Lessons we have learned from the new world of remote working

It meant that the transition to remote working for all office-based employees practically overnight, was on the whole, very smooth.

The key thing to note here is that this enabled us to concentrate on the most important stuff quickly.

These are the three biggest things we’ve learnt so far in this new remote world, many of which we’ll be taking back to the office with us and using well after this crisis ends.

Unite through purpose

Providing employees with a sense of belonging and purpose is important at any time, however it’s even more crucial during times of crisis.

Therefore, through all communications we’re continuously coming back to why we’re making particular choices and changes: to keep our customers and each other safe and to continue to provide the best services we can.

That’s why when the lockdown was announced and we had to move to an emergency repairs and essential caretaking service, everyone mobilised incredibly quickly to enable us to make the necessary changes in just 24 hours.

It’s also why when we asked for volunteers to phone all customers aged over 70 years old to make sure they’re ok, we were overwhelmed with the response.

We’re also working hard to keep everyone purposeful in their work during this time. At present, we’re committed to not furlough any employees and instead are looking at ways for work to be spread out across the business, so everyone has something meaningful to do.

Our people have responded well to this call for flexibility and we’ll be providing those that need it with additional learning and development support.

For us this doesn’t just have an impact on value for money, but more importantly by keeping people productive we’re also helping to support positive mental health and well-being.

I honestly don’t feel we’ve ever been as united as an organisation and I truly believe it’s because we’re all working towards the same common purpose.

Don’t just communicate, over-communicate

This is an obvious one as we all know communication is key during times of change and crisis.

However, what we’ve learnt is that you’re only communicating enough when it feels like it’s too much.

This goes as much for customers as it does employees.

I’ve been doing twice-weekly briefings using the live event function of MS Teams and a daily blog which are helping people stay informed, engaged and productive.

“What we’ve learnt is that you’re only communicating enough when it feels like it’s too much”

Internally and externally we’ve been using a range of channels to make sure important messages cut through including social media, text message, email, e-newsletter, letter and flyers.

It’s important we’re also providing ways for people to ask questions and share their views and are finding social media (including our online discussion forum) is the best way to do this. This then feeds into our employee and customer FAQs which are regularly updated.

Protect your culture at all costs

When you’re caught up in responding to a crisis, protecting your culture could fall right down your list.

However, I know that if we’re to fulfil what we need to do for our customers and each other in the very best way we can, we must protect what makes our organisation special.

For us, that’s involved unpicking what unique ingredients make up the RHP culture.

One of those is our purpose, but it’s also our strong sense of camaraderie, that people feel involved, and that we take our jobs seriously, but never ourselves.

Therefore, we’ve been working hard to keep people connected and create times when people can still have fun together.

This includes a ritual we’ve created called ‘Friday Connect’ where the whole organisation comes together virtually at 3pm every Friday to enjoy a social activity.

So far, we’ve played bingo, had a pub quiz and put on a virtual Easter egg hunt.

We know that many of our customers and employees are going through very tricky times and we’re careful not to trivialise.

However we’ve had extremely positive feedback from employees about the effort we’re putting in to keeping them connected in this way.

“We’ve been working hard to keep people connected and create times when people can still have fun together”

Caring about people’s mental health is more important than ever during these times and we’ve been doing several things to support people’s well-being including discussions and tips led by our mental health first aiders (who we call Mind Matters Champions), hosting online yoga sessions and running virtual talks on resilience.

Our people have been truly inspiring and we’re making sure we say ‘thank you’ often.

This included sending everyone a little Easter treat through the post along with a thank you note from the executive group.

People were incredibly grateful even for this small gesture.

We’re only a few weeks into this changing environment and I’m sure there’ll be lots more to learn along the way.

We’re determined not to let the learning go to waste and are already thinking about what we want our new world to look like when ‘normality’ resumes.

Things will never be the same again. We want to make sure some of those changes are for the better.

David Done, chief executive, RHP