Over the last few weeks on our social media platforms, we’ve been bringing attention to the concept (and complexities) of working from home. All of the Opargo team members transitioned to working remotely back in March, and we’ve learned a lot from making the switch. We understand that there are a ton of resources with information about working from home that have surfaced as a result of the pandemic. Our goal for this post is just to share our experience and any information that might provide useful for others in our same situation.
One of the very first steps that our CEO, Paul Wiley, took was to set up a daily meeting for all of the team members. Meeting every day at the same time has helped us all stay connected without the opportunity for in-person interactions. These meetings don’t have to take up a lot of time, but we are able to share progress that we’ve all made on respective projects, and catch up on any other things that might be important.
In the same vein of communication, we’ve definitely learned how important it is to maintain open communication in any way that we can. One of the things that helps us immensely is utilizing the video function on all of our virtual meetings. This might seem like something small or not super important, but it really has made all the difference in regular communication.
Another step that we took was scheduling fun virtual events that helped us remember why we like each other! We did a work out class together to get up and around, and we scheduled a virtual tour of some amazing sight-seeing in Rome. Taking a break from the day to just hangout with each other every now and then is so fun and important when working from home, and trying to maintain a work/life balance.
Finding this balance is a vital part of being a successful remote employee, and I got some insight from our team members about just how they do that. One of the great things that we’ve all come to a consensus on is the lack of a commute from home to the office. A lot of us love our mornings, and taking out a commute is a great way for us to utilize our mornings for other things, and for those of us who aren’t early risers by nature, the time that would be spent driving might provide a few extra minutes of sleep instead.
Overall, as much as we wish that we could collaborate in the office with each other, I think that it has been a smooth transition to our new work style, and we know that we are helping to stop the spread of Covid-19, which is helpful to everyone.
