Few businesses have been immune to the pandemic. That holds true nationwide and also here in northeast Indiana. We talked with business leaders from a variety of industries to see how their businesses have adapted and are moving forward. We could not fit all of the responses into the magazine; please go to businesspeople.com to read the complete answers from these leaders.
Does your school operate in a different way than it did before the pandemic? If so, please tell us about the changes.
The pandemic has transformed the world of education, but Canterbury continues. At the start of Indiana’s stay at home order, Canterbury School quickly adapted to remote learning and stayed committed to keeping our community engaged and our traditions alive, including an in-person (socially distanced) commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020. As time continued, the leadership team, alongside the school’s Pandemic Health and Wellness Committee, remained steadfast in its creation and execution of the re-entry plan for the 2020-21 school year, which put the health and safety of our families and faculty first. The re-entry plan is customized to balance the needs of our community and the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, which lead us to create a phased approach to our restrictions and safety measures for this school year based on the level of community spread of the virus. The majority of our student body returned to full in-person instruction on Aug. 26, and a small percentage of families took advantage of our remote learning option, which is synchronous and asynchronous. The return to campus was met with many physical changes and additional daily safety precautions including:
Our pandemic safety measures continue to adjust and evolve, but the school community has truly come together to take care of one another and adjust along with us. Despite the aforementioned changes and adjustments, what hasn’t changed is the promise we make to our students and their families, which is to maximize the potential of young people by providing a challenging, enriching, and supportive learning environment in which students build the foundation for a life of purpose, passion, and meaning. The spirit of our community has not stopped, only strengthened. Our students, parents, faculty, and staff display immense resilience and cooperation day after day. To read the full re-entry plan and review our COVID-19 measures, visit canterburyschool.org/COVID19.
Did you lose business and, if so, has it recovered?
In education, we are in the business of connecting with and supporting people, especially young people. The early stages of the pandemic (spring 2020) presented a lot of uncertainty, especially for parents, regarding the 2020-21 school year, and so we immediately prioritized transparent, consistent communication with our Canterbury families. This important measure elongated brand loyalty and supported retention by allowing open dialogue regarding concerns and questions surrounding the upcoming school year. It was through those conversations that a small number of families (3% of the total student body) expressed their decision to not re-enroll for the 2020-21 school year due to reasons relative to the pandemic. Despite the unexpected nature of this attrition, we are confident that the majority of those families will return next year and many have already noted their intent to do so. Ultimately, we believe that flexibility, empathy and trust are key in navigating this unique time because Canterbury, tried and true, is one big family, and that is what family is all about.
Do you believe your school will survive the economic issues resulting from the pandemic?
Our mantra this year is “Canterbury Continues,” so, Canterbury will continue, and not just survive, but thrive post pandemic. As a non-profit organization and independent school, nearly 90% of the annual budget is supported by tuition and fees. We know that the pandemic has had drastic economic effects on our world and specifically within independent schools. We are fortunate that nearly 94% of families remain invested in the promise and the mission of Canterbury School year over year, and looking forward, we see great promise in our recruitment and retention efforts. For example, at the start of the stay and home order, the admissions experience for prospective families went virtual. In the end, admissions yielded 50 new K-12 students for the 2020-21 school year, meeting the new student admissions goal. So far this year, admissions is seeing excellent new student interest for 2021-22, showing great promise for future new student recruitment. As well, we recently surveyed our entire community regarding the first month of the school year, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive regarding programming, communications, safety measures, and more. In addition to tuition and fees, the annual budget is supported by fundraising efforts and our school had a very successful 2019-20 fundraising cycle. During this 2020-21 fundraising year, the development strategy is committed to being sensitive and aware of financial implications on philanthropy and within the community. Thus far, supporter engagement has been positive and lively, both in-person and virtual, forecasting a successful year of fundraising on behalf of Canterbury School. It is because of these few examples of recruitment, retention and fundraising that we are confident Canterbury will persevere the economic issues resulting from the pandemic.
