Lockdown – How was week 1 for you, Hun?

Someone once told me good moods are contagious – so I’m going to try and find the lighter side of this temporary crisis and try to share some positivity and an insight on how my social distancing is going…

Day 1 was…odd! I woke up normal time, checked the socials, showered and then I had to get dressed which was my first hurdle! My company supports a smart casual dress code so I went with casual… very casual… for my first day in my new temporary office (on the floor, with my new desk table facing the outside world!) My next hurdle was working out what I needed for background noise, the TV or radio – I’m such a people person, always speaking to my team, colleagues, candidates and agencies so I knew this was going be my biggest challenge! Working in HR, our core focus is always our people so getting the comms out quickly was our top priority to make sure everyone felt supported. As a close team, we decided to book in daily virtual “tea @ 3’s” for catch ups, success stories and basically just a general “how are you today” call which has become one of my favourite things that has come out of lockdown so far.

Day 2 - Must be honest, so far I am loving the no commute and being able to wear no makeup and wear pjs all day long (we shall explore this topic again soon!) however, I think reality hit quite quickly and I really missed the morning interactions with my team and my colleagues so thought I would try something different and pop out on the balcony with my morning cuppa and see if anyone wanted to have a quick chat…. Unfortunately this didn’t happen and I’m sure I heard a window close!!

Day 3 - My first social distancing success story - not only was the sun out but so was one of my lovely neighbours and … wait for it… WAVED TO ME! I also had a couple of visitors that day - my dad who decided to ride his bike to me so we could speak on the balcony during my lunch time and then my sister Emma and one of my nephews, Mason who was after some bread to feed the ducks. The feeling was over whelming and made me realise, could this lockdown actually bring us all closer together? Safe to say, I had a very productive day that day!

Day 4 - Dad was back! and this time bought snacks (and beers, for him!) so it felt like we were having a nice lunch together. I had a couple of calls booked in with some of my colleagues that day – just to check in and say hi! It was so lovely to see people in their environment, looking happy and relaxed and meeting their families and pets! It made me realise it really is the smallest things in life that make such a difference and how lucky I am to be working for a company where we have all turned into a family!

Day 5 - Woke up with the Friday feeling!! This was soon followed by a heartfelt Thank You email from our CEO Neil, who gave us all the afternoon off as a thank you for all adjusting to our new way of working and carrying on as business as usual with no disruptions – safe to say team morale for us, was at an all-time high! Our daily “tea @3” was moved to lunchtime to catch up on our first week. We have all grown to look forward to these calls just to see each other and, most importantly see who our special guests will be…Molly’s cats? Aileen’s Guinea pigs? The element of surprise gets me every time….

Until next week – stay safe and wash your hands!