How to Cover Multiple Locations with One Staff Member

Handling multiple business locations often means having multiple teams to cover them. However, with remote work becoming the norm, businesses now have the option to streamline their operations using online tools. Instead of having a receptionist (or two) for every location, businesses can now utilize a single team to handle all their locations simultaneously.

Even just one staff member can perform various functions for multiple locations at the same time. While it can seem daunting at first, with the right equipment and system in place, it’s totally possible.

Here’s how:

Provide equipment

Obviously, it’s impossible for one person to be at two places at once. What makes it possible for a single staff member to cover multiple locations at once is the equipment. Remote work has shown that it’s possible for people to do their jobs from almost anywhere. All they need is a sufficient device, a constant internet connection, and the necessary software and apps. You can cover multiple locations with a single receptionist using advanced video technology. With front desk operations, for example, a platform like WelcomeWare enables a receptionist to work from home while attending multiple locations at the same time and without the need to travel.

Conduct proper training

If you’re entrusting various functions in multiple locations to a single staff member, clearly they have to be up to the task. This means more than making sure they have the right skills; it also means orienting them on your procedures, protocols, and priorities to work on. This is especially true if they will be dealing with more than one location at a time.

Start small by having someone supervise your virtual receptionist during their first days on the role. It’s important that your virtual receptionist become familiar with the feeling of managing multiple tasks across different locations at once. Train them properly until you’re confident that they can perform the role by themselves.

Compensate them fairly

With multiple locations under their responsibility, your staff member becomes a one-person army taking on many battles at once. They should be fairly compensated for their efforts. With one receptionist covering multiple locations, you will be able to reduce your labor costs. Directing some of these savings back into your top performers will increase retention and satisfaction.

Remember that it’s their hard work you’re paying them for, not where they’re working.

Create a remote front desk team

The best way to take advantage of having a remote front desk is to have a team of strong remote receptionists. Having a single remote receptionist can enable you to manage the front desks of more than one location at the same time; however, having remote receptionists allows your front desk operations across multiple locations smooth and consistent.

This is vital, especially when one of your receptionists is:

• Busy on the phone
• Out on vacation
• In an emergency
• On sick leave

In an in-person setup, situations like these are often difficult to handle. However, with a remote front desk team, you can easily cycle your receptionists to cover each other, allowing you to ensure constant front desk coverage across all your locations.

Multiple-area coverage holds many benefits to optimizing your front desk operations. Transforming your current front desk into a virtual receptionist who works from home, or a centralized location, while attending multiple locations at once is possible when you rely on a virtual receptionist platform like WelcomeWare.