1 Year in Lockdown: What We’ve Learnt
Monday 16th March 2020 was the day that everything changed.
Boris Johnson’s official announcement said, “We need people to start working from home where they possibly can.”
What did that mean? How would we continue to look after our 200+ employees working from home?
Working from home was a big shift for everyone, but especially for our Operations team. For myself as Office Manager at the time, it wasn’t so great.
My job was 80% hands-on in the office, making sure snacks and drinks were topped up, milk and fresh fruit were available on a daily basis, daily interaction with the team, and giving new Archs an epic welcome with iTech swag neatly laid out on their desk waiting for them on their first day.
(I even missed climbing up and down the stairs 100 times a day.)
Ultimately, we had to change our way of thinking. We had to look at new ways to create a virtual office and keep everything running smoothly. From getting everyone onto Zoom ASAP, to making sure they had a good set-up at home.
But most important of all, we had to support our team to keep morale higher than ever.
What We Did
We’re a rapidly scaling business — and being in lockdown wasn’t going to stop us! From March 2020 to March 2021, iTech onboarded 145 new Archs remotely. This was a huge shift in thinking for all of us — but I’d say we pulled it off pretty well.
As an Operations team, we put together a lot of initiatives to make the transition to fully remote as smooth as possible:
👉 Laptops and equipment being set-up and sent out by couriers
👉 iTech swag packed in boxes and hand-delivered (not forgetting an all-important welcome balloon)
👉 A desk booking system to make it easier for our team to work in the office if they should ever wish to
👉 We introduced ‘Random Coffees’ to keep everyone connected. It was important we didn’t lose the close connection the team had. So now, every day at 4pm, people can meet for a quick 15-minute chat
👉 Care packages sent out to our Archs whenever they needed it
👉 Regular virtual socials (including an unforgettable virtual Christmas party)
👉 Our typical Friday lunch provided by iTech was now on Zoom, with a lunch budget for each person
👉 Let’s not forget Friday drinks on iTech! (It’s not the pub, but there’s less noise and some great conversations.)
What 2020 Taught Us
Personally, the idea of working from home terrified me. I’m a people person, I like to be active — how would I be able to work from my room?
For better or for worse, 2020 has changed us and the way we work.
If anything, the team at iTech grew closer and more supportive of each other. We created flexible working hours, wellbeing initiatives, working from home budgets, the list goes on.
We’ve learned about health, the importance of spending extra time with family, resilience and community.
We’ve learned that we don’t need to be sat at a desk in an office to make things work, or to support our team.
Above all, 2020 reaffirmed that our Operations team is here to support everyone — whether that’s in the office or working from home.
Like what you’ve read? Find out more about iTech and our current vacancies here.
