{"id":51694,"date":"2022-04-29T10:29:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T14:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/?p=51694"},"modified":"2023-12-11T13:17:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T18:17:15","slug":"how-small-businesses-turn-hybrid-work-challenges-into-growth-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/how-small-businesses-turn-hybrid-work-challenges-into-growth-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"How Small Businesses Turn Hybrid Work Challenges into Growth Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: #808080;\">Practical Advice from Experts on Samsung-Hosted Panel at National Small Business Week<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-51695\" src=\"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1703\" srcset=\"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-600x399.jpg 600w, https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-950x632.jpg 950w, https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-2048x1363.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s small businesses are facing challenges they haven\u2019t seen before.<\/p>\n<p>As many businesses around the world return or consider returning to offices on a hybrid basis, small business owners and leaders are facing new concerns regarding productivity, recruitment, retention, and customer satisfaction. While these concerns and challenges are well known, solutions are not as obvious.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/national-small-business-week\">National Small Business Week<\/a> virtual summit, hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration and SCORE, will be held on May 2-5. As a proud sponsor of the event, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.samsung.com\/us\/business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Samsung Electronics America<\/a> will host a discussion, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.score.org\/event\/empowering-hybrid-workforce-business-and-tech-best-practices-unlock-productivity-profit\">Empowering a Hybrid Workforce<\/a>,\u201d to help small businesses find solutions to today\u2019s challenges. The session will feature a distinguished panel of small business leaders who will provide insights into how small businesses can improve team productivity, maximize talent, and grow their businesses.<\/p>\n<p>The panel will be moderated by <a href=\"https:\/\/insights.samsung.com\/author\/jason-redmond\/\">Jason Redmond<\/a>, Senior Director of Mobile Marketing B2B at Samsung Electronics America. Panelists include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/alexarosecarlin\/\"><strong>Alexa Rose Carlin<\/strong><\/a><strong>, Founder and CEO of Women Empower X: <\/strong>An inspirational small business owner helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses and brands.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/insights.samsung.com\/author\/tiffany-c-wright\/\"><strong>Tiffany C. Wright<\/strong><\/a><strong>, President at the Resourceful CEO: <\/strong>A recognized expert in working with small business owners to structure their operations to generate cash and profits.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/insights.samsung.com\/author\/barry-moltz\/\"><strong>Barry Moltz<\/strong><\/a><strong>, Host of The Small Business Radio Show:<\/strong> A 20+ year small business veteran who assists owners in growing their companies and unlocking their potential.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/maribellopez\/\"><strong>Maribel Lopez<\/strong><\/a><strong>, Founder and Principal Analyst at Lopez Research:<\/strong> A renowned analyst specializing in helping companies connect technology to business value.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ahead of the panel discussion, these experts shared practical, actionable advice on how small businesses can smooth the return-to-work transition, improve employee recruitment and retention, keep customers satisfied, and maintain productivity.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Returning to the office<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Many organizations face challenges as they continue or consider returning to offices. Some employees wonder why they need to go back given their productivity from home. Small businesses can address this directly by communicating the collaborative and educational benefits of working in the office. But it\u2019s also important to include employees\u2019 voices in the return-to-work conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a small business owner, one of the most important things to focus on right now regarding your team is to ensure they feel heard, connected to your greater mission, and part of your team as valued members,\u201d<strong> said Alexa Rose Carlin, Founder and CEO of Women Empower X.<\/strong> \u201cI believe this will help team members feel motivated to work, regardless if they are working from home or in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Highly engaged employees, those who are committed and connected to the organization, are three times more likely to say their opinions are being heard at their workplace, according to a 2021 study by <a href=\"https:\/\/workforceinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Heard-and-the-Heard-Nots.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Workforce Institute<\/a>. So how can small businesses go about including their employees in the return-to-office conversation?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI recommend first openly talking to your team about the vision for why you&#8217;d like to work with them again in person at the office, but then ask them either all together or separately for their opinions on coming back to the office,\u201d <strong>Carlin said<\/strong>. \u201cAsk them what they think will be best for the team and the business, making them feel heard while positioning the question away from what they personally want and towards a decision for the growth of the business and the culture. I think this will end in a result where workers feel respected and valued as well as see the value in a hybrid model.