Not exactly who (or whom, to be more accurate), but what. If you’re currently living in India you won’t disagree that COVID’s back and more ‘in the air’ than Eminem’s ‘The Real Slim Shady’ in 2000, and 2001…and let’s face it, 2002. This song blasted on the radio all through my high school years, so much so that I’m not a fan and I know all the lyrics.
Even though there isn’t a country wide, or even a state-wide lockdown as of yet, Guardian decided to allow the entire team to ‘work from home’ in early April. We have a couple of team members who are brave enough to work from office for any paper work that needs to be processed, but by and large, our entire team works from home.
Pulling off ‘work from home’ seamlessly for multiple workstreams and different teams is definitely a challenge. We need to make sure the team remains safe, while also ensuring that workflow remains smooth and uninterrupted. These are some simple methods we’ve applied to ensure that the show goes on…because the show must go on.
- Video killed the radio star audio star.
Videos must be on during meetings. There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction, but videos are the next best thing.
- Make it a hard day’s night, working from home, and not remotely.
We found there is a massive difference in productivity when it comes to working from home, versus working remotely. Working from home, in urban areas allows people access to uninterrupted connectivity—which is essential in any work setting. Working from non-urban centers, unfortunately, doesn’t allow this.
- Make sure it’s another Manic Monday!
We’ve tried our best to keep our schedules as they would have been when we were working from office. Hint: Mondays at Guardian are totally manic! It’s the toughest day of the week…might have you waking up dreading Mondays, but it makes the rest of the week smoother. After all, wouldn’t you rather have an easy Friday? Even if all you’re doing is sitting in your house, binge watching Netflix and wondering ‘when will this hell be over?’
- Make sure the team doesn’t drink brew for breakfast. By that we mean, we’re on high alert in the mornings.
Of course, drinking beer for breakfast is a really bad idea. I’m pretty sure Rudie did fail, and fail miserably. The Thatcher years weren’t great for the working class in Britain. But that’s a different story.
At Guardian, our Mondays are manic, and our mornings are even more so. Keep all important meetings for the mornings so that the most important and urgent tasks get worked upon right away.
- Don’t stop believing, hold on to that feeling that things will get better.
Whether it’s work or life, in general, Guardian believes in having a positive outlook that all bad things will come to an end. And they will. That doesn’t mean you don’t take the strictest of precautions during a disastrous situation such as this, but we analyze covid numbers every day and emphasize that they will begin to fall.
- Humor your HR department when it inserts random song titles and lyrics that most of today’s workforce finds ‘really old.’
HR will appreciate it.
