The end of 2019 was marked by the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in Wuhan, where the headquarters of our subsidiary in China are located.
VirtualExpo Group has managed to get through this ordeal by relying on the strength of its employees who stayed on course during the crisis. What about our teams in China? What organization has been set up since the appointment last June of our new sales manager, who has been working with the Chinese team remotely from Marseilles? Melissa, Darcy and Jason testify.
In February 2020, VirtualExpo China employees went to visit their families to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They did not expect their professional and personal lives to be impacted in the way they were. “As we hadn’t taken our computers with us, it was extremely difficult for us to work remotely under such conditions," Melissa said.
Our Chinese team resumed operations mid-March, after receiving their computers which were sent from Wuhan. But this didn’t alleviate their concerns about their health and their loved ones. "Despite getting back to work, we were still very concerned about the health situation in our country," Darcy said. He added: "We lost touch with our clients who were no longer able to travel around the country to reach their offices."
In spite of the imposed distance from their clients and the technical difficulties they experienced (waiting for their computers, low internet speed), our Chinese employees found solutions to maintain the connection with their clients. They were able to stay in touch using videoconferencing and WeChat, the Chinese mobile phone messaging app. They also organized webinars to continue to promote the commercial activity of VirtualExpo China.
"We started each day with a meeting to discuss our goals and share how we were feeling about things that day," Jason said.
Some of the advantages of the situation did not go unnoticed by our Chinese team. “Working remotely has allowed us to reduce the commuting time between home and the office, which sometimes exceeded 2 hours," Melissa stated. "It's a great opportunity to spend more time with our families," Darcy said.
Our Chinese teams are overcoming the crisis with strength and courage. One thing is certain, despite the difficulty of recent events, Melissa, Darcy and Jason are confident and have hope for a better future.
