Update 1/19/2021
Like most businesses over the past four months, we at Pegasus have had to shift our staff from in-office to remotely working at home while maintaining our same standards of customer experience. This action has presented some challenges, but has also provided significant opportunity.
The first big step was for the company to comprehend and overcome the hurdles that make working from home strenuous in terms of management. The inability to physically see and communicate with supervising managers leaves the employees feeling a disconnect between themselves and their superiors. On the flip side, managers wonder if the employees are giving enough effort to complete their tasks.
In addition, our support demands increased as our clients quickly converted to, in some cases, 100% remote workers. We had to implement new technologies, assist our clients’ staff on how to use these changes, and in many circumstances verbally walk someone through how to re-setup his or her office computer at home. To accommodate this influx in support requests we had to hire additional staff, leading to another major challenge: how to onboard and train new employees completely remotely. This pressure fell on Pegasus management to rethink the proven training program we had successfully used for years. By extending the employee onboarding timeline two-fold, implementing creative new training exercises and real-life support scenarios, and increasing patience, we successfully introduced to our clients two new teammates during the COVID-19 quarantine.
The last obstacle I will share was my number one concern from the start–loneliness. How do we keep our employees socially engaged with each other? What practices can we put in place to keep the company culture from collapsing? How do insert the new staff so they feel like they are part of the team and bring value to other employees?
With some creativity, dedication, and perseverance, Pegasus has made a success of the World of Remote Work. We implemented Microsoft Teams company wide. Now, we can easily communicate via chat, video conference, as well as seamlessly collaborate on documents. Managers routinely have video calls with their teams to discuss performances and any concerns before a negative impact arises from miscommunication or lack of care. I started a video series where each month I do a video interview with an employee. You can see the latest in this month’s newsletter. Probably our most effective change has been implementing a weekly kickoff video conference every Monday morning. During this call, we start by allotting time for each department to give a brief update on what they will be working on that week. We end with an open mic for all to share. We keep it light and add in some humor to keep with the Pegasus culture.
There will likely be more challenges ahead as the world around us continues to change and evolve. However, seeing how the team at Pegasus has adapted so far, and their willingness to adjust on the fly, I have confidence that we have a successful future ahead of us. We will continue our mission of exceeding customer expectations by delivering technology solutions through exceptional customer service and lasting relationships.
