Trusted Regina Tip on How to Cultivate Company Culture From Home

23. Jul 2020 Trusted Regina Regina Legal & Professional Services, Regina marketing, Regina Printers, TRUSTED TIPS

Cultivating Company Culture from Home

With the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are looking for more when it comes to their workday, especially when many are working from home now. Not necessarily more money or more benefits (although those are important), but more fulfillment. It’s normal for an employee to want to know their work matters; to feel valued and like they’re making a difference.

How can your business offer that when your only interaction is through a Zoom meeting? By reinforcing a strong company culture that exceeds the walls of your office. Your culture sets you apart from other employers, either in a good way or maybe not-so-good way. How can you ensure a company culture that has employees (and clients) sticking by you? Here are five ways.

1. Reestablish your values.

The culture is what defines your company. Within that culture lies your core values; however, unless you’re following through with them, they are worthless. The only thing worse than a company with no values is one where the values are meaningless. Share the things that mean the most to your business with your employees. Show them why these things matter and illustrate how they, as an individual, fit into the mix.

2. Listen to your current employees.

Given the current situation, it’s important to retain the employees you already have. Try sending out staff questionnaires or surveys about the current culture to see how team members are feeling, then (drum roll) listen to what they actually say.

If you prove to your employees that their opinions matter, they will be more likely to stay with the company, enjoy their work and recommend the business to others. Not only that, but the positivity from an employee who feels valued will contribute to a positive company culture overall.

3. Build a team mentality.

It can be so easy for employees to lose motivation, especially while many are in the confines of their own homes for what feels like forever. How can you counteract this? Develop a goal that your entire team can get excited about. Build up the idea of “we’re all in this together” (think High School Musical). You are all part of the same team, with each member doing his or her part towards the ultimate goal.

Every person wants to feel important to the organization. By building up a team mentality for your company, you create a culture of unity and community. From here, you will be able to see who’s a team player and who’s not, by those supporting the company and fellow coworkers.

4. Check on your team.

It can be easy to assume that, since your team is working from home, their workday is a breeze. While some of them may be thriving, there are others that may be struggling. Especially your extroverts. Have regular chats with your team and figure out how they are feeling and be prepared to help with any struggles.

By having regular communication with your team, they will feel that they’re appreciated and cared about. It’s also a great way to stay in touch with everyone while social distancing and working from home are the norm.

5. Have some fun.

You heard that right. Have some fun! While this may look different for every business, don’t be afraid to shake things up a bit every now and then. No matter what you decide, there is always some way to encourage employees to engage in activities that feel less like work and more like a day off. Whether it’s a virtual happy hour or a Netflix party, a little relaxation can go a long way in building a consistent company culture.

When it comes to furthering your business, there are few things that are more important than the employees who work for it. Hold on to your talented employees and create an employee-friendly environment that is shared between the physical office and the home. Your company culture is your saving grace even during these unusual circumstances, but when your culture thrives, so will your business.

Trusted Regina Partner; Dusyk & Barlow - COVID-19 continued service plan for the health and safety of staff and customers

19. Mar 2020 bonnied Regina Health & wellness, Regina Insurance

Dusyk & Barlow is a 100% locally owned Regina Insurance Brokerage providing honest, reliable, and personalized service to all their clients. Their long standing reputation in the community remains strong through maintaining high standards of excellence and ensuring that their clients insurance needs are met.

They are you Trusted Regina insurance experts !

Dusyk & Barlow - COVID-19 continued service plan for the health and safety of staff and customers

Dear Dusyk & Barlow clients

We have been working diligently to develop plans for our offices in preparation for the potential impacts of COVID-19. We are constantly referencing and utilizing the information available from World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Canada to create and update these plans as needed.

Using the information currently available, we have implemented various staff safety protocols including:

requirements that employees remain at home if they or an immediate member of their household are not feeling well and have symptoms of an illness, until the symptoms have passed.
those experiencing flu-like symptoms, are required to consult a doctor or call the health line to seek medical care/advice.
Staff who are in positions that allow remote work will be able to do so if they find themselves in a quarantine situation that allows for such an option. We are working to ensure we are properly set-up for work from home options.
we have implemented a ban on business travel and are encouraging staff to change out of office appointments of more than 10 people, even here in the city, to telephone appointments.

We have ramped up daily office cleaning routines including regularly wiping down and sanitizing workspace and counter areas.

We encourage both our employees and clients to maintain good health practices including:

washing hands properly and regularly;
using hand sanitizer whenever possible;
maintaining a healthy lifestyle (ex. proper diet, sleep and exercise) to help keep the immune system strong;
respecting social distances when appropriate (ex. 2 meter distance; respect choice to not shake hands).

