It’s been quite a while since we started working from home—2,5 months to be exact. That’s 11 weeks or 77 days; but who’s counting.
BUT, as of the 1st of June, we’re happy to say we’re back! At the office, we mean, since we never really left our followers.
On our last update, we announced the measures we’d taken to ensure our employees’ safety during the tough times we were facing with the pandemic. We were fearful of the uncertain circumstances but hopeful for the future.
Our Experience Working From Home
Relocating our work gear home, we felt confused and unsure at first but grew grateful to be able to continue doing what we love from home.
We felt like we were doing our part in these ways:
1. Helping to slow down the spread by working from home
We believed we could only influence others to be careful and stay safe after we had set the example ourselves first. So we relocated the whole team home and continued our work from the safety of our homes, inspiring others to do the same.
2. Encouraging people from all over the world to stay home and practice social distancing
We have a huge virtual community whom we want to see safe. So, we utilized our platform to encourage people to follow the orders set by their respective governments regarding the public health crisis. To inspire them on things to do to fight boredom at home, we posted videos trying to make everyday life easier like hacks for folding clothes, house cleaning, and other uplifting content. By keeping busy and entertained inside four walls, we hoped to help our followers effectively manage their free time during isolation.
3. Teaching people to make DIY masks
Except for encouraging people to wear masks and wash their hands often, we wanted to help them to actively do so. Since they were often hard to access, we gave people DIY ideas on how to make masks from home to use for themselves or for those who wanted to donate to hospitals that were facing shortages. We did the same for hand sanitizers. Since they were very hard to find, we posted ideas on how they could make them at home.
4. Spreading positivity
Most of all, we believe we contributed by spreading positive messages to our followers in these hard times when they most needed them. In addition to our usual DIY and useful tricks content, we shared wholesome videos of emotional surprises, adorable babies, and cute animals, hoping to lift our audience’s mood as much as we could.
5. No layoffs
Although there is serious economic turbulence in the world right now, MetDaan has not done any layoffs or furloughs. If anything, we’re only growing, as we have opened new positions.
Post-Pandemic Office Life
Our work environment does not look the same as it once had and that’s okay. We’re taking all the measures we can to ensure the safety of our staff. What we’ve done is:
- Installed desk partition glass (to minimize physical contact between colleagues)
- Added sanitizing stations
- Adapted how we greet each other (elbow bumps and footshakes are the new hugs and handshakes)
- Encouraged everyone how feels unwell to stay home
Although working from home had its benefits of cutting back on commute time, more family time, and so on, our whole team was very enthusiastic to get back to their work routines. Office life has some perks that simply can’t be replaced. Things we had missed include (but aren’t limited to) collaborating together face-to-face rather than over a Zoom call, getting back to our own offices rather than working from our improvised workspaces on the kitchen table, and verbal office banter to ease work tension and boost team morale rather than memes and funny video links.
Getting back to the office has given us a sense of normality. Although it is a new normal which we’ll have to get used to, we’re still grateful to be back and continue working as a team (while respecting the distancing measures).