We have gathered over 25 WFH insights through an 800-person survey. The results are saying there is a HUGE disconnect between employee and management perception of the situation. Why should you care? With this slide deck you will: 1. Learn why your prospects think they don't need your solution as they migrate to a permanent work-from-home option 2. Understand what you need to say to get their attention 3. Get free access to our data that you can use in your marketing.

1. HOW TO MARKET TO
YOUR PROSPECTS
THAT ARE MAKING
WORK-FROM-HOME
PERMANENT
How to Market to
your Prospects that
are Making Work-
From-Home
Permanent

2. About UsAbhi Jadhav
Managing Partner at Bay
Leaf Digital
Ashley Monismith
Head of Market Research at Bay
Leaf Digital
Pallavi Ridout
Leadership Coach
At The ELM Advisory Group
◦ Bay Leaf Digital is a full service digital marketing
agency focused on growing awareness and
strengthening pipelines of SaaS & tech
companies.
◦ The ELM Advisory Group helps you ENGAGE,
LEAD, MOTIVATE by developing leaders, teams
and individuals, helping them achieve personal
excellence and ultimately making a meaningful
impact within their organizations.

3. Agenda
what to expect
◦ 50 minute webinar + Q&A
◦ We’ll cover
◦ Pain points, preferences and engagement for
employees who WFH
◦ How middle and upper managers view the state of
business while working remote
◦ The disconnects between employees and employers
◦ What managers can to do improve WFH experiences
◦ How your company can better market its solutions
knowing these pain points
Questions during the presentation? Type them out in the
chat!

4. With this massive, unprecedented shift to remote work across multiple industries and
many roles, how has this changed how we, as marketers, speak to our existing and
potential audiences?
When a large portion of the workforce
transitioned to working from home
earlier this year, it got us thinking…

5. It Started With a Survey
Recently, Bay Leaf Digital conducted an 800-person survey to identify
employees' and employers' real-life, remote work experiences in the "new
normal" of work from home. These survey responses shed light on the
complexities, disconnects and challenges of the future of work.
work.

6. The Survey
◦ Qualified 560 remote workers
across 30 industries in North
America
◦ About half were individual
contributors (non-managerial
roles)
◦ One-third were middle
management and the remaining
17%, upper management
defining the target market

7. Employees:
Navigating WFH
Challenges
◦ Employees who faced technical challenges encountered
◦ Unstable access (shared connectivity, patchy connection to remote
desktops, poor VPN, etc.)
◦ Lack of proper equipment
◦ Security Blocks
◦ And more
“Unable to access files and networks remotely”
“Glitches with Citrix virtual desktop”
“Sharing the house and bandwidth with a wife teaching
online and two sons taking courses online”
technical issues

8. Employees:
Navigating WFH
Challenges
◦ 2.1 non-technical issues on average
◦ Top challenges: Distractions, disconnects and
overworked due to no set hours
◦ Time management is a big issue, especially
home (children, spouse, pets, etc.)
non-technical issues
“Small house designed for living, not WFH. With 3
people in house on zoom or teams all day there
isn’t enough space for all of us to easily hear our
calls even with headphones”
“More work than in person to do the same job”

9. Employees: Navigating WFH Challenges
◦ Additional challenge: disconnect between what employees wanted and needed vs what the employers provided them.
◦ More allowance was the largest desire at 36%, but only 4% of employers actually provided funds to cover additional bills, new office
furniture and more.
employee wants vs employer compensation
Allowance/

10. Employees:
Navigating WFH
Challenges
◦ Employees spend more time collaborating
◦ While this is expected, the continued need to work additional
hour(s) will result in remote worker burnout over time.
collaboration time

11. Employees: The Benefits of WFH
◦ Despite WFH challenges, a majority of employees
welcomed the benefits of working from home:
“I get to sleep in Every. Single. Day”
“No office politics”
“No pants required”
“Gotten to REALLY know my 3 young children &
my husband better”
the value of remote work

12. Employees: The Benefits of WFH
◦ A majority of workers want to continue working
from home
◦ 30% expressed a desire to work from home
permanently
◦ 70% of respondents want to work from home
more than half the time
ideal number of days to WFH
◦ BUT without addressing the new challenges and
disconnects employees and employers currently
have, this will result in more stress and eventually
burnout

13. Employee WFH Pain Points
Employer
Provided Help
What
Employees
Want
Effectively
Addressing
Issues Faced
WFH
identifying target audience’s struggles

