The past few weeks have seen a rise in the number of holiday park employees working from home, as together we try to limit the impact of Coronavirus. For many, this requires significant adjustment, as we adapt to working away from the holiday park environment – and navigate the challenges which come with this change.
At Elite Dynamics UK, we are here to support the Holiday Park Industry through these challenging times. Thanks to our team’s ability to work remotely, it’s business as usual – which means we can support our customers with best practice and advice to adjust, manage your workforce remotely and utilise the technology available to support this shift in the way we need to work.
Here are a few of our tips to help Holiday Park operators make the transition as easy and efficient as possible.
1.Make use of available tools and technology
Working remotely doesn’t need to mean that you can’t stay connected, or efficiently manage your team and their workload. There are plenty of apps and tools available which help to plan out projects and time: here at Elite Dynamics, we use Jira; Asana, and Trello to project manage and prioritise our tasks amongst the team.
Our Elite Dynamics UK suite of holiday park management solutions are available on premises or in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere and from any device with full functionality on laptops, PC’s, smartphones, and tablets. If you do need to isolate your team, EliteParks makes it easy to continue working as usual with as little interruption as possible; and need not pose a negative disruption to your business. EliteFinance allows you to keep a handle on your park’s finances remotely, while EliteCRM will help to manage the customer journey, and could prove invaluable at a time like this to maintain communications and plan.
2. Maintain structure
Keeping a routine and structure in place when working from home can be hugely beneficial when it comes to boosting productivity and putting yourself into the working mindset. It’s important to maintain a strict working schedule at home. Get up as you usually would before going into the office and begin work at your usual time too. Go for a walk before you start as an alternative to your usual commute. Don’t forget to take breaks, and give yourself a proper lunch hour during which, if it’s safe to do so, we’d recommend you get out of the house for a change of scenery and some fresh air.
When the end of the working day rolls around, it’s time to log out of work devices and accounts, and symbolically ‘go home’ for the day, keeping a clear separation between work and down time.
It may sound simple, but when your home becomes your office, it’s important to stick to a clear structure to enhance productivity, and to avoid the two blending into one.
3. Create a dedicated workspace
While working from the sofa or your bed can be tempting, creating a dedicated space to call your office is a great way to set boundaries between home and work. Whether it’s an entire room or a chair at the dining room table, having a set space in which to work is key when it comes to productively and efficiently working from home.
When you’re at your home office, treat it as though it were your usual workspace – and make every effort to ignore the distractions which come with being at home. That means no getting up to put a load of laundry on, or to do the dishes!
These are uncertain times, but together we will get through them. Elite Dynamics UK is always here to help. Our Customer Service and Support teams remain open to offer advice and our team of experienced Industry Consultants are on hand to offer advice on how to prepare for the times ahead. There has never been a better time to future proof your business by ensuring the most efficient technologies and contingencies are in place.
4. Communicate with your team…
When working from home, keeping in touch with your team is vital. Staff can maintain regular communication using software such as Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Skype or Zoom: the Elite team use these tools often, and they help to keep us all connected when we are out and about across the UK and abroad, supporting our Elite customer base.
These applications are designed to keep everyone on track, and communication is key when your team is spread across multiple locations. Given the current situation, Microsoft are now giving free licenses to teams to help businesses – and have some great tips on how to use this tool when working remotely too.
5. …and your customers
We know from our own customers that holidaymakers are beginning to cancel their planned holidays and short breaks – but this isn’t going to last forever. To help you weather the storm, now is the time to start utilising EliteParks bookings and EliteCRM capabilities to manage these bookings efficiently; transfer customers to a later date perhaps; and continue to communicate the latest available information. The Elite Owners app is also a powerful tool to maintain communication and distribute regular updates to your owners.
Reassuring your own customers that you can maintain continuity and communication with them is crucial not only for positive relationship management, but also to maintain order in the management of your park operations until we have ridden this global pandemic out.
We understand the challenges ahead, but we are committed to supporting the industry for the future.
Need advice or support? Please get in touch