Home Working Two Months On

Have I got used to it? Yes, and I’ve done it before, but do I like it? No, never have done and probably never will.

We’re all different and so there’s no wrong or right about liking it, loathing it or something in the middle, tolerating it and making it work for you out of necessity.

I’ve never liked it, and it’s probably best summed up by the phrase, water cooler moments.

When I started my new job in January, one of the reasons I believe I got up to speed quickly with the requirements and priorities in the role was the amount of time I could spend with my team and my new head of HR. Yes it would still have worked if we couldn’t do that and I’ve managed international teams on several occasions where that isn’t an option, but I think I got there quicker.

Lockdown has changed the way I work, not for better or worse, but without realising that and making certain adjustments it would have been to my detriment. I think that’s a challenge for everyone, to think about, how things are different and what changes to your normal working practices might be needed.

The biggest one for me was the lack of time with my head of HR. We quickly established a very effective way of working. It was always easy to grab five minutes at different times in the day to talk through things we needed to do, or decisions we needed input on from each other.

To get around that not happening, I have a list always on the go every time something comes up that I need to discuss. When that gets to a certain size or there is something more urgent then one of us will schedule a catch-up call, and we’ll rattle through a list of things.

I don’t think it’s more or less efficient, it just needed a little bit of thought to make sure nothing got missed without the quick catch-ups we had. I also use calendar invites more often to remind us of things that we need to do on a certain schedule, rather than just working out first thing in the morning when we’ll get together later in the day.

On team Zoom calls, because we’d already got to know each other well before lockdown, we have virtual water cooler moments. But we’re a tight team, the sarcasm used to fly regularly and it’s the team dynamic that’s missing.

I set up the calls right at the start of lockdown, but it’s not the same. Everyone agrees COVID-19 has changed working practices, and I will almost certainly look forward to WFH on Fridays more regularly to start my weekend earlier.

But my biggest hope is to get my team back in the office and regain the low flying, cut you off at the knees sarcasm and micky taking. They’re not on any job description, but it’s in my essential category.