AdNews last year launched the WFH Diaries during the depths of the fallout from the pandemic, a way of sharing how people managed their days.
This time, with lockdown running again, we're asking for a run down on how everyone likes to start their day working from home. Some dress to impress, others slip on the t-shirt. And everyone has their own way to carve the day into manageable chunks.
Joel Trethowan, managing director at Alchemy One:
I start the day as an early bird that doesn't sit too well with my partner or my dog (an Italian greyhound named Chef who sleeps for 23 hours of the day) who both grumble when I jump out of bed around 5 am. I was always an early riser but for some reason, WFH has crept my wake up time earlier and earlier as I then crash around 9 pm each night.
I tiptoe around to try not to disturb the peace and kick off a morning routine I've been trying to master and maintain over the last couple of years but which is definitely tough over winter. I meditate for 20 minutes (I know cue the rolling of eyes), then head out for a walk for about 40 minutes. Once back I then spend 20 minutes trying to prioritise my day. Maintaining this ritual across lockdown has been crucial to try and ensure a sense of routine.
Once I'm ready to go I then get dressed for the day, with a habit definitely noted by the team - clothes looking very familiar from day to day - so it's my new mission to mix this up over lockdown. I have been known to wear the same black hoodie for a week, but today I’m trying something new, something that exudes “you have got yourself together” - yep, a grey hoodie. I definitely don't wear shoes around the house, uggs if I’m feeling professional and for big meetings over the last weeks I've put on some socks, which has been a real power move.
Exercise has always been a huge part of my routine which I've normally done in the middle of the day so I've tried, I really have (well I tell myself that) to maintain that during lockdown, so I faff around with a few fitness bands for 20/30 minutes. That said, I haven't broken a bead of sweat yet but come on, it's lockdown, and I'm growing into my dad bod, which is still in fashion yeah?
In terms of productivity, the difficulty in WFH is the short but powerful slithers of time for quick questions or ideas you would normally have with the team in the office. These now need to feel more formalised in a meeting or over email so the day can feel quite overwhelming across different platforms from email to Slack to meetings.
A big focus for the team has been to chunk out blocks of time in diaries for deep work where everyone knows not to distract them across this time which has helped significantly. We've also successfully onboarded two new staff in this new lockdown period which has gone surprisingly well. We've really prioritised the need to continue to maintain a sense of culture during this time so House Party, Uber Eats and lots of additional 1:1s have helped with this, to make sure everyone feels connected, both personally and professionally.
WFH does stifle creativity for sharing ideas. What I have found works to try and ignite this is to book casual check-ins with the team which are conversational rather than meetings, letting ideas flow naturally rather than forcing an output. This was rolled out across the team after noticing that some of the greatest work in lockdown 2.0 had happened in the last 10 minutes of an hour conversation, when the ‘formal agenda’ of a meeting was over.
WFH over 2020 definitely had its challenges, but I'm super blessed to have an inspiring team who have all embraced working from home so well and this year has been much easier to get into the flow.
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