AdNews brings the stories of those working from home (WFH) in the advertising and media industry during the coronavirus crisis.
Jodie Williams is music director at Nova 96.9.
How do you deal with the silence?
As soon as I get up and ready for work I put the radio on. I also try and call friends and colleagues during the day so it feels less lonely.
The good of working from home?
Sleeping in, it’s almost impossible to wake up earlier, I don’t know how I used to get up at 5:15 every morning. I’ve found it easier to work out regularly and eat healthier as we now have the time to without the commute to and from work. I also think during this time it’s given everyone the opportunity to dive into their creativity. I’ve seen this through work and homelife which is something positive we can take from this experience and continue to do once life is back to normal.
Working from home has also given me the time to take up a couple new hobbies, I’m about to start puzzle #4 and I’ve been growing vegetables and herbs from seeds. Every morning I get so excited to see how much they’ve grown but it’s getting a bit stressful now because I didn’t think they would and now I don’t have the space to re-pot it all.
The bad?
The social aspect. I think everyone’s in the same boat with this one. We’re missing seeing our friends and colleagues. I’m also missing live music, I’m very lucky with my job as it allows me to go to a lot of events and gigs but this is the longest I’ve gone without seeing a performance since I started at Nova. Hopefully at the end of the year we will all be able to start seeing our favourite artists back on stage.
Tips for making WFH work?
Get into a new routine and get out of the house. As soon as I wake up I make the bed, get ready for work and don’t sit at my desk until I’m ready for ‘work’. At about lunch time I like to break the day up by either popping to the shops, having a walk or doing a quick workout. At the end of the day I found it really important to separate work life and home life so once work is done for the day I try to get outside and go for a walk, when I get home that’s when home life starts. At the beginning of WFH I found it really difficult to get out of work mode but now I’ve found separating the two with popping to the shops or a walk makes a huge difference.
I am looking forward to getting back to the office because …
My colleagues really are some of my closest friends, I definitely miss seeing them every day and going out for spicy Margaritas.
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