From morning huddles to international newsletters - more morale-boosters

Three more property players have been in touch to share what they're doing to help their staff during lockdown - there are more great ideas.

Hunters: In addition to video quizzes and events such as cheese and wine evenings which are open to both furloughed and non-furloughed staff, Hunters is running popular twice-weekly online “Audience with…” sessions, with experts from across the business discussing items such as marketing plans, online auctions and CRM projects. This has attracted up to 350 people from across the network at its peak.

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Farrell Heyworth: All staff whether they be remote working or furloughed are receiving regular phone calls to check on their wellbeing, provide human contact and to reassure them that the company is working hard to be ready to get back to work as quickly and with as much normalcy as possible once restrictions are lifted.

Every member of staff also gets a daily newsletter called The Daily Rainbow. The idea behind it was to send quizzes, fun activities and positive messages to keep the staff entertained whilst at home. It was so successful that the agency took the decision to send it out to the general public too - there’s now a circulation of over 13,000!

Every Friday there’s a family quiz and people across the world from New Zealand to Qatar are taking part.

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National Property Trade, a quick-buy firm: Chief executive Cormac Henderson says employees’ mental health is paramount at all times but particularly so during the current challenging period. The business is focusing on the three key pillars of preparedness, communication and empathy. Some of its initiatives include:

- morning team huddles over Microsoft Teams;

- a WhatsApp group for all staff and a Wellbeing WhatsApp Group for those that need extra support and a non-judgemental place to discuss their feelings about what is happening;

- various social initiatives including a regular pub quiz and weekly Happy Hour call for social time with colleagues to discuss things like hobbies and pets;

- light-hearted surveys – a fun chance to learn new things about each other;

- celebrated a staff member’s milestone birthday by sending cake, flowers and bubbly and sang to her on an all-hands meeting;

- and setting up the Olympia Foundation - an interest-free pool of funds for staff should they need it, as well as offering free financial advice

The business received a comment from a new starter who said: “I’ve only been in the company a few weeks, but never have I known a team so close or so supportive, it’s very refreshing.”

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All this is brilliant work by the industry - keep doing what you’re doing, stay safe, and thanks for sharing your activities.

** Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today are this Bank Holiday weekend running stories about how the industry is coping with lockdown, seven weeks on. Normal news stories resume on Monday but for the moment, please check both sites to see how different agencies and suppliers are keeping up morale. **