Do you have any wisdom you would like to share with others who may be in the same situation as you?
As school leader, teacher, or community member -- remember your why. In the midst of challenge, fear and uncertainty, what is urgent can easily overshadow what is important, and your why, as an organization, as a group, as an individual, is important. Spaces and places will look unusual and different during this pandemic, and convenience will often be pushed to the side. For communities to preserve, especially school communities, we must stand together as one, stay flexible and organized and remain empathic and transparent. As Brene Brown says, “the obstacle is the way,” and so, while this time is a far cry from what we are accustomed to, this is a time where we can truly do our best work and be our best selves for the good of both our community and our world. And never forget that a “thank you” goes a long way.
Does your business operate in a different way than it did before the pandemic? If so, please tell us about the changes.
We are operating in a much more cautious environment (regular cleaning of high touch areas, social distancing and lots of hand sanitizer) Since we were deemed an essential business we started with additional safety and cleanliness protocols from the get go. Because of social distancing we have made some facility changes to allow for appropriate space between customers and employees but for the most part we are business as usual.
If your employees are working remotely as a result of the pandemic, when will they come back to work? Or, will they?
During the initial stay at home order we had several of our employees work from home that could, everyone has been back in the office for the last 2 months.
Did you lose business and, if so, has it recovered?
February, March and April were really slow months for the car business. The fear of the unknown, limited operating hours and staggering of our staff all played a part in reduced demand for service and sales of automobiles.
Do you believe your business will survive the economic issues resulting from the pandemic?
Yes, the vehicles sales and service business boomed again in May, June and July and helped us recover some of our market share from the previous months. We continue to struggle with shortages in vehicle inventory and repair parts as the entire industry is trying to catch up.
Do you have any wisdom you would like to share with others who may be in the same situation as you?
This is the time to think out of the box. We experimented with new technology the streamlined our at home buying process, initiated more at home touchless pick-up and delivery of vehicles as well as using this time to evaluate all of our current vendors and what expenses we could trim. Anything we could do to make it easier for people to do business with us seems to make everything better. There will a lot of these experiments that become permanent processes for us now.
Does your business operate in a different way than it did before the pandemic? If so, please tell us about the changes.
Yes. We have more team members who are working remotely. We have upgraded our technology offerings for our team members with laptops, dual screens, headsets and software that make working remotely more efficient. We are utilizing virtual meeting technology (GoToMeeting and Teams) to allow for team, client, prospect, vendor, and broker meetings.
If your employees are working remotely as a result of the pandemic, when will they come back to work? Or, will they?
Prior to March 2020, we had only 2 of 180 team members who worked remotely. In March and April, we had 160 of our 180 team members working remotely. In May, we allowed any team member who wanted to return to the office to return. We also allowed any team member who wanted to work a split schedule (part remote and part office) to do so. We require those working a split schedule to work specific days in office to limit the total number of team members in the office at one time. We are allowing those who need flexibility (those at high-risk to COVID-19, those with school age children, those with daycare issues) to work full-time remotely. Our date for a full reopening of the office is currently set for January 4, 2021.
Did you lose business and, if so, has it recovered?
We have not lost business due to the pandemic, at least not yet. My biggest concern as the pandemic hit was that our membership would decline due to business closures, layoffs and furloughs. Our total membership has actually increased since the end of 2019 due to new group sales.
Do you believe your business will survive the economic issues resulting from the pandemic?
Yes, PHP will survive the economic issues resulting from the pandemic. We have a fantastic team and are a well-run, well-capitalized company.
Do you have any wisdom you would like to share with others who may be in the same situation as you?
Be patient, be flexible and be open to new ways of getting the job done. In many ways, especially technologically, the pandemic has moved us forward a good five years.
Does your business operate in a different way than it did before the pandemic? If so, please tell us about the changes.
