Whilst we at Affinity IT continue to work from home, Tom Jackson, our Sales Support Administrator has taken the time to write a blog to let you know about his experience of working from home.
“As like many there has been a massive change in how we are working over the last few weeks, and I just wanted to share my experience from the last 2 weeks (so far) and how I’m finding it all.
I still get up at roughly the same time, I can snooze the alarm for an extra 10 minutes, but I still make sure I am up in the loft and logged on for 8:30am to start work.
You may be wondering “why the loft?”…well I live with my parents and my brother and sister, and currently share a room with my younger brother. This doesn’t leave much room for having some form of setup/office, so using what I currently have in the loft where my personal PC is.
This will work just fine when working my hours for Affinity.
Once logged in I go through my normal routine of checking and responding to emails where I need to, scheduling our daily social media content which I usually do for the first half hour or so of my day making sure nothing is out of place and everything I need to respond to has been responded accordingly.
The rest of my day is roughly the same as it is if was in the office. Internal meetings with colleagues about potential ideas for social media, helping the sales guys with quotes/leads, which now take place on Microsoft 365’s Teams. I also keep an eye out on the social media channels for interaction as well as potential ideas for new posts.
One of the projects which I have been involved in the last few weeks is getting content on the new Affinity website which was launched this week, which has been a great change of pace and a big learning curve as I have never really used a website CMS (Content Management System) before.
There have been a couple of major things which have keep me going over the last 2 weeks and one of them would be the use of Teams as I mentioned above. Having only just picked up on Teams as our staff were beginning to work from home, I have found it a great use to collaborate on projects and speak to colleagues about things which could get lost on email.
The video call option has also been a great relief, with being in a loft for 8 hours a day, getting some human interaction is great. I’m also trying to stick to a routine, so I’ll make sure to take my lunch at roughly the same time as I would if I was in the office.
One benefit of lunch at home whilst working is being able to sit outside (when the weather is nice) and to forget about work for an hour. I’ll usually find somewhere to chill out, grab my Nintendo switch with a bite to eat to relax for an hour, and there is the obvious benefit of being able to see my dog.
Outside of work it’s only been a bit of a change as I don’t really go out much other than maybe to the pub once a week with my mates and the odd game of Football with friends. However it’s really weird not being able to do those things. I even miss the Football, which is something you don’t usually hear from a Newcastle United fan!
I am still playing games on the computer with friends to keep in touch and to have a laugh, and that alone has been great to pass the time in the evenings and weekends when not at work.
One of the things which I want to start doing now the weather seems to be getting better is to go for a run a couple of times a week. I recently set the goal of running a half marathon before the end of 2020, which was a personal goal of mine and I saw it as an opportunity to raise some money for good causes close to me.
With the current situation and the timescales being discussed which would allow this to happen, I feel like it would be a good idea to start doing some light training so if I have to push that goal back to next year, I’ll be more ready for it when it comes.
I’m sure this has been a change for us all and will have affected everyone is someway, no matter how big or small.
I just want to take the time to say a huge thank you to the long list of keyworkers who are holding the fort and keeping the country going in these testing times.
And I’m sure that if we stick to the government guidelines of staying inside, or if needing to go out social distancing, then once this is over we will come out stronger than ever before.”
