I was only just talking to friends the other day and they happened to mention how many more work conversations they have been having over Zoom, and how it is keeping morale up. In fact, they are finding themselves looking forward to their work calls!

As an eternal optimist, I take this to be a good thing for team culture. After all, we now have the tools at our disposal to work collaboratively; so why not take advantage of this situation and make something better of it?

Saviom has not been averse to shake-ups like the one going on. The financial crisis of 2008 meant us having to completely change how we do things and how to better serve the companies that were using our products. We used the opportunity to put the emphasis on collaboration and used the technology we had to problem solve as one large team. It meant getting to know one another better, and cultivating a culture of ‘together is better’ in the future.

These are some of the steps we took as a team to re-brand our team culture.

  Ramp up collaboration

Collaboration is key and the key to collaboration is by doing something fun.

The working week definitely goes a lot smoother when employees are in the right frame of mind.  You absolutely do not want to pile the pressure on in terms of forcing collaboration without actually connecting first.  It starts with taking a closer look at team dynamics. 

Ease them into it slowly with icebreaker sessions. We, for example, had our staff convene in a room and circulate until everyone had a chance to talk to each other. In a similar vein, doing activities together that sets the tone, and keeps the spirit light can encourage a free flow of ideas that are in line with your brands’ core values. Obviously, with the current shake up-what, you do for fun has become curtailed, but there are still many options out there.

Why not get together as a team on Zoom for one of the many virtual pub quizzes available? Spectacular pub quizzes has some great themed evenings to choose from. Similarly, if growth and research are part of your core values, there is no reason why you cannot bring the experts to you, via Zoom.

Capitalize on the opportunity working from home presents; with colleagues receiving the information from the comfort of their own homes: they are in the position to better collaborate. Make it fun by doing it over virtual drinks, and/or perhaps dressing up for the evening. Lightening the tone is crucial when making big changes, and will help support the re-branding of your team culture.

Rethink the brand tone

Strong communication skills are crucial at this time to make a smooth transition into the new reality. Lay it out from the start. The tone that is used in daily communication is now louder than ever and needs to be supportive of the new set up.

‘How’ you address employees, will be different and although should not lose the core essence of the brand, will perhaps need to be more informal. Remember, the tone is changing and not the voice.

Primarily, the focus needs to be upon support, so as to reassure them at a time of uncertainty.

Of course, striking the right balance is important; no one wants their team to think that less is expected of them. However, getting the tone right from the start, even in the way of providing information such as: accessing support networks; will address a balance.

Be clear from the outset

With confusion rife, now is the time to set expectations straight and communicate with your employees in a clear, timely, and concise manner. Leave no room to be misunderstood or get complicated. You have to make sure everyone is all on the same page because they all need to feel confident to ‘get the work done’ when the parameters have changed. 

Bring everyone into the same teleconferencing session and walk them through these changes. Remember to ask for feedback or clarifications then and there so that everyone in the audience is a witness to your response. And who knows? Someone from the team can even bring a forgotten impediment to your attention, ensuring you can compromise where compulsory. Keeping communication as simple as possible will help to manage expectations, and avoid undue pressure.

And ultimately, it makes for more efficiency.

Make flexibility a priority

Keeping the pressure off, being supportive, and keeping things simple; all warrant flexibility. You cannot expect to re-brand team culture without this. When the way we work has changed, everyone needs the space to maneuver them, and find their flow.

Flexibility goes hand in hand with being supportive and also in keeping things simple. Don’t mistake it for relaxing rules, rather, make new ones that measure results over the hours. An employee is more than just their work, it’s about recognizing their potential and making arrangements to tap into it fully.

It is a good idea to plan with the bigger picture in mind, time being constrained when the infrastructure is not yet in place.

Set weekly goals initially to find a routine. Your employees will thank you for it, and ultimately respect you as someone who can work with the times, and perhaps make something of it.

I have observed that most organizations are caught unaware by economic uncertainties that galvanize them to take on the spur decisions which do not reflect well in the longer run. 

The current COVID 19 scenario, which has hit an economic slowdown, is forcing organizations to contract its workforce on very short notice as a protective measure.

Such contractions generally involve letting go of core employees, especially in the case of an organization that only has a standard team of full-timers. This, therefore, is instinctive decision-making rather than a future-proofing strategy.