14. The Pain Points
Reduced
productivity
- Unstable
access
- Distractions
home
Productivity Burnout
Collaboratio
n
Disconnects
Potential
burnout
- Longer days
because no set
time to work
Collab Change
-
Communicating
and working with
colleagues takes
1+ more hours
compared to in
person
Disconnects
- Employees’
spoken and
unspoken
needs are not
being met by
management

15. Why Should
Companies Care
About This Data?
employee engagement

16. They don't work :
 just for a paycheck
 just for the next promotion
but work on behalf of the organization's goals
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the
organization and it’s goals.
Why It Matters?
When employees care—when they are engaged—they
use discretionary effort.
Engaged Employees are:
 Involved in
 Enthusiastic about
 Committed to work and the workplace
Engaged employees care about their work and their company.
employee engagement

17. Employee
Engagement
Increases business resilience in high-stress environments
* Gallup data 2008
Even stronger predictor of performance during crisis

18. Employee Engagement
Factors
a closer look

19. A Closer Look: Managers
◦ Managers are in line with employees – they are okay with employees
working from home
◦ 70+%of managers are okay with their teams working from home
working from home more than half the time

20. Team Level
Interaction
◦ The primary reaction has been conducting more
meetings, some structured, others at random.
◦ Less than 20% of managers are recognizing the
need to be social - virtually
"...using MS Teams to engage on diverse topics only
loosely related to work (or not at all). Mostly, trying
to facilitate the water cooler conversations we had
over cubicle walls, by the coffee machine and in the
lunch room."
"Weekly social gatherings on zoom with rotating
responsibility for hosting by each team member."
a closer look: managers

21. Changes in 1:1
Interaction
◦ Majority did not change their level of interaction (even though
the interaction is now online)
◦ Managers are resorting to more interactions to check on work,
morale, alignment, and more.
◦ Very few managers realize the need to check beyond just work-
related matters (6%)
Example of step above: "Our conversations are far more relaxed
and I spend more time asking about their personal lives and
sharing about mine."
a closer look: managers

22. Challenges Managing
Teams
◦ There is significant concern over productivity and accountability
◦ Harder to communicate, collaborate and provide feedback
◦ Breakdown of bonds that have been nurtured & inability to create new
bonds
"...Difficult to brainstorm/white board ideas or just talk through issues in
an ad-hoc way"
"Some employees are starting to be less productive as they face burnout
from always being home"
a closer look: managers

23. Manager Perspective Recap
◦ Managers don’t all seem to be in touch with their teams’ non-technical challenges
◦ Accountability and productivity is a top concern for those who see problems
◦ Managers are spending more time communicating with teams, more time with employees to keep up with work
◦ Those managers that recognize WFH challenges are working longer because they have an increased workload of keeping everyone on the
same page, and keeping up employee morale

24. Great managers boost employee productivity by an
average of 11% per employee
• Managers are ULTIMATELY responsible
for creating an environment where
employees thrive and give their very
best
Employees Join
Companies…but
LEAVE MANAGERS
"As a middle manager, you are in
effect a chief executive of an
organization yourself...As a micro
CEO, you can improve your own
and your group's performance and
productivity, whether or not the
rest of the company follows suit.“
- Andy Grove, former CEO & Co-founder of
Intel

25. How to Market to
Managers About
WFH Challenges
◦ Make the message highly relevant
◦ Use metrics that matter to managers
◦ Use personas and verticals to identify mid-
management targets
◦ Start with the problem statement that managers can
identify with
◦ Offer a solution
real world marketing examples

26. A Closer Look: Senior
Management
◦ Most companies with knowledge workers were setup with the basic needs of
computer access and communication tools such as Zoom/MS Teams etc. As
a result, senior management didn't feel the need to invest in new
technologies/processes when the country shutdown during the initial days of
the pandemic.
◦ In fact, nearly 80% of senior management invested less than 20% of
budget in the move to work-from-home

27. Senior Management
Perception
◦ How productive do they think employees are working from home?
◦ 66% senior management feels that employees are just as productive or
as productive or even more productive
◦ What is senior management's attitude to employees working from
home?
◦ 64% say they would be okay with employees WFH more than half the
more than half the time
a closer look: senior managers

28. How is Productivity
Measured
"... Their responsiveness via email and phone,
and their ability to meet deadlines and
produce visible work products. "
"Progress on projects, sales calls
scheduled"
"Revenue, sales, employee
participation"
1
2
3
1
2
3
◦ 37% are using metrics that worked in a traditional
workplace such as deadlines, output tracking etc
◦ 30% aren’t using any meaningful metrics
◦ Nearly 20% are using indirect metrics such as pulse
surveys, customer satisfaction and business metrics
a closer look: senior managers

