish a project

The reason you’re letting the employees go in the first place is because their job has become redundant. If you tell them they’re being made redundant and then ask them to stay on until they’ve finished a project they’re working on, it’s doesn’t reflect well on you.

10. Look after yourself

Obviously, putting the redundant employees first is a good strategy and should be implemented before you start thinking about yourself. But, don’t forget about yourself once you’ve helped out your employees.

Apart from the stress of giving the news, you’ll likely be losing colleagues and friends as well. So, getting support from others at your company might help you through it. Also, before you make the announcement, it might be good to get the backing of your company, so you know you’re not taking the burden on your own.

Are you Ready to Announce Your Redundancies?

Hopefully, after reading this post, you now have a better idea of what redundancies are, and are aware that you’re not alone in making them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also hope you’ve garnered some useful tips to help you make the announcement to your employees along the way.

Like we said at the start of this post, it’s never easy to make the people you see every day at the office redundant. That said, you can try your best to mitigate their suffering and your own.

Thanks for reading and good luck with the redundancies.