In my experience, I have seen that building resilience against economic volatility is an on-going process and primarily revolves around focusing on a quick-reacting and agile workforce that is backed by data and insight.

Our latest eBook, “Future-proofing Your Staff In Times Of Volatility: A No-Nonsense Guide”, helps you do exactly that. Here is an excerpt –

“Future-proofing comes naturally to most of us. Buying an insurance policy, saving for a rainy day and minimizing financial liabilities are just some crucial examples of that. However, financial risk-proofing does not suffice when organizations have to cut back on payroll budgets or resource costs.“

On the other hand, if your organization has systematically invested in building an on-demand and quick-reacting workforce, it is automatically equipped to protect itself from the current economic slowdown.

Simply put, balancing your capacity and competency in both good times and bad, is a way of making sure you have your own back! And, Resource Management lets you do that!

“Resource Management helps you structure your workforce strategy such that it readjusts itself to suit your changing demands.”

Want to know more?

Download our eBook right here –

One of the potent ways of dealing with these challenges is to establish effective equipment booking and scheduling software. Such software can significantly reduce resourcing costs and improve efficiency.

What is Equipment Scheduling Software?

Equipment scheduling software is a tool designed to help you schedule or allocate resources against specific project requirements efficiently and intelligently. These resources can be operators, equipment, facilities, vehicles, etc.

Equipment scheduling software centralizes information about equipment, operators’ skills, current projects, future pipeline projects, resource allocation, vacations, BAU, etc. This helps you build a unified real-time resource plan across the enterprise that aids in informed decision making.

Benefits of Equipment Scheduling Software

Now, let us go through the top seven reasons why businesses require proper equipment scheduling software.

Eliminate Equipment Scheduling Spreadsheet

The traditional way of using spreadsheets for scheduling equipment and other resources has always been cumbersome, very limiting, and hard to maintain.

This is why effective scheduling software can help you establish a single source of truth, stay informed of all allocations, have visibility of operator skills, equipment capacity, and power.

Achieve agile scheduling with easy drag and drop

In a dynamic business environment, it is critical to have an agile visual scheduler to easily schedule the operator, equipment, facilities, and modify them as and when priorities change. More importantly, one should be able to link the equipment with operators or any other resources.

Schedule routine inspection and maintenance of equipment

Proper scheduling software can help you maintain inspection schedules and periodic maintenance of the equipment as preventive measures.

Accordingly, it can send notifications and generate reports to ensure that equipment is maintained routinely and is in good condition.

Maximize Utilization of Equipment

An effective equipment scheduling tool can help you forecast the effective utilization of equipment and other resources ahead of time. So you can mobilize the right resources to high priority projects.

Read More
Maximize Profitable Resource Utilization with Modern Resource Management Software

Forecast Shortfall and Excess of Resources

Forecasting overall resource demand against the capacity can provide you deep insights into future shortages or excesses of resources. So that the business can be proactive and take corrective actions ahead of time.

Streamline equipment borrowing with check-in and check-out

An equipment scheduling software provides check-in and check-out facility in order to streamline the borrowing process. This ensures that every equipment is tracked and utilized efficiently across the enterprise as a whole.

Gain Real-Time Business Intelligence

An appropriate equipment scheduling software can provide you with real-time business intelligence with reports, analytics and dashboards. This helps the management to make effective decisions based on updated facts.

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in providing an Enterprise Resource Capacity Planning solution. It has more than 20 years of experience working with high valued global companies around the world. SAVIOM also provides tools for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software. So, SAVIOM can help your business to establish an efficient system geared towards your specific business challenges.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always considered myself an eternal optimist and I do strongly believe that there is going to be a lot of good that will come out of this period. But on some days it’s difficult to look past the doom and gloom and it’s hard not to question yourself in that moment asking, is everything really going to work out?

Early on when I started Saviom from my own home, uncertainty and self-doubt would make frequent enough appearances- as it would for any struggling entrepreneur. During that time, my approach would be to push down such feelings and to keep pushing forward. While such mechanisms would work momentarily, such feelings would inevitably rise back up and very early on I realized that things couldn’t work this way.

It took a great deal of introspection but the first crucial step was to be okay with the fact that things are not always going to be okay AND THAT IS FINE- which was a hard pill for me to swallow.

