EQ from home – Steven Todd

At EQ, our people are at the heart of what we do.

Although we are working from home, our team are working hard to maintain regular communication with their clients whilst continuing to support them through the lockdown.

We caught up with Steven Todd, Partner in our Glenrothes office, to find out more about what he has been doing whilst working from home.

What does an average day entail for you?

I can honestly say that since lockdown started, I’ve not had anything I could describe as an average day. With the pace of information coming out in relation to business support, just keeping up to date and making sure that clients were constantly informed on the support available was a full-time job. It is important that clients know they aren’t alone and that we are looking out for them.

What have you spent the majority of your time working on recently?

Coming into week 7 of the lockdown, the pace has certainly slowed down and now support in relation to the new grant and loan funds are taking up most of my time.

We’re constantly having to adapt to new information and guidance. This was the case for the new CBILS loan application process. They weren’t too complex to start but there was an issue getting many of these loans approved. This then meant the Government had to develop the new Bounce Back loans which provided easier access. We have helped many clients with their CBILS loan applications with a high number of successes across the firm.

The ability to work with clients and banks to get the applications submitted whilst we were all working from home has been relatively easy and I can see more of the population working from home after this.

How have you been supporting clients throughout lockdown?

We pride ourselves on providing a face to face service, and really getting to know our clients, but with us working from home the challenge has been to maintain the same high standards of service. The advances in video calling technology has meant that we can maintain contact. It’s not the same as being in the same room, but it’s the next best thing. Old fashioned phone calls are also good though as sometimes there is no need to see me in my sweatpants and hooded top.

The support discussed has mainly centred around cashflow, which has then led to discussions on deferment of expenses, such as loans, rent, taxes. Availability of grants, loans and accessing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme have also been the most common support being provided.

Given the current circumstances, are you doing anything differently? 

The lockdown has meant that we can’t visit our clients, our other offices, attend external courses or networking events. We have also had to embrace technology quicker than we would have under normal circumstances to be able to do all the things we have done before.

I think after the lockdown, we will be travelling less but I would certainly like to think I will be back to visiting clients under social distancing measures, even if it may take a bit of time to get there.

At the end of the workday, what do you look forward to the most?

Like everyone else in the country, my options are limited. Luckily for me, I have a garden which has consumed a lot of my time. Who would have thought that not only can you cut your grass, you can scarify, aerate, edge it and top dress it too? In other years, I might have had the best lawn in the street, but with everyone else doing the same, I’ll settle for not being the worst. Once the grass is done, a glass of whisky goes down well whilst enjoying the efforts of your labour.

While working from home, EQ are still offering the same level of support. You can contact us on any of our usual telephone numbers and email addresses, which you can find on the Our People page on this website.