There is no doubt that the pandemic of 2020 is having an impact on most people and businesses.  For many, it is having a profound emotional, social, and financial impact.  And for some, it is shattering lives, destroying dreams and crushing companies.  It is tragic.  But there is also no doubt that this too shall pass, and soon – perhaps not soon enough — there will be treatments and an inoculation that will make Covid a thing of the past. Continue reading →

Part 2

Coworkers, managers and vendors are getting an inside peek into the understandably less-than-perfect personal lives of their colleagues.  What they see and hear is often far from crisp, clean and cultured.  Pets interrupt Zoom calls.  Lawn mowers buzz in the background of important work calls.  Amazon vendors ring the doorbell five minutes into the weekly sales update with the boss.  Children barge into the “home office” demanding lunch at 11:21 am.  Like life, it is untidy.  For the masses telecommuting for the first time in their lives, home life keeps spilling into work time… and invariably at the most inopportune moments.  What is a pro to do?  It can seem practically impossible to keep the lines of separation between work and home.  But the employer who laid off 50 workers and is keeping a specific employee on the payroll, expects competence and class. Continue reading →

Part 1

While remote work had already been on the rise — growing 159% from 2005 to 2017 – it still made up only a small percentage of the workforce’s employment location.  Far less than 10% of the U.S. workforce was telecommuting at least half of their work time a year ago.  However, Covid changed all that in an instant, pushing over 100 million workers into full-time remote work situations practically overnight.  And, for many businesses, there really was no choice.  It was either work remotely or shut down.  Most business leaders wisely chose to pivot to remote work.  Security was beefed up.  Technology hardware and software was purchased.  Internet connections were enhanced for everyone.  And processes were chiseled together for how to get work done that had previously been done live and face-to-face.  Some tasks changed and some projects were put on hold or halted altogether. Continue reading →

No One Wants To Hear “It’s not my job”

Flu season, vacation time or an unexpected rush of orders can cause any business to be overloaded with work and understaffed.  Usually that is a temporary situation that can be handled until the load eases or new employees are hired.  A simple shifting of responsibilities and emphasis on teamwork to get through the crunch will often suffice.  But what is a business to do if it has laid off 80% of its employees in the age of Covid?

After all, no customer wants to hear an employee at a business say “Sorry, I can’t help you.  I’ve already shut down for the day” or be told “Due to our abbreviated hours, we are unable to help you today.  Check back tomorrow.”   Likewise, no coworker wants to hear a colleague say “I’ve exceeded my hours and can’t help you today” or “That’s no longer a part of my job.”    The “It’s-not-my-job” response comes across like a lead balloon.  It is not a response anyone wants to hear when asking for help. Continue reading →

With over 30 million people either on furlough or laid off, business leaders are now faced with the task of deciding what to do now that businesses are allowed to reopen.  On the one hand, there is concern that of a new wave of infection (soon or in the Fall when schools reopen and the weather turns cold again) could lead to a second wave of hospitalizations and a renewed need to “shut down” again.  The thought of having to lay off employees and shut down again is enough to make some businesses pause.  On the other hand, it is that very pause – a failure to get the workforce back to work… earning and spending — that could hinder the speedy economic recovery that would allow businesses to recover some what was lost in March, April and May. Continue reading →

In the past, if someone needed to earn big money fast – and the person wasn’t a technology genius, inventor, insightful stock trader or creative scientist — he or she might become a salesperson.  Accomplished salespeople usually make a very good living.  Until March of this year, countless people were involved in sales.  Some were in real estate sales making big money.  They were Realtors, new home salespeople, mortgage lenders, and the like. Some were in technology, selling software as a service, Google Ads or hawking products on Amazon.   Still others were in traditional mediums such as luxury vehicle and jewelry sales.  At companies from Facebook to Ferrari to Fendi — as well as millions of little-known brands — top salespeople were treated like gold.  Bigger companies sought to ‘lure’ the top producers away, offering bigger commissions, better benefits and nicer work conditions. Continue reading →

There are a multitude of idioms, platitudes, clichés and sayings about staying positive in tough times.

Let’s look at the bright side.  Every cloud has a silver lining.  See the glass as half full instead of half empty.  When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.  Hope against hope.  Things have a way of working out for the best.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  Keep your chin up.  Hang in there.  When one door closes, another one opens.  The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.  No winter lasts forever and no spring skips its turn. Continue reading →

The Winds of Change

With the development of a highly effective treatment for Novel Coronavirus still months away, and a vaccine not expected until perhaps next year, it appears the pandemic may continue for a while.  However, most businesses will surely not be able to remain closed or curtailed for anywhere near that long and most people cannot afford to be unemployed or furloughed for that length of time.  Business owners and managers should replace a short-term mindset with longer-term thinking. The question to ask then isn’t “if” to reopen, but “how best” to reopen? Continue reading →

To stay healthy during the Covid-19 global pandemic, telecommuting and remote work-from-home arrangements have become the norm for many.  People who had always worked in offices and met face-to-face with colleagues and clients have turned to the digital world of video conferencing and teleconferences to keep working and stay productive. Video conferencing has made face-to-face communication, collaboration and teamwork stil possible, despite shelter-in-place and social distancing.  But many were using a video conferencing system for the first time.  In addition to needing the right hardware– such as internet connectivity and a computer with speakers – workers also needed the right software or video conferencing provider. Continue reading →

Who Moved My Cheese?

We are living in a time of great uncertainty and massive disruption.  As Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain so aptly put it in her address to the British people last month, “I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time.   A time of disruption…  A disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all.”  It is true, and she was right to add that this too shall pass.  As she put it, “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.” Continue reading →