Xplor has tried to operate with the philosophy of, “business as usual,’ while follow all guidelines set forth by the CDC and the Governor to keep our clients and valued team members safe. We highly encourage wearing a mask, offer PPE when entering our office, and socially distance when meeting in our conference room.
If your employees are working remotely as a result of the pandemic, when will they come back to work? Or, will they?
We have been very flexible to accommodate everyone’s needs in their personal lives and productivity has remained at a high level. We do have one employee who is working remotely. Her family decided e-learning would be best this school year for health reasons. We hope to get her back in the office once the school year ends or if the overall landscape improves and becomes safe for children to return.
Did you lose business and, if so, has it recovered?
This question is yet to be answered in our opinion. Commercial real estate is a long term business where fruits of our labors do not have immediate effect. As with the rest of the country, our owners, clients, and proprietors simply extended close dates. There are many working parts to purchasing real estate that include the participation of title companies, lawyers, local government, and financial institutions. While companies were in lockdown and reorganizing how they were going to do business, the parties involved in active transactions were understanding for the delay in closing dates. Our industry has always adapted to the ups and downs that come with normal business cycles, so this, although very different in nature, feels very similar, but we won’t see the full effect for some time. Certain industries have had very little impact, while others have suffered severely.
Do you believe your business will survive the economic issues resulting from the pandemic?
Our business will definitely survive. Commercial real estate is an optimistic industry to be a part of and it is a matter of adapting to the environment. We are seeing national trends with how the CRE market is shifting to accommodate all of the mandates and are keeping an eye on the Fort Wayne market to be sure we are anticipating the market’s needs and evaluating opportunities for our clients.
Do you have any wisdom you would like to share with others who may be in the same situation as you?
From a commercial real estate standpoint, favor adaptability and flexibility as our economy evolves from the lessons of 2020.
Does your business operate in a different way than it did before the pandemic? If so, please tell us about the changes.
We have not changed our operations because while new business is not necessarily coming in we have a lot of clients who have been relying on us to help them make sense of rebooking what they had planned on this year, and helping our corporate clients manage what travel must still get done for their own operations. We have also been spending a lot of time making sure that clients get refunds or credits back for cancelled trips this year.
If your employees are working remotely as a result of the pandemic, when will they come back to work? Or, will they?
We have been back in the office since mid-June. We do have a few team members who continue to work at home due to health considerations and we are playing those situations by ear. While it would be possible for us to all work from home we feel that we miss too much of the informal sharing and learning that goes on daily when we are separated. Travel is a product, that especially now, is changing daily, even hourly sometimes and the speed of being able to just instantly communicate in person is invaluable to us.
Did you lose business and, if so, has it recovered?
With borders closed, cruises halted and even some states being difficult to go to due to various restrictions travel has come to a near standstill this year. While it is very slowly inching up again we have a long way to go. We are at the mercy of governmental decisions around the world to allow visitors again as well as an every changing landscape of what is considered safe activities when it comes to travel. We really do not look for an appreciable return to even close to normal business until mid or later 2021. It is going to be a long haul.
Do you believe your business will survive the economic issues resulting from the pandemic?
Travel agents are some of the most resilient professionals I know. While this pandemic is like nothing we have ever experienced in our lifetimes the agency community has always been one to hope for the best but plan for the worst. So we have reserves, and we always have plans in our back pockets to face downturns. We also know that travel is not going away forever and we know once it opens back up we are going to go full steam ahead as the pent-up demand grows daily. We absolutely believe we are going to survive because of all of these reasons.
Do you have any wisdom you would like to share with others who may be in the same situation as you?
Do not try to survive this alone. The one thing that has gotten me through this time so far is a strong network of support outside of the company. I have a network of agency owners all over the country who I have been in constant contact with since the early days. We share our successes, concerns, bad days, and our occasional need to just vent with each other and laugh at the trial and tribulations we face. Those connections have been invaluable this year to me.
