Before the world changed forever, my routine and probably yours was simple: get up early, commute to work, get to the office to spend approximately 9 hours (working, having breakfast, a microwave-heated lunch and chatting with my colleagues at coffee breaks), to then repeat the trip in reverse, trying to squeeze in the rest of adult obligations in the small space of time between leaving the office and dinner.
Even so, I felt lucky because my company, Hubtype, a modern startup, gave us the freedom to choose one day a week to work from home. How bold!
But as I said, that was until the world was turned upside down by the pandemic. From one day to the next we discovered that we could work perfectly well whilst locked-down at home for months, without really anything bad happening.
At Hubtype, the exception became the norm and there was no going back, because there was so many advantages: we were taking care of our health, we were reconciling work and family life, we were saving time and money, we were eating freshly prepared dishes, and all of this while continuing to be productive.
Was it all advantages? Maybe not everything... Those lovely coffee breaks disappeared, causing quick emotional disconnection from colleagues. Either your daily tasks forced you to deal with someone, or that person disappeared from your social circle.
Without a coffee break, many of us continued sitting in the same chair typing without distractions for hours; back pain arrived, eyestrain, loneliness, burnout. Which was made even more challenging if you couldn't distance yourself from the family noise and interruptions.
Some companies couldn't stand the fear of losing control over employees, seeing their workforce warming up their chairs always had been a way to be sure that they where working, right? …Right? So they returned to the classic model: presentialism.
But not us, oh no, as bold as ever, Hubtype kept the full remote policy with all its ups and downs. My department, HR or People First as we like to call it, ran the gauntlet facing the new challenges of adapting our policies to remote work: schedules, communications, bonding, time management, mentoring, learning, performance, career, wellbeing, and more. All whilst the company continued to grow, and we made it. How? Keep an eye on our blog, as I'll be will explaining more in the upcoming posts. Cheers!
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