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Retaining employees<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A major challenge in today\u2019s work environment is hiring and retaining employees. In the job seeker\u2019s market that exists today, employees can easily consider other opportunities, while top applicants can afford to be picky. What can you do to stand out?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGive your prospective new hires and employees a mission they can believe in and want to be a part of,\u201d <strong>said Barry Moltz, Host of The Small Business Radio Show.<\/strong> \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to just work for a company, they want to be part of a cause. To retain your team, care about each one of them individually and understand how their job fits into their personal life.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Keeping customers satisfied<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>While overcoming employee engagement and retention challenges may take focus and effort, maintaining strong customer service and satisfaction is a priority. This is not a simple task, but it is the most important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a world where more employees work remotely, customer service and satisfaction still reign,\u201d said Tiffany C. Wright, President of The Resourceful CEO. \u201cThe keys to supporting strong customer service and satisfaction have not changed: great service from beginning to end, and immediate follow-up with customer complaints. You don\u2019t have to be in person to make customers feel special, but you do have to take additional care, such as contacting B2B customers after service or product delivery to inquire how things went and if they need anything else, then follow up accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A great way to improve customer retention is mixing in a personal touch. In a remote and hybrid world, it is important to put in even more effort into personalization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo strengthen long-term customer relationships, knowing birthdays (including children), anniversaries, and career achievements, then sending a card, making a call, or even sending a gift acknowledging them goes a long way and stands out more in the age of text and email,\u201d Wright said. \u201cFor consumer businesses, providing discounts or freebies on customers\u2019 birthdays, or at purchase milestones makes customers feel supported.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Maintaining productivity in remote or hybrid offices<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>As many employees head back to offices, it is important to maintain high productivity standards despite changing routines.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of your company&#8217;s size, easy-to-use collaboration tools are must-haves for any hybrid work environment. Some employees might still be at home, while others are in the office, but location should not get in the way of your organization&#8217;s productivity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Collaboration platforms are a grand equalizer that allows SMBs to deliver the same experience as larger companies, but at a reasonable cost,\u201d <strong>said Maribel Lopez, Founder and Principal Analyst of Lopez Research.<\/strong> \u201cThese platforms help SMBs minimize labour issues by enabling remote work, reducing travel costs, and expanding the number of ways they can engage with customers and partners.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Learn more from the small business experts<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cSmall businesses are in a unique time together,\u201d <strong>said Jason Redmond, Senior Director, Mobile Marketing B2B at Samsung Electronics America<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019re all confronting new challenges with the evolving hybrid workplace. People have changed the way they work, as well as where they work. Samsung is bringing together a panel of experts, whose collected experience and guidance will help small businesses transform these challenges into opportunities for growth during National Small Business Week\u2019s virtual summit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To attend this panel discussion on Tuesday, May 3<sup>rd<\/sup> at 1:20 pm ET, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.score.org\/event\/empowering-hybrid-workforce-business-and-tech-best-practices-unlock-productivity-profit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">register for the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Practical Advice from Experts on Samsung-Hosted Panel at National Small Business Week Today&#8217;s small businesses are facing challenges they haven\u2019t seen before. As many businesses around the world return or consider returning to offices on a hybrid basis, small business owners and leaders are facing new concerns regarding productivity, recruitment, retention, and customer satisfaction. While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29729,29732,29718],"tags":[47,27433,217],"blue-badge":[],"class_list":["post-51694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-enterprise","category-product-enterprise-enterprise-mobility","category-product","tag-enterprise","tag-mobile-connectivity","tag-small-business"],"acf":{"turn_off_retargeting":false},"fimg_mobile_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-scaled.jpg","fimg_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/29102330\/Galaxy-Z-Fold3-5G_Smart-Monitor-scaled.jpg","primary_category":{"term_id":29729,"name":"Enterprise","slug":"product-enterprise","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29729,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":29718,"count":388,"filter":"raw","term_link":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/category\/product\/product-enterprise\/","term_path":"product\/product-enterprise"},"badge":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51694"},{"taxonomy":"blue-badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samsung-newsroom-production.barbariangroup.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blue-badge?post=51694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}