At the beginning of the pandemic, at Onecom we quickly enabled the full workforce to work from home. Our employee’s safety is paramount, and as experts in telecommunications – if we couldn’t make it work, who would be able to? A lot of hard work ensued, and our Operations function went into overdrive to deliver. Within just a few days we had all our staff, including our call centre operators, working from home – many for the first time.
Although not the circumstances we would have wanted, the crisis has pushed us to be able to up our game and ensure that we can keep the business running smoothly. We don’t yet know when there will be a return to the office, or what the ‘new normal’ will look like. But from what we have learnt so far from our employees, the future will look different. Many employees are enjoying skipping the commute, and parking worries, and finding that once they have the correct set up at home, they can work more than effectively. Teams have been communicating regularly to remain close, and most feel even more connected with daily video conferencing (occasionally in a silly hat or wig to keep up morale!).
Stu Jeffries, Head of Customer Service, explains “We now operate a virtual contact centre, which was unthinkable just a few short weeks ago and yet it is working seamlessly. Productivity is up in some teams, with employee sentiment within the Customer Services Department strongly slanted towards retaining an element of WFH… they now know they can work from home and they want a suitable mix of office and home working.”
Onecom has always prided itself in being a great place to work. So, it is reassuring to know that the employees are being asked how they would like to work in the future and that these answers are being listened too and planned for. That way, once we come out of lockdown and finally get back together, we may find that the work/life balance is that little bit easier and that we can keep the bits that helped our productivity, mental health and wellbeing.
It seems that social distancing will remain for some time, and we can assume the office environment will need to change to accommodate this and make the environment safe for all. Just what that looks like is yet to be defined, but it’s important to start looking at the ways necessary changes could be implemented.
What will the ‘new normal’ look like for your business? If you need any help or advice on how to maintain excellent communications, take a look at our remote working solutions. Or call us on 03330 888 999 to speak to one of our experts.