Nine months of remote working- lessons learned so far

As I write this, my 9 year old is busy remote learning with his classmates. His school had made plans for the first week back after Christmas holidays that they would do remote learning to allow time to self isolate before returning. However, Covid had other ideas. As a new variant came on the scene, infection rates rising rapidly and Boris’s last minute announcement a day after schools returned that all school are to close until mid February we find ourselves back to March 2019. At the start of the first lockdown, many of us had to up sticks and shift to working from home literally overnight. For a lot of us, working from home was completely new, for some it was a regular occurrence/occasional and for people like myself it was business as usual. However for all of us, not only had we to adjust to working from home we also had to adjust working side by side with our partner/pets/other family members with many of us juggling the demands of work and homeschooling and childcare.

So what have we learned in the 9 months or so of remote working?

A survey by You Gov poll in June 2020 of more than 1,000 employers found majority of employers said that employees had reported an improved work-life balance as a result of home working and one in three employers were planning on introducing new forms of flexible working or increase uptake of existing flexible working practices e.g. compressed hours or job sharing. However we also know that remote working during these challenging times has taken its toll on our mental health and well being as the lines between work and home have become increasingly blurred as many reported having back to back video calls without having any proper lunch break or time away from their desks. For some it was the face to face contact and daily interaction they missed. It has also highlighted the gender gap between mothers and fathers with the former taking more responsibility for childcare and homeschooling during lockdown and taking more of the emotional brunt.

However there are some positives that have come out of remote working during Covid 19 based on employer surveys and working with clients that I have been fortunate to help over the past 9 months:

• Empathy, authenticity and compassion are fundamental skills that all leaders and managers had to demonstrate during this crisis as many of their colleagues are juggling work, childcare and the impact the virus has had on family and relatives.

• Regular and ongoing communication including a simple How are you? have been absolutely critical during the past 9 months.

• You can still get things done and in fact more effectively working from home than in the office.

• It has encouraged employees to get know each other better and feel more open to talk about what’s going on.

• Working from home has left the door slightly ajar to our colleagues’ home lives and resulted in a better understanding of individuals’ personal circumstances.

And there are many positive examples of employers being proactive and showing support during these tough times with altering working hours for those with caring responsibilities and prioritising resources to support employee mental health and wellbeing e.g. encouraging regular check ins with their manager, walk and talk meetings, sending thank you notes/gifts and ensuring employees block out time for exercise and to prevent Zoom/Teams fatigue.

So how can we get through the coming months?

Here are a number of measures you can take to support your organisation and yourselves.

• With schools closed and our everyday movements largely restricted, it’s even more important to show flexibility and acknowledge that everyone’s day may look different, there will inevitably be some interruptions and that’s perfectly normal and peoples’ motivation levels will dip.

• Regular and ongoing communication remains critical as many will feel isolated and miss the face to face interaction.

• On an individual level, it’s important to create structure and routine in our days by scheduling regular breaks away from our desks, prioritising exercise and time out from staring at the screen and staying active. I find using a weekly A3 planner helps me colour code and block out time for different tasks including non work related e.g. lunch (!) and exercise.

• It’s important to tidy away any work related items (laptop/papers etc) at the end of the day so you’re not reminded of that impending deadline/task when you finish work. Hide it, close the door (if you’re lucky to have a dedicated space) put it in a drawer/bag. Really important to switch off at the end of the day.

• If you are homeschooling or caring after little ones, be realistic how much can get done during the next few months as schools remain closed and have early conversations with your manager to discuss a working pattern and when you’re not available to ensure there is understanding early on. Lastly, ensure you have regular updates if things change or you have to attend to something urgent.

We maybe in different boats but we’re all in the same sea trying to battle against this Covid storm. With vaccinations being rolled out in the UK, hopefully we can all return to some kind of new normal over the coming months.