The article originally appeared in Fleet Management Weekly.
The COVID pandemic has forever changed the workplace environment. For many companies, it is all about flexibility more now than before.
As I think about meeting expectations, I reflect on the Fall of 2020 when the hope for a COVID vaccine was the topic of conversation. We saw companies get creative on the different ways to keep their businesses moving while meeting customer expectations. As many of you likely recall, restaurants were erecting tents outdoors, adding tables at safe distances and pumping in warm air. But each week, local and state guidelines changed. Restaurants had to be flexible, constantly adapting to new guidelines and requirements while keeping patrons happy and safe.
But for Wheels, flexibility has always had a place in the workplace especially when it comes to taking care of customers. Flexibility is essential to the success of meeting customer expectations. And we saw those expectations change.
For the client services team, we interact with our clients multiple times a day. Since we’ve gone fully remote, we’ve seen phone calls decrease but meetings on Teams greatly increase. On-camera virtual interactions have become the new norm. The expectation is no longer about just hearing a voice but seeing one another, albeit virtually, every day. In many ways, this new workplace environment has promoted a different sense of connectedness; we now know each other’s children, pets, and home workspaces.
I am proud that my team hasn’t skipped a beat – striking a successful balance of being fully remote while fully available to support our clients. As we prepare for what workplace environments lie ahead – remote, hybrid, in-office – we remain focused, flexible and ready to meet our customer’s expectations.
How have you adopted flexibility to meet your customers’ needs? Share your thoughts with me at skeyser@wheels.com