Indulge me for a moment while I add to the noise around COVID-19. Unless you have been living in a cave, you will no doubt be aware of the current situation we find ourselves in. There isn’t a person or place that hasn’t been impacted in some way by the coronavirus and the restrictions it has placed on society.
But from all darkness comes light, and there are those that have found ways to flourish and offer extra support to their fellow man when that help is most needed. Everyone has an opinion on how to do lockdown ‘well’ and I would advise staying well clear of Instagram and the productivity shaming occurring there on a daily basis. No one should be feeling guilty about how they’re coping and absolutely no one should tell you you aren’t doing a good enough job. We are all doing the very best that we can in new and strange circumstances.
In this blog, we are talking about those businesses and organisations who find themselves busier than ever thanks to the increase in demand on industries like the third sector, shipping, supermarkets, and manufacturers.
We, at SmartPA, are doing our utmost to support as many companies as possible to protect their staff and do what they can to help and thrive by outsourcing work to our virtual assistants across the world. Watch a quick video here about one of the charities we support to help those in need. We are definitely missing our team and the human connections maintained in our lovely offices. Video calls and technology make our Friday socials possible but we can’t deny that post lockdown, we may feel a little more grateful for the freedom to enjoy our HQ on a sunny afternoon. Never underestimate the importance of feeling happy in your place of work - we, at SmartPA, are very lucky to have such a united, positive team.
I read an interesting piece the other day that talked about making money in a crisis. There will always be naysayers, but it does raise an interesting moral question; is it ok to do well out of a bad situation? The answer is, of course, yes - but it’s all about how you manage it. Supermarkets, support providers, video streaming services etc… These are still businesses and are amongst those who have had huge increases in footfall, demand, and revenue. The solution is to make sure you aren’t profiteering for money’s sake. Channel your inner blitz spirit and try and help others - there is no other way to survive this pandemic except by pulling together and helping where you can. The world needs to keep turning and money needs to change hands in order to speed up the recovery that will come eventually.
Watch our in-house vs outsourcing a receptionist during a crisis webinar here!
Where SmartPA is concerned, one of our key aims is to help companies protect as many jobs as humanly possible. The furlough scheme is a fantastic way of preventing redundancies but these employers will want to make sure there is still a business for their team to return to once COVID-19 has passed. So how does outsourcing work actually help? We can step in to cover the work that team members were doing before the pandemic hit - support services like process management, bookkeeping, email management, payroll and HR, and social media management.
One task we are seeing an increasing demand for is call handling. A lot of businesses relied on call centers and receptionists to handle phone calls, and either there are so many extra calls coming in they can’t cope with the demand or they can’t transition to a remote-working setup and so have had to close their call center. Our help here comes in many forms but in essence, we are being asked to provide overflow support to busy centers or taking over from a receptionist and being the face and voice of the company. How to start outsourcing work to our team? It’s simple - enquire with our team, specify the volume of calls, and whether you need 24/7 support or not, and we can be operational on the same day. Our global reach means we can build teams of any size at a moment’s notice!
One industry this is especially relevant for is charities. These incredible organisations just want to be helping people, so we can be on the phones taking extra calls for donations and offers of voluntary work. We do offer a special discount for any third sector organisation who needs support from our administrative assistants.
This all goes back to organisational purpose - everyone who has the ability to support and help has the responsibility to do exactly that. We are uniquely placed to be able to offer a whole range of executive PA and support services to any organisation, big or small, and if we can help companies and corporations to weather this storm, then that is what we will do.
Find out more about who SmartPA are as an organisation, our values and our purpose here.
