Each team member completes a daily stand up

Each team member will post in a company wide channel what they will be working on for the day. This helps to create transparency and accountability of work loads whilst working from home.

Regular internal team meetings over Google Hangouts

We hold morning team meetings every other day for staff to discuss what they will be working on for the next couple of days, to get everyone feeling motivated and in the zone. This is also an opportunity to talk about non work related things, and give staff the chance to chat about their day / week as they would in the office (these take no more than 30 minutes).

Monthly Work From Home staff survey

We ask staff a range of questions around working from home to gauge how they are feeling and to see if there is anything we can do to support them. The aim is for everyone to feel happy and productive within their new working environment. We also ask for everyone’s top tips on WFH so that we can share them with the wider team.

Monthly company meeting over Google Hangouts

We usually hold this in person every three months, but we are now running virtual company wide meetings every month. Here, we talk about company updates, news and goals which help to keep staff motivated, calm and all on the same page. It’s also a great opportunity for everyone to be on the same call, to remind us that we are still all one big team.

Encourage staying active

We are doing this in a number of ways. Firstly, we have a weekly lunchtime workout on Google hangouts, where the team will do mobility exercises specific for people who work desk jobs. We also have our #2020in2020 challenge going, where the team have a goal to complete 2020 miles of walking, swimming, cycling or running by the end of 2020. Each mile completed raises 50p for a local homelessness charity.

Schedule lunchtime activities

As well as lunchtime workouts, we also have ‘Lunchtime Learning’ once per week where team members get the opportunity to share knowledge about something that is not work related. We also have lunchtime meet ups on google hangouts where staff can eat their lunch and chat as a group, as they would on a normal office day.

Social activities outside of work

We have organised both pub quizzes and a virtual poker tournament outside of work, on google hangouts, which have had a great turnout so far. The quiz is inclusive of staff members and their families, partners and roommates. We are aware that a lot of people are feeling lonely during this time and so activities outside of work are  a great way to keep up the social side of working life.

Conclusion

Given all the activities above, we are really pleased with our staff and the way they have worked together to make working from home as easy and as stress free as possible. No doubt, more challenges will arise, and lessons will be learnt, as we carry on working from home. We hope that together we can help each other figure out how best to keep both staff and customers happy in these unprecedented times, as we continue to work from home for the forseeable future.