Our experience of working from home
As a business, there are many challenges that you have to overcome in order to survive. You have to expect the unexpected.
This is what we all told ourselves in the days leading up to the quarantine. And while we’re all working from home just fine, it’s definitely not ideal for the Flipsnack team.
I suppose that the same rings true for thousands of businesses and millions of employees around the world right now. We all got used to a certain way of working, and then it was all flipped upside down.
But don’t worry, this article isn’t aimed at the grim details. In fact, by explaining how Flipsnack is coping with the current quarantine, I hope that it sheds a little light on your situation, too.
So, let’s kick this off with the topic that’s on everyone’s mind, quarantine or not: communication.
How is Flipsnack communicating?
Fortunately, Flipsnack’s team is a fairly tight-knit group. We’ve learned how to reach certain individuals quickly, and get the answers we need as fast as possible.
In all seriousness, we all have multiple channels of communication open at all times. Depending on the situation, we know when and where to find certain people.
I know that’s kind of a generic answer, but it is very true. The Flipsnack team has always understood the importance of open communication, and it has allowed us to excel during the lockdown.
Keeping a tight schedule
For employees that are used to working from home, making the sudden jump to remote work is… overwhelming.
The Flipsnack team is nothing but the best, but that still doesn’t really prepare you for all the madness going on. Especially when it happened all so suddenly.
One of the things that’s helped us get by is keeping a very tight schedule. What does that mean exactly? For us, it essentially means, keeping things as close to normal as possible. We still have daily meetings, demonstrations, and monthly roundups meetings. The only real difference is that the conference room is now everyone’s home office.
Doing things this way has allowed us to eliminate distractions. We all know exactly what we’re supposed to do, and when it should be done by. If things don’t go as planned, we know when and how we got off course.
Chatting outside of work hours
Even though the last thing we want to talk about after work is more work, keeping contact is a very important tool for us right now.
Being unable to go out and do much, chatting with colleagues has quickly gone from something that is vital for the company, to something that keeps us all sane. We’re no longer talking as colleagues, we’re talking as friends. Great ones, in fact.
We schedule little games for before or after meetings, have video chats about our days and what’s going on, and some of us even play video games together. Despite the entire pandemic thing, we still manage to have a bit of fun and keep everyone on the same page. A little strategy that has actually brought us closer together.
Staying optimistic at all times
I’m sure we can all think of at least 5 things to complain about right now. Maybe the line was really long at the grocery store, you ran out of your favorite snack, or maybe you’re just worried about the future at this point… and to be honest, in light of the situation, those are very valid complaints.
But, constantly thinking about all the negatives will surely bring your spirits even lower. What we on the marketing team try to do instead is think of things that went well during our work sprints. Yes, we reflect on things we can do better next time, but we always start off by saying something positive. We also implemented a rule that you have to say something positive in order to talk about something negative.
In a way, this has sort of shielded us from thinking about only the bad things. It’s kept our spirits high, and to be honest, we’re all much better off because of it.
Spending quality time with our pets
At Flipsnack, we love our pets. Yes, we love our families, too, and spending time with them is important during this time. But…. we didn’t make a whole video dedicated to family.
Working from home is good but we can’t wait to get back to our new office
This is not another boring article about how you can work from home and be more efficient, but rather our honest experience. It’s not an ideal situation for sure, but it’s something that has made the entire Flipsnack team be more connected and aware of how we can adapt on the go, learning a lot about ourselves. And we hope things will get back to normal as soon as possible. We truly miss our office coffee and cannot wait to meet our new office! Stay tuned, we’ll make sure to present it to you, too.
