As your team returns to the workplace,  you might be feeling anxious about how to keep everyone safe and minimise the risk of spreading the virus. Here are some simple steps which you can take to be COVID-secure.

Assess the Risk

Start by identifying the risks in your business and then look at how these can be removed or controlled.

Talk to your team

Many people will be looking forward to getting back to work, but others will be anxious. You can help by explaining the steps which you are taking to work safely. It’s a great idea to ask your team members for ideas and suggestions too. Look after your team’s mental wellbeing with regular check-ins.

Take it online

With a little creativity, you might be surprised by how much of your business you can take online. At Just Helpers we now conduct our sales visits online with a virtual site tour. Our clients love taking the starring role!

Vary your work-day

Varying the time that people arrive and leave your workplace makes it easier for people to maintain social distancing.

This is also a great opportunity to introduce more flexible working for your team. Your early-rising “Larks” will appreciate the chance to make the most of their morning with an earlier start, whilst your later-rising “Owls” will thank you for a little longer in bed.

Staggering times for breaks and lunchtimes will also reduce the number of people in the canteen, kitchen or rest areas. Take advantage of the good weather and encourage your team to take breaks outside.

Hygiene Stations

Provide hand washing facilities for your team. This is especially important when people arrive at work and before they leave, and outside enclosed meeting rooms. Sanitising hand gel is a good alternative if hand-washing isn’t possible. You could also consider providing disposable face masks.

Clear Signage

Make sure that social distancing is at the forefront of everyone’s mind with clear signs throughout the workplace. Think about:

• Door signs to remind your team and any visitors as they arrive
• Floor signs to encourage distancing as people move around
• Hand washing reminders.

Social Distancing

There are simple steps we can take to help maintain social distancing at work.

• Work side by side rather than face to face
• Remove chairs and space desks 2 metres apart
• Provide shields at tills and customer service desks where face to face contact is unavoidable
• Limit movement around the workplace, and sharing of equipment.

There are some really useful  signage and other equipment from Bromley Printers, here:

Cleaning

Feel confident that your workplace is hygienic – hire a great cleaning team. At Just Helpers we can do a one-off “back to work” clean, or provide you with regular service to keep the spread of bacteria at bay. All of our Helpers have undertaken a CPD verified infection control qualification.

Take a look at our COVID response to see the measures we have taken to keep our Helpers, Clients and Managers safe at this time.

Get in touch if we can help you make your workplace COVID Secure.

During this lockdown period I’ve been working on a really exciting project with Sussex Innovation Centre to look at the future direction of Just Helpers.  In particular I’ve been looking at our commercial cleaning service.

Exciting Opportunity

At a Female Founders Event in February, I talked with a member of the Innovation Centre team about Just Helpers. It was so exciting to reflect on where we have come from, with someone who was seeing the business for the first time – a “fresh pair of eyes.”

Following this event, Sussex Innovation Centre gave us 12 free hours of business coaching, as part of a project funded by the European Union.

This comes at a great time for Just Helpers. Over the last few months we have been  thinking about who our clients are, what we can do better, and how we can connect with more commercial clients in particular. We already provide a great service to a number of commercial clients, and our Helpers have been asking for more of this type of work.

I spent some time with Simon Chuter from the Innovation Centre where he helped me to really focus on what we offer to our commercial clients and what makes it special.

Our Commercial Cleaning Service

At Just Helpers we  really care about our service.  That means:

• Attention to detail and being responsive
• Supporting our Helpers so they stay with us – our high retention is rare in the cleaning industry
• Being an integral part of your team
• Contribute to a company’s CSR as with every hour of cleaning purchased, we donate to a B1G1 project
• Every Helper is paid the London Living Wage as a minimum
• Taking care of your cleaning so you don’t have to!

Reaching New Clients

Simon is going to be developing a marketing plan for Just Helpers to help us to reach more of the commercial clients we want to work with. I am so grateful for the European Union Funding which has made this possible.

We are looking forward to working with some new commercial clients in the future. So if you are:

• A business of 5-30 members of staff
• Looking for 6-10 hours of cleaning a week
• Located in Farringdon, Blackfriars, Holborn, Euston, London Bridge, Oxford St, Soho, Tottenham Court Rd, Islington, Victoria

please get in touch.

Of course we will still be providing our great service to our domestic clients too!

My Vision

Like many small to medium-sized business owners, I am often juggling many different aspects of the business – I often feel like a “jack of all trades”!   So it’s great to have real experts on board and supporting Just Helpers.

In addition, I will also be working with Anne-Fay Townsend looking at my role as a female founder, and my hopes and dreams for the future of the business – and they are big!

Involving the Team 

We’ll be holding a remote team training day for our managers in the coming weeks to look at how these developments can be rolled out across the business.  At the end of that day we will be having a whole team Zoom AGM involving the Helpers, to get their feedback and ideas.

Over the coming weeks I will be sharing regular updates with you.  Watch our for my Tuesday Thoughts, live on our Facebook page every Tuesday at around 6.15pm.

#EC1 #EC2 #EC3 #EC4 #E1 #WC1 #WC2 #SE1 #W1 #N1 #SW1