I had to accept the fact that it’s the way humans are wired, it’s not possible (nor healthy) for us to constantly beam out rays of positivity and enthusiasm. And that it was important to play out my full range of emotions- which I now see has made me a better leader and entrepreneur and has helped drive the success of Saviom. Sometimes you need to sit in the darkness to gain a new perspective of where you need to be.

The same goes for our current pandemic. It’s not always easy to seek out the positives from every hurdle thrown at us. It’s ok to feel momentary defeat. It’s ok if you are feeling afraid of what’s going on because in the darkness we can gain perspective.

In saying that, I do recommend implementing certain habits to help navigate through these times a lot better. They are habits and principles I adhere to and have helped me lead Saviom through thick and thin.

To note, the points below aren’t quick-fix solutions but need to be done with consistency and regularity to keep you in check. Here we go-

Meditation

Back when I was a project manager, my schedule hardly left me any time to myself, let alone meditate. This was no longer the case when I switched to working from home. It was my daughter, a regular meditation practitioner, who inspired me to take it up. I found that my stress levels went down considerably. I usually start my day with a 10-minute session in one corner of my bedroom, breathing in and out in total silence. Give it a try when you feel you’re way in over your head and you’ll see how much calmer and lighter you feel afterward.

Yoga

Yoga is regarded as India’s gift to the world and rightly so! Old or young, it’s one exercise you can ease yourself into while working up a sweat. It helps relieve anxiety and is found to improve heart function. I personally turned to Yoga to help handle my levels of stress. Who knew that mastering a few simple postures and breathing techniques would improve my mood and the quality of sleep I got every night? The best part is that you don’t need a gym membership and equipment-just enough room, a towel and a mat would do.

Eating plenty of fruits and nuts

You are what you eat. And as a self-confessed foodie, it took immense willpower on my part to stick to healthy eating. I incorporated a lot of greens and fruits into my diet as I got older. It also helps that my wife has the final say on the grocery list. Now, I carry a handful of edible seeds and nuts around as a guilt-free trail mix. The key is consistency, and to remember that you’re doing your body a favor by eating right.

Setting and following a routine- this is key

We’re all creatures of habit. Thanks to the recent pandemic, whatever routine we previously followed has been thrown off-balance. That being said, creating and sticking to a new indoorsy routine can keep you functional and help you get the most out of your day. When I worked from home launching Saviom, I spent my breaks on post-lunch power walks. It got me out of the house and away from the fridge! My suggestion? Set aside time for work, breaks, and family. Wind down with a relaxing or useful hobby, power walks, and meditation, as mentioned earlier.

A healthy body houses a healthy mind. Now is the time to reform and remove any bad habits that tank your productivity. What has your experience been working from home and what have you done differently?

This has all obviously changed drastically over the last 15 years with working from home now a more prevalent practice, thanks to the advances in technology and internet speeds.

While certain businesses have made that leap, others still have concerns holding them back from enabling their workforce to go remote. Interestingly, Saviom was one of those companies, preferring direct in-person team engagement over any form of remote working. With the lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, however, we saw the need for more flexible working environments and (luckily) geared the organization beforehand.

I am happy to report that WFH has been a net positive outcome for Saviom with measures of work visibility, staff productivity, and utilization either maintaining or improving over these last few weeks. In my view, the potential of organizational remote working will be one of the major silver linings from this current crisis and it will permanently transform the way we do business.

For my second post in this series (first post here), I’m going to focus on the concerns that these leaders have, ways to overcome such challenges and the tools that you should be equipped with to get the most out of this WFH setup. Enjoy!

 Work From Home Concerns for Business Leaders

1. Lack of Real-Time Work Visibility

It’s often difficult for managers to clearly know what’s being worked on when in the office let alone when staff are working from home. Sending out continuous reminders or emails asking what everyone is working on can often feel intrusive and uncomfortable.

The idea of having everyone present physically is more reassuring to organizations wishing to have immediate visibility into work execution. Managers can then ascertain if everything planned is on track for completion.

2. Maintaining Productivity

An employee may be working exceptionally hard from home, even to the point where they are more productive than they would be in the office. But in the absence of the immediate visibility of the amount of work being produced, it is challenging to judge overall productivity. In response, it’s easy for companies to become anxious about a drop in business output. After all, can the same excellent performance be said of every employee at all times?

