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The month of March 2020 saw a huge change in everyone’s personal and corporate life across the world. As companies ran helter skelter to manage their people and productivity, there was more trepidation at the human level to manage the illness and ensure continuity of life.
The biggest change was that the lockdown forced everyone to stay at home and still be productive. Perhaps the biggest blessing happened to the IT (information technology) sector as it was possible for people to stay anyway and work as long as they had a reasonably decent piece of hardware and a good internet connection. Manufacturing firms were much worse hit as tangible outputs could not be created. We rely on products to co-exist everyday. This is not to say that IT companies had it easy. It was a totally different experience managing people in one place vs having them scattered all over the country.
At Uniquode, we had a little advantage as we have practiced a remote working style for many years before the pandemic too. This is not to say that there weren’t challenges for long term working. There were a few processes we did to mitigate the disadvantages:
- Ensure working equipment and material for people to work well. In this case, laptops with optimum configuration to reduce frustration due to non-responsive hardware.
- Tie up with a trusted freight agent – this is to ensure that movement and courier of material arrive on time and without breakage
- Helping people by giving them good furniture to sit and work on. Ergonomically designed chairs, tables etc go a long way in avoiding back and joint pains
- Decentralizing leadership – Managers and Leads bear the brunt of managing expectations from all directions, be it management, reportees and clients. Constant tracking would only add to more stress. Decentralizing helped Managers set their own processes and ensure happier staff and clients
- Encouraging frequent connects – video calling was very important as team work is better done face to face. Reading emotions and sharing experiences helped the team stay together and perform to their max
- Reducing stress – As the work from home situation continued, the demarcation between home and office vanished and there was too much overlap. Uniquode did not want people to be available always. It is advisable to prioritize home life over work life always.
A disadvantage of the work from home has been the fact that we are unable to interact face to face with one another. Nothing beats the feel of working in close proximity, exchanging ideas and having a good work vibe which in turn builds up a good culture.
Lastly, it is hard for us to understand new comers as they are at a disadvantage too. Work culture is something that is felt and not just seen. However, with the advent of multiple technologies and platforms to assist with engagement, it is a matter of time before everyone gets used to the new style of working.