29. Planned Changes
◦ A majority of senior management is not planning to make any
changes as employees continue to work through the pandemic
◦ About 20% of management is aware of problems and is addressing
them in a variety of ways such as time off or a new technology.
However, the solutions aren’t always aligned with the problems
◦ Yet others are trying to do more touches as a solution
"... Since productivity is lower, we will set higher performance standards
with bonuses"
"Outside speaker sessions; more gatherings on Zoom for fun to simulate
water cooler conversations"
a closer look: senior managers

30. Senior Management Recap
◦ Senior management, along with most others, thought working from home was a temporary situation that would be rectified once the
pandemic was under control.
◦ As a result, they did not change the metrics they used to measure productivity in the workplace
◦ This group needs to be educated on the challenges employees are facing, and shown what the right solutions to solve these
challenges are

31. ◦ Start with a problem CXOs and VPs will
identify with
◦ Make the message highly relevant by
targeting the right people on the right
platform
◦ Follow up with them by email and other
channels
How to Market to
Senior
Management
(Decision Makers)
real world marketing examples

32. * Gallup data 2008
Enhance Employee
Engagement in 3
KEY Areas
practical strategies
◦ Relationships
◦ Leadership
◦ Feeling valued, Work & Rewards

33. ◦ Enhance personal connection between team
members (47% were disconnect with team
members)
◦ Dedicate a weekly/biweekly video call to:
◦ Playing an online game with the team
◦ Virtual happy hour
◦ Chat over coffee
◦ Pizza party – have pizzas delivered to each
house
◦ ASK the team for their input on what they
would like
Increase employee
engagement:
Relationships
practical strategies

34. Org Wide
◦ Frequent communication via email/newsletters
◦ Regular Town hall/all hands meetings
At Team Level
◦ Consistent team meetings
◦ Daily stand ups/quick meetings – over coffee
◦ Make meetings fun & creative – switch between video and
◦ Get creative – break the monotony and do a walking team
everyone gets out of their house)
◦ Cultivate a sense of vulnerability - Openly share challenges
of working from home & brainstorm coping strategies (49%)
Increase employee
engagement:
Leadership
practical strategies

35. ◦ Managers as coaches vs. a boss
◦ Listen, observe, uncover root causes, promote responsibility &
accountability
◦ Provide frequent feedback via 1:1’s and set expectations
◦ Celebrate wins and accomplishments (17%) - Recognize good
Recognize good work via 1:1s, email, team meetings, intranet, social
tools such as LinkedIn
practical strategies
Increase employee
engagement:
Feeling Valued,
Work & Rewards

36. Key Takeaways
1. Working from home has so many advantages that more people want to continue WFH
2. However, what works well for a smaller set of employees working from home doesn’t scale well
3. Employees who are not used to working from home have many unaddressed issues
4. Most managers do not recognize the communication issues and distractions that are causing mental stress on
employees. These issues are driving both managers and employees to work harder and longer
5. Senior management is using older ways to measure productivity and is not quite sure how to address problems
they are sensing are occurring

37. ◦ There is a LOT of noise about work from home
causing mental stress. The frequently touted
solutions are self-care, meditation, virtual happy
◦ These only address the symptoms of mental stress
◦ The root causes of the stress are communication &
disconnects, home distractions, lack of
and so on
◦ You have the opportunity to take this message and
prospects/target customers. Strike while the iron
Real
results
By
Bay Leaf
Digital
How to Market to the
WFH Economy
real world marketing examples

38. How to Market to the
WFH Economy –
Account Based
Marketing
Identify verticals –
e.g. Healthcare,
Banking, Tech
Build a company
list for each vertical
Identify specific
contacts for each
company. E.g.
Manager, CTO,
CEO
Build content
specific to each
type of
contact
Use our report to create content for your targets:
https://www.bayleafdigital.com/wfh-resources
account based marketing

39. Free Consultation
Learn how you can take today’s findings and advance your marketing
efforts in the new normal of WFH.
Set up a 1-on-1 meeting with us:
https://meetings.hubspot.com/aj113

40. Abhi Jadhav
aj@bayleafdigital.com
Ashley Monismith am@bayleafdigital.com
Pallavi Ridout
pallavi@engageleadmotivate.com
Get In
Touch