Working from Home: A New Normal
Like many of you we didn’t work from home often before the pandemic. So, for us, working remotely since mid-March has been an interesting journey.
At first, it was fun, novel. Our team did a variety of things to cope, from exploring new locations to work within our houses (some escaping children), playing music VERY loudly, taking meetings with babies on laps, running a couple loads of laundry during the day, to generally just attempting to adjust. After a few days, it starting to become more difficult. After a few months, it’s become our new normal and yet – still difficult.
We reflected on the last couple of months and, as a team, came up with some pros and cons that may appear on your list as well:
Pros:
We use our project management system more and it has kept us on track with all client work.
Our twice-daily video conferences have kept us connected and feeling like a team.
We have more focused time to think and more time at home with our kids. A stressful day can now be (happily) interrupted with the sound of our toddler wanting to play for a couple of minutes, a welcome distraction and a good moment to ground us.
We can get more done at home without sacrificing work time.
The lack of a commute makes us feel more free, saves time and gas, and the frustration of bad drivers ruining a perfectly good morning
We’re getting more exercise.
We can wear comfy clothes all the time and rarely put makeup on
We have our own private bathrooms. Hey, let’s just all be honest- this is a massive perk!
We’re spending time we never would have otherwise seeing our kids grow up and being present for the silly little moments we’d normally miss
Cons:
We miss the casual interactions, off-handed remarks and unrelated conversations that sometimes spark the most creative ideas. We miss the opportunity to be friends. Our interactions are more transactional.
There’s often too much time alone, leading to a lack of motivation or a lull in creativity.
There’s a blurred line between work and home; we feel like we always must be accomplishing something.
We’re more focused on the to-do list and not as much on strategic thinking.
We hired a new employee and while she’s learning our business, she’s not really getting to know us as well as she would if we were together
We deal with the technology difficulties that come with an agency working with large digital files and sharing them with each other and clients
But alas, this is our new normal – at least for a bit longer here in Missouri where the timeline keeps getting pushed farther into 2020 – or 2021. So how do we cope? Our team member Megan has some good first steps.
1. Our team tries to stay in touch texts, emails, video chats. Not all (or much even) of it is work-related content - mostly lighthearted things that keep us all laughing.
2. Leaving space for team members to take an impromptu day off, pop out for a walk at lunch, or schedule a video call with a therapist. These are difficult times and as a company, we’re trying to give our team members the latitude to not just cope, but be well.
3. Counting our wins and avoiding the word “should.” Wins these days look like successful client meetings, a clean inbox going into the weekend, an at-home lunch that hits the spot, nailing a photoshoot that we both planned and executed remotely from the client, and folding some laundry while enjoying some iced tea
We are really looking forward to being together again. But we know that’s going to be a while. So now we’re spending some time thinking about the lessons we’re learning and planning ahead to adapt to employee needs for the future.
We are realizing that we do need some in-person meetings. We’re starting to meet in socially distant ways, on back porches, on coffee shop patios and over cocktails at sidewalk cafes. We’re making an effort to schedule this casual interaction that used to be easy and impromptu
Because we’ve now proved that people can work from home, spend time with their family and still be productive, we’re taking steps to allow that post-pandemic. Origin will be setting up work stations both at the office and at home for our creative staff who want it (account staff already have portable laptops). And we’ll be letting people work from home at least 2 days per week as long as the work is getting done, even allowing sliding hours (working in the evening, etc.). We’re not losing anything. And parents are gaining valuable family time while saving money on childcare.
Also, working from home has shown us what our current office space is missing. We’ll be looking for new space with more light throughout, comfortable spaces, fresh air and outdoor access. We’re committed to creating a new energy around our physical environment.
We literally are nothing without our employees. We’ve always known that. But this pandemic and lockdown have shown us that we can be more flexible and still produce fabulous creative work.
It’s really important to remember - everything sucks so much right now, but it could be much worse. Just try to keep your head above water and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Stay connected to your people. That’s what makes everything worth it.