3. Fear of Lower Resource Utilization

In most businesses, there is no efficient system in place to estimate the workload and or even the completion time of a project. This makes it impossible to measure and forecast the effective utilization of resources. Not to mention channel the energy of the resources in the right direction.

This is yet another valid reason why businesses have concerns about a work from home practice, especially as said resources are now spread far and wide as opposed to contained in the office.

How To Overcome Work Visibility, Productivity & Utilization Challenges

1. Create Absolute Visibilities into Resource and Work

The best way to figure out task allocations is to lay out all the pieces of the puzzle. It starts with understanding what ‘work’ really means here. It refers to the time spent on the project as well as non-project activities (i.e BAU, administrative tasks, support, and training) i.e areas that usually run in the background unchecked. A high-level view of both work categories gives you a rough idea of the output to expect.

Next, see what that work breakdown with your staff is looking like. Are your resources spending more time on nonbillable work that can be scaled back? Can they be shifted to project hours instead? Having an overview of both staff and their high-level work allocations off the bat avoids needing to check-in constantly and for you as a manager to reallocate your work.

2. Forecasting and Monitor Effective Resource Utilization

When it comes to forecasting, as the saying goes “a stitch in time saves nine”. The same is true for any business as you need to be able to nip any potential issues in the bud before they become a problem. With the help of a centralized resource plan, you can forecast the utilization of each and every person across your company.

By using resource planning software, management can closely monitor the effective utilization of employees and take any necessary action ahead of time.

3. Establish Nitty Gritty Task Allocation And Monitor Productivity

For day to day tracking of regular and ad hoc work, it’s important to establish a centralized system whereby every type of task can be allocated and monitored without creating unnecessary administrative overheads.

It’s important to be able to manage high-priority tasks as well as the nitty-gritty ones which, although often small, can become a huge challenge if not taken care of swiftly. When you’re working from home, it couldn’t be more important to keep track of everything.

4. Bring Remote Teams Closer To Collaborate

Overcommunication is key to remote collaboration and keeps work and non-work related discussions separate. Saviom, for instance, uses a combination of Skype, emails, and Samepage to loop in its members for important events. This way, no one ever misses an update or lets a time-sensitive dependency drag on.

What type of tools ensure staff productivity and utilization?

1. Resource Management Software

While team collaboration tools are perfect to ensure people are clearly communicating, you will require a resource management (RM) software that gives you a broader picture in terms of work visibility and team utilization levels. RM tools are built to tell you the work staff are working remotely with exact numbers on how well they are being utilized.

Tools, like Saviom, are built specifically for such scenarios as well as future-proofing capabilities such as forecasting excess or shortage of staff based on incoming work and reports to help maximize billable and strategic utilization.

2. Project & Work Management Software

Project and work management software is designed to organize various types of planned or unplanned tasks. Managers will then assign these tasks to the relevant team members. Employees will then complete these tasks and update the progress status. They can also record how much time has been spent on each task. This helps the management to have real-time tracking of workload and productivity of employees.

More on Saviom’s Resource and Project Planning Software

If you are looking to overcome the challenges of work visibility, productivity, and utilization that arise from your employees working from home, then it’s time to bring Saviom on board to make this happen.

Our resource planning and project planning solutions have an impressive track record of helping companies across the globe to increase their workforce efficiency. What’s more, you can gain real-time insights on even the most time-sensitive projects. Whether your team is based in the office or working remotely you can ensure tasks are delegated and productivity remains consistent.

Throughout the challenges of COVID-19 and beyond, Saviom is here to support your business operations.

To find out more, contact us today. You can even try it for free to see how Saviom’s workforce planning software can work for your business.

Saviom needed my full energy and I knew I would be able to weather any storm with the loving support from my wife. While I knew the transition from being a Director at an MNC to a bootstrapped entrepreneur was going to bring about drastic changes, I was even less prepared for the work from home, house-husband role that I would end up assuming.

For 3 years, between 2002 to 2005, I worked in a home office set up in our bedroom while my wife began working full-time as the sole breadwinner for the family. It also meant that I was in charge of running the house which meant cooking and preparing family dinners, dropping and picking up my kids to/from school and general upkeep for the house. Who knew that working-from-home would end up being more demanding than my work at PwC?