Although we prefer to deal with our clients face-to-face, we are in a business where most of our services can still be effectively provided in a socially distanced fashion such as via telephone or email. As such, we ask that our clients observe the same protocols we are asking of our staff. For the good of all in the community, we ask that clients please remain home if they, or anyone they have been in close contact with, are experiencing any symptoms listed above. If those experiencing symptoms do require our services, rest assured we will do so via telephone, email or fax.

We want to protect the health and well-being of our employees and clients and, if need be, will amend plans accordingly by continuing to monitor recommendations through the noted health agencies.

Dusyk & Barlow can be found online here . Read the words of their happy clients on their listing On the Regina Directory they are your TRUSTED REGINA INSURANCE EXPERTS

Trusted Regina receives a negative Google review from Trevor

10. Dec 2015 Trusted Regina Trusted Partner News, Trusted Regina Directory , TRUSTED TIPS, Website

The Trusted Regina directory team really care about the opinions and thoughts of YOU, the Regina public. WE work for you by finding the best locally accountable Regina businesses and promoting them as a community. We do this so you can find trustworthy companies really easily. We are just like you, and we have been burned in the past from disreputable companies who over promised and undelivered, in fact the founder Sara was ripped off and this prompted her to start Trusted!! ( read the story here)

The internet has really been a game changer for consumers and for businesses. On the positive side it means we can research companies and products much easier BEFORE we contact them, saving us time.....but what if you read reviews that are bias, misinformed or simply not the truth?? We have supported Trusted partners through this process and tried to guide them in how to deal with this sometimes devastating process, it’s something that most local businesses really do fear.

This time it is our turn.....Trevor took the time to leave a review for The Trusted Regina team today, so we wanted to make something positive out of a ‘ negative situation ‘ for the Trusted team. Read his review and our founder Sara Wheelwright’s response below.

We truly thank Trevor for allowing us an opportunity to speak about what we do , and hopefully explain that we are indeed the REAL DEAL, also this allows us the opportunity to use our experience to highlight one of the biggest things local and big businesses are having to deal with! Words are powerful and we all have a voice online, please be informed, be nice and be wise in how you use that voice.

Response from Sara

Trevor- firstly thanks for sharing your thoughts with us and giving our team a chance to explain to you who we, what we do and why we are set up the way we are.

Firstly a business does't pay to be Trusted - they qualify to be Trusted after passing a strict verification process ( pass or fail) and signing an annual contract to uphold a specific standard and set of guarantees. We welcome feedback and you can contact us by phone, email or on our many social media pages . We are a local team with offices in Regina and Saskatoon.

We are not a ' review company ' you are correct - they are 10 a penny all over the web, most reviews online are not verified in any way. In addition evidence and data clearly proves that up to 40% of all reviews are false . Also, we know that many people who review businesses negatively are not interested in solving issues , but just use these review sites to complain. This can really effect local businesses who would otherwise have worked hard to rectify any wrongs they may have done! No one is perfect are they?

At Trusted - we are unique- the testimonials you see displayed on the feature listings are from real people that we spoke to personally as part of the verification process- we contact 25 previous clients and survey them in person and over the phone.

( See an example below)

We work with the businesses over the year - helping them with service questions, sharing info from the public, training them about the internet and social media and supporting their endeavors by promoting them as wonderful local companies that meet our high standards and believe in what we stand for. However who we really work for is YOU - the public. We also mystery shop a random selection of the businesses to check that they are doing a great job when they don't know we are looking!

If there are issues - We offer a hands on dispute resolution process that determines if the business has broken their contract with Trusted - if we find they have, we give them the opportunity to rectify their mistake - if they do not we remove them from the Trusted website(s) - we speak to both parties on the phone, on email and in person to ensure we know all the facts before making our decision.

The businesses pay an annual membership fee which is minimal, from that we invest heavily in marketing to promote them as a community. How else do we let people know about our service in the cities we serve? Also, of course our hardworking local team are compensated for the countless hours we put into providing the best possible on and offline experience for the public and the partners.

If you wish to complain about any Trusted business , you can contact us via any of the ways mentioned above and we will be happy to offer assistance, advice and even mediation if you feel you need it?

However by just reviewing Trusted negatively, like you have today with out truly knowing who we are and what we do, means you are again solidifying to our team that review sites are not what we ever want to be ...We offer a local service that is specialized, unique , personal , locally focused , accountable and absolutely trustworthy .

Many thanks again for the opportunity to educate you and any others that may have been feeling the same way. We hope you reconsider you 2 star review of our services, we would love nothing more than to be an asset in your life!

Sincerely on behalf of my team and the Trusted Partners across SK .

Sara Wheelwright , Owner S & E Trusted Online Directories