CLIENT HIGHLIGHTS

Aligning our values.

By Lawrence Flores, Jr.

"Caring for the well-being of our staff".

Janis MacKenzie, President & CEO, San Francisco
MacKenzie Communications

We here at ProActive align ourselves with companies that share our philosophy of empowering employees and creating community. MacKenzie Communications is one of our many clients that believe in empowering and caring for their employees. One of the many ways MacKenzie is keeping their employees safe and happy during these times is by leaning into the flexibility of a hybrid work environment. MacKenzie believes in giving their employees time to stretch and run errands, while also maintaining an upbeat work environment by using virtual happy hours and party games.

Listen to this clip of our interview with MacKenzie Communications Janis MacKenzie (President & CEO) and Daniel Hutson (Executive Vice President).

Communication is Essential During These Times

Janis MacKenzie, President & CEO, San Francisco
MacKenzie Communications

When productivity came to a screeching halt back in March as a result of the pandemic, MacKenzie Communications didn’t show any signs of slowing down. One wouldn’t immediately consider the San Francisco-based integrated marketing and communications agency with 35 years under the belt an essential business, but during these times they have certainly played a critical role. Across various sectors including healthcare, education, and transportation, MacKenzie was a significant participant in how companies responded to the pandemic.

“There has been a lot of emphasis on targeted stakeholder communication about how to manage the impact of the virus within an organization and its delivery,” said Janis MacKenzie, President and CEO of the agency.

From strategizing recovery and growth plans to handling employee, investor, and customer relations, the team at MacKenzie had to adjust quickly to remote work life to be able to continue supporting their clients through the uncertainty.

“We have benefited from having a very cohesive, integrated team and a very strong culture of communication and collaboration. We were set up for success early on,” said Janis. “Certainly technology has helped us. I don’t know how we would have done the same sort of work collaboratively 15 years ago had this happened. We are the beneficiaries of the Zooms, Microsoft Teams, and the Webex [meetings], all the good things we have at our disposal.”

Janis MacKenzie, MacKenzie Communications, President & CEO, San Francisco

See more of our interview with MacKenzie’s Janis MacKenzie and Daniel Hutson on ProActive’s social media channels.

One Architect Shares Their Company's Post-Pandemic Plans

Jason Hagopian, Principal, Miami
TSAO Design Group

This bi-coastal architecture firm is finding new ways to keep business as usual in a post-pandemic world.

Everyone is looking for answers, says Jason Hagopian, principal at a boutique size architecture firm that specializes in office space, restaurants, and hotels. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, Jason has been busier than ever as companies are scrambling to reassess their physical work space. The answers, he says, seem to change every week.

As everyone is eager to get back to a normalcy, adaptation is key. His strategy with clients of various sizes and needs is to be flexible and cautious. There is no one solution for a post-pandemic work space and it is likely to continue to evolve. Perhaps your business will benefit from a staggered or a rotating schedule. Maybe your team can spread out their workspaces and keep meetings to virtual gatherings only.

Jason says his employees were no strangers to virtual collaboration as they’re already spread out across the country. From sharing renderings to live meeting minutes to site photos to video calls, they’ve expanded their tool set to fully connect the company. “You have to want to be connected. Being remote requires us to put extra energy into being connected,” says Jason. “We try to make it as simple as possible.”

See more of our interview with Jason Hagopian on ProActive’s social media channels, including his solution to networking during the pandemic.

Best Practices for Collaborating Remotely

It’s been six months since the coronavirus pandemic began and honestly this great juggling act we’re all doing of working from home while managing employees is certainly starting to wear. At ProActive, we’re shuffling between some employees in the office and some virtual to keep business running as usual.
It seems as if I’m not the only one who is tired. Companies are reporting recent drops in productivity as fatigue sets in around working remotely. While health and safety remain the top concerns, it’s likely we all would benefit from a closer look at our remote collaboration ways.

Download our best practices for remote collaboration here.