While that 3-year period had its fair share of ups and downs, they still remain the fondest years of my professional and personal life. It helped me recalibrate my priorities and enabled me to spend time with my family. Besides parenting my children actively, it also pushed me to develop a new set of multi-tasking skills that I believe helped lay the foundation for the success of Saviom.

With a lot of us being forced to work from home due to the current pandemic, I would like to share a few tips on how to make the most of the coming months. Being thrust into a new working environment that melds into your personal life is never easy but I do believe there is a silver lining to every situation that we find ourselves in. Here are some pointers on making the most of things!

Set and Stick to a Routine

We all have a set routine that we follow every day- you wake-up, get ready, make yourself some coffee, get to work, work for the day- with roughly the same timed tea and lunch breaks throughout the day- and come back home and repeat for the rest of the week. While such routines sound mundane and boring, it’s what keeps us functional on auto-pilot with less effort throughout the week. After all, our brains are conditioned to know when it needs to gear up for work or when it can wind down for a break. It makes us work at our optimum allowing us to juggle multiple commitments at a time.

While telecommuting, you’ll need to initially be conscious about creating a new set of habits and routines to kick-start your auto-pilot mode. One of my favorite routines was to go for a post-lunch power-walk between 1.00 to 1.30 pm, helping me break up my day.

Use the Extra Time Wisely

One of the benefits of working from home is being able to save time on your commute, to and from work. Instead of having a bit of a lie-in, it’s important to use that extra time wisely and I would allocate that time for my family by sitting them down for a delicious and nutritious dinner every weeknight! It became a part of our family bonding time ritual and helped my wife and I understand what was going on in our children’s lives.

Cooking has always been a favorite hobby of mine and working from home allowed me to spend a full hour between 5 to 6 which would have otherwise gone into traveling. It ended up being a great routine for me- letting me pursue my hobby while also helping the family.

Control Your Snacking Impulses

While cooking routinely can help your overall productivity, regular and unchecked snacking does not. Being at home means you are probably only a few meters away from an entire fridge/pantry of snacking potential and even worse, you’re by yourself, so you’re not worried about co-workers watching you make regular trips to the kitchen.

For myself, I was definitely a procrasti-eater and it took me a great degree of discipline to stop. The solution came down to my earlier point of setting myself a routine- setting breaks and where I would take them (which in this case needed to be away from the kitchen). After all, out of sight, out of mind!

Straighten Out the Work Space

Having a decluttered and open workspace can do wonders for your productivity. I always felt I did my best thinking when I had a tidy desk without piles of documents or empty tea-cups to pull my focus. The less random objects lying around, the less potential for distraction. It also meant my wife didn’t have to come back to a messy bedroom, keeping us both happy!

Take time to reorganize your workspace and arrange files, stationery, and devices in the order that you would need them. Getting into a Skype meeting for which you know you’ll need to jot down points? You know where your notepad and pen will be, and can listen to inputs from your colleagues and managers attentively, without a frantic search going on in the background!

Establish Availabilities and Boundaries

Whether you like it or not, working from home means you’re going to see a whole lot more of your kids. I won’t lie, being a working parent and juggling meetings can be overwhelming, which is why it’s important that you find a middle ground.

It was a great period for me because I got to do what I always set my sights on while watching my younger son grow up. A part of my morning routine, which would usually be spent commuting, would instead go into playing table tennis and dropping him to school, while also involving him in the dinner cooking process (which he loved!). But at the same time, he knew the times I would be available meaning that I still got my crucial hours of productivity.

Dress to Impress

The clothes you wear often determine the mindset you are in- if you’re dressed for bed your brain will think it’s bedtime. While this doesn’t necessarily mean you should wear a suit, tie and a collared shirt, jeans and sneakers can generally do the trick. For myself, wearing shoes made a huge difference, where I would only take them off once the workday had ended.

It also helps you feel connected to your work and colleagues, enabling you to stay on top of the workload and what others are doing. Besides, it’ll come in handy if you and your surroundings are presentable during an impromptu video conference call!

The takeaway

While the circumstances for me working from home are vastly different from most people working from home now, I believe the principles still remain the same. As an eternal optimist, I believe each situation comes about for you to grasp and make the most of.

While I believe mine made me a better husband, father and company leader I’m sure everyone will come out of these turbulent times with strengths they never knew they had.

Stay safe everyone!