Another week – another journal entry working from home.
I found out yesterday that my friend’s software company probably won’t return to work until September. They did some test runs with some employees coming back for hybrid online/in-person meetings, and they came across too many issues to resolve quickly. We’ll be getting a storage unit next month to start removing furniture and extra chairs from spaces to reduce the amount of hang out time there will be. Our target for the first group to return to the office remains August.
Hiring Decisions
Instead of hiring full-time employees or even traditional part-time employees like we normally would as we get busy, we’re going to try out an employment agency for temporary hires. In this particular situation, it makes the temporary employment situation easier because we’re not able to predict the future and we’re also running at such a fast pace that slowing down to find our own candidates wouldn’t be very productive right now. I’ll let you know how it goes!
WFH Decisions
It looks like our culture is going to adapt to being more WFH friendly as is the rest of the world. One piece of good advice I heard this week was to allow your department heads to come up with their own WFH policies that way your company showed an inclusive understanding of the needs of certain roles in coming up with your company WFH policy. Not all departments are created equally, especially if your organization is relatively large.
We will begin our Phase 1 of returning to the office in August. Our client services team, our directors, and our office manager will return to work and those who share an office will be on an alternating schedule. We will continue to do this for who-knows-how-long before we start letting other people come to work.
We also decided to let some employees ask to work from home permanently. We decided that it was a perk they’re granted after their first year with us and will be solely at our discretion. I’m interested to see how many people decide to work from home and give up their desk at the office. I am excited that this ends up being a perk for retention but gives us the ability to grow our team without expanding our footprint and overhead costs.
Please Take Some Time Off
I’ve noticed this week that a lot of my friends and colleagues that run businesses are burning out, and it all feels like there’s no end. Working from home doesn’t help because the stress and daily management of a business seem to have no limits now. We’ve been busy and solving the issues that come with what feels like whack-a-mole over Zoom and it can be exhausting.
I’ve taken days off here and there to be with my daughter since she’s not going to summer camp consistently this summer. Those days off here and there have been super helpful. I hope to take real time off later this summer, but until then, I might take long weekends here and there just to decompress. I know there’s not a lot of escaping or socializing, but it doesn’t mean you can’t take care of yourself and take a break.
I’m a mom, a small business owner, and I’m a marketing professional with over a decade helping businesses with their branding and online presence. When I’m not spending time with my family or on my business, I love cooking (and eating) and snuggling with my dogs while I binge on TV shows. My favorite authors are Malcolm Gladwell and Steve Martin. My favorite movies are L.A. Story, Little Mermaid, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Trainspotting.