Navigating The COVID-19 Pandemic

With many people spending as much time as they were at home, we were fortunate to get through the pandemic. With companies forcing a large number of their employees to work from home, people were spending a lot of time indoors. The pandemic brought about a lot of changes, and one was the uncertainty that came with work. Companies could not always keep up with the changes and were shutting many departments with people losing their jobs.

One of the positives was that people were constantly looking to make changes around their homes because they spent so much time indoors during the curfews and lockdowns. With us working in residential and commercial needs, we were always there to help with a situation. However, commercial changes were a bit slow with most of the offices shut, but the overall situation was getting better with the easing of the restrictions and other changes.

There were a lot of changes that we had to learn to adjust to. Many non-essential small stores, strip malls, and buildings were closed. It is challenging to provide scheduled services with a vast majority of them closed due to access required. With certain restrictions on trade and travel, getting raw materials also had moments where it was challenging. Overall, these changes slowed down our regular course of day-to-day business. They delayed business processes and repairs that would have been easy and quite immediate tasks.

In the past, we would meet a lot of our clients. We discussed various changes that we were planning on running and implementing their specific requirements, but we could no longer meet and have these discussions in person. With the changes and the new rules, most in-person meetings have gone strictly via zoom, facetime, or phone calls, opposed to in-person, on-site visits. We brought site visits down to the minimum, and we would only visit if we were working on fixing or repairing something.

While most companies immediately began remote working through the pandemic, we found ourselves stuck. Our business model cannot accommodate 100% work from home. While we can assist with information and details remotely, there are aspects that we have to coordinate in person. When it comes to implementing the changes, we had to work on that in person. As a company, HVAC is a 24x7 - 365 days a year service provider. We were coming up with ideas to minimize office staff on a rotational schedule to comply with social distancing within the office. We implemented other changes to keep our employees safe as well. While there were various aspects of the work that we did that we had to change, there was no change to the number of hours we were putting in. Some days, we were carrying out longer than regular hours to catch up with the months that we were not working in the initial stages of the pandemic.

Working from an office made the work process a little easier, but there were numerous restrictions to keep everyone safe. We limited any on-site visits, 3 to 4 staff on-site to provide more than health guidelines and distancing. Currently, the staff sits 6 meters apart to ensure their bubble within the office setting/environment. Additionally, we had to put systems in place to make sure the office was safe. High touch areas have placement of disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, and their own dedicated staff wipes. There is no sharing of desks to avoid any potential spread. Wiping surfaces regularly became a much-accustomed routine. Aside from daily maintenance, weekly cleanings, especially of the door handles, disinfecting aerosol on surfaces takes place when no office staff is on-site.

We did not share the information we gathered from our clients under any circumstance with any other party. We do not use any specific servers or platforms when we communicate but are sure we treat our clients’ information well.

In-person meetings are a forever-evolving topic. Some of our clients are open to personal meetings, while others would prefer that we coordinate remotely. Depending on the complexity and scope of work, if travel is required, we meet our clients. We have rules when it comes to travel as well. We do not share a vehicle when we travel. Everyone has to wear a mask for on-site meetings, cannot handshake, and have to keep their distance to stay safe! If we have clients who push for meetings we can avoid, we communicate with them over the phone or through other online, remote, and virtual platforms and evaluate if a meeting is needed. We resort to Zoom, Facetime, and Skype for video conferencing. We do not see ourselves organizing or playing a large part in an online public event or business Expo, but we do work on training online whenever possible.

One of the things that the pandemic taught is to be open-minded and adapt to changes. COVID-19 will be around for a while longer, and one needs to keep content with what is still possible during a time of uncertainty.

If you are looking for a one-stop shop for all your residential and commercial improvement needs, get in touch with us at Greensaving Group. We are one of the fastest-growing, eco-friendly, and affordable one-stop companies and strive to be the only company you need to call for all your needs. We work with our clients and assist them in finding a solution that makes sense to them. We have clients who are looking for domestic, as well as commercial assistance as well. We offer a wide range of services, and if you would like to get a better understanding of the services we provide, please click here. If you want to get in touch with us or are looking for a quotation on services that we might be able to assist with, please click here.