The UK government announced the start of lifting the lockdown measures that the country had been under for almost two months.
The ONS reported that UK employers placed around a fifth (21%) of their workforce under the coronavirus furlough scheme, where they were unable to work, with millions more sent home to work remotely.
Of course, Salesforce teams and the tech sector have always been at the top of the list for remote working practices, with 53% reporting working from home sometimes.
But the freeze on large parts of the economy has had significant repercussions across all sectors – including Salesforce and CRM. Undoubtedly the COVID-19 outbreak will have impacted your team, but now is the time to think about getting back to normal.
In today’s article, I will look at the ways you can effectively manage your Salesforce team back from the disruptions that lockdown has caused.
Practical Help From Salesforce
The message from the government was clear – those who can work from home should continue to do so. Echoing this message, Salesforce announced that all employees would have the option of continuing to work from home until the end of the year, even if their office re-opens.
Consistently renowned for looking after their employees, Salesforce is taking its employee’s health seriously by implementing some fantastic procedures.
In a recent blog post, Salesforce’s Head of Global Real Estate Elizabeth Pinkham outlined the steps the organisation are taking to support the health and safety of their 50,000 employees. The measures include creating a guideline matrix for re-opening, bringing in new safety measures, overcommunicating and redesigning offices for a ‘new normal’.
For now, the majority of Salesforce employees will continue to work from home. But with the support of the organisation, Salesforce managers and leaders can assure their employees that they are taking every measure to safeguard them.
Divided Teams
Aside from the practicalities of returning to work as and when it happens, the significant impact that COVID-19 will have had on your Salesforce team will call for some unique management.
I recently covered tips on how to get Salesforce employees working cohesively while in lockdown in this blog post here.
But now is the time to think about if and how the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your team.
Have you placed some employees on the furlough scheme? If so, how long for, and are you in constant contact with them about their return to work?
Have the employees who have continued to work throughout coped well – have you had to assign extra duties? Have you noticed a drop in the quality of work, are employees finding it more challenging to work from home?
Now is the time to aim to reunite your team again. Communication is the key to achieve this. Regularly check in with your employees and keep them all up to speed with any changes that are definitely, or speculatively happening in your company. This way, remote workers won’t feel isolated and furloughed employees will not feel abandoned.
And of course, check with employees if they are happy to continue to work from home as Salesforce has allowed, or which ones are eager to get back into the office – everyone’s situation will be different.
Has COVID-19 Changed Salesforce Forever?
As we move forward, the world of work is likely to look very different from what we know, for months, and possibly years.
While Salesforce has given employees the option of working from home until the end of the year, other organisations have gone even further. Social media giant Twitter recently announced that employees could work from home ‘indefinitely’, leading to speculation that remote working in some organisations could now be in place effectively forever.
Managing remote teams for the foreseeable will mean significant changes to the management model. The recruiting, onboarding and ongoing training of employees will all be more challenging and will need to be approached differently.
Virtual leadership is something that managers will have to learn as they go, with an emphasis on flexibility, communication and empathy and understanding. It’s a learning curve that Salesforce leaders across the world are about to embark upon.
The Salesforce blog recently republished an article written by CEO Marc Benioff on the V2MOM – a model which focuses on achieving success through a simple alignment process. The original article was published in 2013 but has resurfaced due to its relevance again now. The model allows leaders to clarify and communicate goals to their teams seamlessly, and it can be easily adapted and utilised to help guide teams through the next few weeks and months on their return to the ‘new normal’.
What Next?
With businesses and economic markets opening up again, now is the time to act to get your company back to a relative normal. The coronavirus pandemic has created challenges, but it has also created opportunities. With online sales sky-rocketing due to lockdown, there will be an ever-high emphasis on the online experience for existing and new customers – CRMs are going to be pivotal.
If you need talented Salesforce employees for your organisation going forward, we can help. Get in touch with us here or call us on 01322 272 532 to discuss your options.
Thanks,
Lee
About Resource On Demand
Resource On Demand is Europe‘s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company, now also focusing on growth Cloud markets.
We assist innovative and disruptive organisations to grow their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill Cloud roles that span across Digital Marketing, Marketing Automation, Human Capital Management and the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
To find out how we can support you call us on 01322 272 532, or you can contact us by clicking here.