What’s the role of an Office Manager when there’s no office…?

I’m Ricky, the Office Manager at Fluxx. This note goes out to all office managers out there at a challenging and unprecedented time when rather than talking about Brexit or the weather, the first thing we’re talking about to friends, family and work colleagues alike is Corona Virus.

When we are working in the office, I think of my role as to make the lives of my fellow Fluxxers easier; with a positive attitude, they should be able to come in and do their work with no issues or obstacles. Normally, that means making sure the temperature in the office is right, booking travel, or responding to special requests like ordering in salt and vinegar Discos for the team… mentioning no names!

But this week and last we’ve not really been running an office. And as an operations team we wanted to think about what our role was and how we could help when the ‘office’ was virtual.

The first thing to do was make sure that colleagues knew what the Government advice was, and this was easy enough — a simple email from one of our Partners came out every day or so, with the promise that it would a) never be long b) only have new information in it, and c) be the only email we sent that was flagged ‘High priority’ so colleagues could easily pick it out in their inbox and were more likely to read it.

Next, we realised that we had a load of stuff in the office that was going to be, shall we say,.. a little bit under-used. So we asked earlier this week if there was anything people needed, or we could do anything else to assist. We didn’t know what people would ask, or what really we could offer, so in true Fluxx style, we were learning through launching the service itself!

We had a few requests from people — an office chair, an HDMI connector, two yoga mats (yes, we have those in the office), post-it notes and pens, a keyboard and stand… but then we looked around the office to see what else we could provide.

So, in addition to the things people had ‘ordered’ Paul and I put together a “Fluxx Care Package” which included things we knew would be under-used, we had plenty of, or otherwise were going to go to waste; the milk in the fridge, and the fresh fruit of course, biscuits, a beer or two, porridge, bottled water, crisps, sweets, even some cleaning materials, and of course, a loo roll each!

We even took one of our dying plants to be nurtured and cared for by one of the team for a few weeks.

Paul and I set off in his electric car (we don’t want to make more pollution now do we?!) and not only did we visit the people who’d ordered things, we surprised those who were on the same route by dropping them a care package anyway.

Traffic wasn’t great to be honest, and neither is Paul’s ability to plan routes, but despite a few mishaps, the afternoon certainly was a success. I won’t mention the bit where Paul asked me to put petrol in the car…. I nearly did despite knowing it was electric! 1–0 to Paul there!

It is not the job of an office manager to do this, but when the idea of what an office is changes, then the office manager has to change too. It was not only a sensible use of the resources we had, and things that would otherwise go to waste — but it was a little in-person visit ensuring our Fluxx Misfits know that Fluxx, as a Company, are always thinking about them first. I think it went a long way.

Also of course, by delivering them display screen equipment (DSE), we helped the guys work more productively from a health and safety perspective, which of course is really important too.

Rest assured, we followed all the safety protocols and cleaned our hands in-between visits, etc.

What can you do to make best use of those valuable resources sitting in empty offices, and of course, the valuable talent that is what we call ‘The office manager’ to enable your people to worry less and be happier and healthier no matter where they are working?

We will be doing the same again next week subject to any developments/guidance from the Government. So if you do see someone putting petrol in an electric car, that will be Dawson and Ward Courier Services.

Stay safe everyone.

Please note that this was written before the Lockdown…

If you’d like to see ways we’ve helped companies and could help yours, take a look at our site: Fluxx.uk.com, download our latest book ‘What we get wrong about People’ or subscribe to our newsletter.

Find out more about Fluxx’s live ‘Big Work from Home Experiment’, or get started by filling out this short questionnaire.