The last few weeks since we entered lockdown and fully engaged working from home have been interesting; with a lot of challenges to overcome and not just our own! We’ve had to come up with some innovative solutions for our clients to help them with “keeping the lights on” to quote another one of our recent blogs.
Adapting to working from home was quite easy for me; I’ve been provided with all the tools I need to work effectively; with anything I’ve needed being provided at breakneck speed. When all is said and done, I do miss the office in a weird way – I miss my dual monitors, the peace and quiet, that cannot be recreated at home whilst children are present (despite chocolate bribes and Disney+ subscriptions); and I even miss the commute.
However, I am grateful we haven’t lost the office banter as colleagues are only a click away from a video chat, thanks to Microsoft Teams. It’s also been instrumental in keeping connected with our clients, in addition to allowing them to stay connected with their teams and their clients (admittedly in more appropriate attire). It really has provided a great platform for many organisations to keep the cogs turning, providing access to files, folders, have video calls across departments, countries and made working from home A LOT easier.
As you may have already seen, despite being in “unprecedented times”; String have successfully grown our team by bringing Chelsea on board; you may have seen her blog post but, if you haven’t, it’s well worth a read.
Clearly, Chelsea has had a great first few weeks joining String – can I claim all the credit for such an amazing seamless experience? I’ll definitely give it a go!
With any new starter, you will probably know from experience that a lot of planning, plus organisation, must be put into place: “where will I be sitting?” – that one was easy! Paul and I stole half of Andy’s desk whilst he was out of the office and replaced it with a shorter variant. He might have less space for his lunch now, but his portion size will look bigger – we are thinking about your waistline Andy, we care about healthy eating lifestyle choices…
“I wonder what the office properly looks like? Who are my new colleagues?” – another easy one! I created a virtual tour of our office; complete with her new colleagues’ photos (the embarrassing ones stolen from our watercooler meeting screenshots). For me it was important to show our newest recruit that, although we work very hard, we also have a fun side! Chelsea jumped straight in and got involved from the start, which showed us she was going to fit in straight away! As she says at the end of her blog, “I am now a Stringian!”
Stay safe people, speak soon.
Fran
