Tips for Adjusting to Working in the Home Office - Two Perspectives

The Pleinert & Partner Team has been working 100% from the home office for 14 years (ever since the founding of our company). In the current situation working from the home office comes as a sudden and unexpected necessity, not a choice, to many teams. We would like to share some of our experience and for this purpose, Christina Pleinert, Partner, has conducted this interview with Line Petraviciute, Principal and Dr. Helena Pleinert, Partner and Founder (profiles below).

Our intention is to give advice, but also to show how there is no 'one size fits all' way of working in the home office!

Q: What would be your first advice for individuals who find themselves suddenly and unexpectedly in the situation of working from the home office? 

Lina: You don’t need to suddenly find a different work pattern. It takes a while until you figure out what works for you. For me personally, handling most of my tasks in the morning works best. I dive into my to-do list as soon as I wake up. Another thing that helps me - is actually to be fully ready for the upcoming day. My alarm is set, a cup of coffee is ready, even home office clothes are ready, and I am off to my home working space around 8:00 am. I do understand that each individual has a different situation at home but setting up rules and structure in the beginning - is a must for all of us. I would say in the current situation parents are a bit of an exception - I would recommends making it easier for them, reducing their working hours or let them take days off until the situation settles down.

Helena: I agree with Lina that each person needs to find the pace that suits them personally, and it may take a while. The same is true for your space: how to arrange your office at home. Indeed my work style is completely different of that of Lina - which illustrates how the home office demands and allows that you make these choices for yourself. I schedule creative and conceptual work for evenings and use daytime for (virtual) meetings & workshops and all kinds of communication, and I start the day with the easiest things such as administrative tasks and replying to various routine e-mail. I think another important point is the social dimension - people new to the home office might feel that they are 'alone' - but this is not the case: communication tools like chat can and should be used also for socializing!

Q: By extension, what would be your advice for teams in that same situation of having to work remotely suddenly, not being used to it?

Lina: In organizations that have been practicing working from the home office for a long time there are established routines and levels of trust. The current situation is not the same as suddenly companies need to send employees who have been working at the company offices to the home office. That is why employers should concentrate on monitoring the mood, how team members can overcome certain fears, or how we can help each other in certain situations. The team needs to be provided with clear guidance and a plan, and updates on the future road map. After that comes the planning of workflow and online training. Going digital is not the easiest thing to do when you get just a few weeks to start. Employers need to build an action plan and follow it until the whole team is upgraded with changes, apps, news skills and feel comfortable enough to push further. On the other hand, a “cold shower” - as I say, also helps. Sometimes there is no choice and just learning by doing is the best solution when we talk about new tools :)

Helena: As Lina said, one of the most important things is to provide a clear road map and plan and to support the team with the right tools, and where needed training. It's essential to avoid additional feelings of uncertainty in the present situation. Expectations and etiquette need to be defined: for example expected levels and times of availability, response times on various channels, communication channels to use (not too many different ones, for example: one instant messenger system, not several) and degrees of formality on the different channels.

Q: There are numerous tools for this purpose: what is your advice for selecting them?

Lina: The market is packed with different tools to use and I am sure it will just grow but if I had to choose today, I would suggest: 

• Monday.com, a project management tool that helps not only to monitor and delegate the tasks but also to overview the ideas, brainstorm, collect documents, keep the conversation and of course integrate the program with other tools that the company might be using. 
• If a company is using G suite - Hangouts are perfect for the meetings and its scheduling. Everything is connected through email and a huge possibility that the team is already familiar with the Gmail platform. So, the transaction is fast. 
• Facebook has Workplace platform that is also perfect for information, cultural exchange and keeping everyone in the loop. So far it is one of my favorite tools. 
• Last but not least - Zoom. Zoom upgraded the platform and now it is, even more, easier to use. Perfect for meetings, conferences, recording training, classes, podcast, LIVE sessions. 

Helena: Indeed there are many tools and in addition to the above I would like to mention the following ones that I can recommend based on my own experienced as a user or as a consultant:

• MS Teams: collaboration, chat, videoconferencing... I am using this platform at UIBS business school for my MBA and PhD courses, both in 100% virtual format and mixed formats
• Slack.com: another collaboration platform that can be customized to reflect the way the user organization operates and offers integration with various other platforms

In general, like with other software tools, the tools should be selected to conform to your processes and not the other way. Also, for the purpose discussed here - supporting teams that are newly going remote - easy & quick to learn and good support of social communication are important features.

Dr. Helena Pleinert is a Managing Partner at and the Founder of Pleinert & Partner and a management consultant and executive coach, and has a prior background in people management in-house; she teaches MBA and doctoral classes at UIBS Business School where she is also a Member of the Academic Council; she holds a PhD in Technical Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, a Masters in Physics Engineering, and has attended the Program for Executive Development at the IMD in Lausanne

Lina Petraviciute is a Principal at Pleinert & Partner and a consultant and trainer in corporate communications, business development, and employer branding, focus areas are in building corporate online communication awareness and developing strategic internal and external communication strategies; also Vice President and board member of 'Living In' organization for Integration initiatives, lecturer at 'Swiss Skills Academy', founder of Tuskwood MEDIA, and Head of Media & Communication at SWISS IM&H

Christina Pleinert is a Partner at Pleinert & Partner and focuses on HR operations, payroll and insurance and also has extensive experience in recruiting; she has previous professional experience in IT- and marketing consulting in the area of internet and e-business solutions as well as in management in the nonprofit sector; she holds a Masters degree in Commerce from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration