In December 2019, news of the spread of a virus started spreading in Asia. Fast forward to March, the World health Organization declared the virus a global pandemic. While this crisis is first an issue of threat to the health of the public, it has also gone ahead to affect the economy of so many countries, which has in turn had ripple effects on so many businesses and organizations. People have had to adjust to the new normal and make do with what they have.
Of course, the case is the same throughout and F.H. Cann and Associates Inc. is no exception. The firm has had to look inward to come up with novel and innovative approaches to ensure that their business is not just kept afloat, but also spurred to thrive irrespective of whatever challenges the pandemic poses.
In line with this backdrop, we made a resolution to have a one-on-one session with the executives of F.H. Cann and Associates Inc. In our discussion, they highlighted their overall reaction to the pandemic which literally engulfed the world. They also elucidated key pointers on how they were able to stay afloat, thrive and grow their workforce even in the midst of the challenges of the pandemic. Below are excerpts from the interview.
How did F.H. Cann and Associates Inc. respond to the news and events of the pandemic?
Initially, we responded indifferently, because we believed, just like everyone else that the pandemic was going to be easily curtailed. We paid very little attention to it until there was news of its massive spread all around various countries.
We no sooner than later realized that the pandemic had drastic effect on businesses. Therefore, we had to re-strategize and reexamine all our business approaches. The major approach we took was switching totally to working remotely.
What steps did you take to ensure staying afloat and surviving these challenges?
First and foremost, we developed a critical team to help synchronize efforts of response with the objectives we initially set out to carry. Then, we took some steps to ensure the absolute safety of our employers by making them work remotely.
Asides asking employers to work remotely which helped increase their productivity and in turn increase the annual turnover of F.H. Cann and Associates Inc., we ensured that we put into place some contingency plans, most especially for the roles we considered quite critical. These ensured that all lapses were covered to mitigate any form of loss.
How are you maximizing the growth of your employees during the pandemic?
For starters, we got awarded the contract to staff a state unemployment hotline during the pandemic. This way, we were able to bring back our valued staff to work and support government effort in these uncertain times.
Additionally, we have been collaborating with the Massachusetts Governance Administration to help in adequately responding to the pandemic emergency to ensure that Massachusetts residents can gain access to the vaccine.
This way we have had to retrain our employees to become much more skilled in helping to boost the response of the state towards the pandemic.
What other measures helped your business thrive?
Asides asking employers to work remotely which helped increase their productivity and in turn increase our annual turnover, we ensured that we put into place some contingency plans. These ensured that all lapses were covered to mitigate any form of loss.
In short, we brought more hands-on deck to help. That way, we grew our workforce and increased our productivity.
What are your plans to retain this growth of your workforce even after the pandemic?
Well, we hope to fully incorporate the retraining curriculum for our prospective employees to keep them fully prepared for any future incident that may occur. We also plan to execute in full, a business model fully built both around our employees and customers.
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