How to Make the Most of Your Work From Home in These Times

I just started a work meeting about 5 minutes ago…

As I sit here in my gray hoodie, jeans, and a t-shirt (my standard work attire) looking out the window at a fast-approaching spring (signaled by the rapidly blossoming cherry tree nearby), I can’t help but grin ear to ear.

What’s more, I see everyone else on the call are also a bit giddy.

It’s day 25 of self-isolation.

No, I haven’t snapped, though you might think so if you had walked into my room 5 minutes ago.

Had you entered then, you would have been greeted with a multitude of voices singing Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” in unison, and as strange as this may seem to you, this is one of the many things I’m grateful for during these challenging times.

COVID-19 has presented a challenging time for all of us — some more than others. I cannot fathom the incredible work our healthcare service providers are now undertaking daily.

While I cannot affect them directly, I do believe we can each do our best to reduce any potential burden they might have in the future.

To this end, there are a number of things that my team and I have begun doing each day to ensure that we stay mentally and physically healthy and sound. Because if we can all weather this isolation in the best possible way, then it’s the least we can do to support those that need it the most.

So what’s all the singing about then?

Well, it’s one of the many little traditions we’ve begun doing to shed light during these times.

Work From Home, Not Work Alone.

First and foremost, I’m grateful for being lucky enough to be able to continue working during these challenging times.

Yet, being consigned in one’s own home for an extended (currently unknown) period of time also creates its own problems.

The two largest obstacles to overcome are:

• How do we make sure everyone continues to feel connected (despite being separated)
• How do we ensure spirits are kept high?

So, in an effort to ensure that everyone is happy and healthy, below are a number of items we’ve started doing to address both aspects. (I should mention we are using Zoom for video and Slack for messaging, though any other apps providing the same services should be fine.)

How to Stay Connected

One of the immediate impacts of long term isolation is well…feeling isolated. However, through certain processes and use of modern technologies, I believe we’ve found a way to optimally address this problem.

Weekly updates: we begin each week with a roundtable discussion/presentation highlighting the topics below.

Though this may seem like your typical standup in many ways, it differs in that we record everything in a long-running document. Then, contributors to the document can comment on each other’s answers (we use google docs for this).

This document really serves as an artifact meant to create dialogue and transparency amongst the team.

So what are the topics that drive this?

Topics/questions to cover (per person) during a weekly update:

• How was your weekend?
• Updates on last week (What things took place? Challenges? etc.)
• What I plan to work on this week?
• What is the most important thing that needs to get done by the team (that I’m not working on)

We’ve limited this “Weekly Update doc” to our immediate team, and it’s helped a lot in creating a sense of unity and exposing blind spots at work.

Group lunches over zoom: we’ve begun to have lunch while using video chat.

Although it doesn’t beat the in-person experience’s penchant for spontaneous side discussions, I do feel the digital substitute for this daily ritual really lends to a sense of camaraderie and grounds us as a team.

Remote happy-hours: happy hours online, with a twist!

Imagine you’re at an after-work happy hour. You suddenly remembered your colleague was looking into something for you. Without disturbing others, you quickly have a side conversation with them.

Obviously, this is not possible using an online conferencing tool.

This is one of the main things missing from in-person happy hours, the ease at which you can quickly split off and have a side conversation with another small group of people.

But we’ve found a nice ‘patch’ to this problem.

We’ve started a tradition during the remote happy hour where each person has the option to present something (work or otherwise) for 2 minutes. During this time, everyone else plays a respectful audience.

This story rotation method has really helped bring up new and interesting topics.

It gives space to those who would normally not speak up while restraining those who might otherwise dominate a call.

Exercise channel on slack: we created a slack channel dedicated just to working out! People describe their routines, share pictures/videos and sign up for workout ‘classes.’

And beyond trying to keep a workout routine going while confined to your home, this channel can also serve to motivate others who normally wouldn’t participate.

All of this further builds the sense of social connection that is sorely lacking these days.

Keeping Your Spirit High

We all know to avoid the new — as headlines are often driven by negative emotions.

Despite this knowledge, many of us (I’m guilty of this too) can’t help but be exposed to the daily torrent of news around COVID-19. And that’s why, more than ever before, it’s important to make sure that everyone’s spirits are kept up.

Now, I’m not saying to put on blinders and ignore everything that’s going on, that would be silly (and honestly a disservice to the people battling this on the frontlines.)

Instead, I encourage that we all take care of ourselves and one another, because we are all going through this together.

Here are some of the methods we’ve started using which have led to positive results.

Be goofy! Being silly here and there have great psychological benefits in a number of ways. Beyond the chemical benefits of a dopamine filled laugh, a good laugh really helps people to get stress out and bond together.

And on that note, we’ve started…

• Singing a song together before group meetings
• Use silly backgrounds/filters — silly as it might be, it definitely lends a sense of levity to the interaction
• Zoom provides interesting backgrounds
• Snap Camera is another really fun one

Focus on the family over projects: one of the major challenges while working from home continuously and extensively these days is the need to balance your work and family all at the same time and place.

At OpenAI we encourage each other to focus on family over projects.

What does this mean?

Well, simply it’s about taking all the necessary time, care, and attention you need to make sure that your relationships with your family.

We all know that spending an extended period of time with another person (even your significant other) can create friction. So extra effort is needed from all of us to find a good equilibrium.

Although we don’t have any hard guidelines here, we strongly support all of our colleagues to value their relationships over any work projects.

So far, we’ve had very positive feedback — in fact many of us with kids have started to appreciate this as they realize that this is a unique chance to spend so much time with their kids.

Checking in more frequently: make an effort to check in on your colleagues and others in your life more frequently.

You might never know how much your little acts of care and attention might affect someone, and during these times it matters more than ever!

Gratitude channel: We created a channel for people to drop in and voice their appreciation. There are no hard guidelines or rules, just a place to allow people to show what they are thankful for in these times.

Cautious But Calm

When it comes to these extraordinary times, it’s easy to feel uncomfortable and worried.

In fact, this is totally natural. And because of this, it’s now doubly important to make an effort to take care of others in need in your community.

And for those of us who are lucky enough to work from our homes, we must also do our part to help each other.

Putting in these extra steps now will help you and your team feel more connected and it will reduce many negative side effects that result from extended remote work.

But much more than that, by staying happy, healthy, and feeling connected, we ultimately do our part to lessen the blow that those on the frontlines of the pandemic must face.

Stay in touch. Stay healthy. Stay connected.

We will all make it through this, one Bon Jovi song at a time :)

Additional Resources

For those who need more assistance during these times, please find more information below:

Here is a summary of the programs available to employees and employers to mitigate losses of labor income.

A work-sharing program for employers to pool labor in order to maintain employment across the entire economy and avoid layoffs in their own workforce.

Protocols for companies managing their personnel, responding to the childcare needs of their employees, and for obtaining tax assistance.

A guide on how to protect your workplace from the spread of infectious diseases.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act: The Act creates options for workers to claim paid leave credits for missing work due to sickness caused by COVID-19, the need for childcare due to school closures, and/or caring for someone who is sick.