March, like many other PR agencies in Boston – and honestly, agencies across the country and the world – has transitioned to companywide remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Until now, working from home was mainly seen as a nice perk for employees, showcasing more adaptable and flexible work cultures. We’ve been doing this for years, allowing our team members to work from home every Friday. However, this week, and for at least the next few weeks, remote work is our new normal. Given this situation, I believe it’s essential for us as an agency, and as an industry, to rethink our approach to remote work to keep our connections strong with each other and with our clients.
Of course, continuing to deliver outstanding value and services to our clients remains essential. As PR agencies adapt more to this new status quo over the following weeks, our teams will continue brainstorming and executing new ways for how we interact with clients and ensure no disruptions to service.
That’s expected. We know our teams will keep doing their best for their clients. What isn’t always clear is how we consider the people at our agencies during these unusual times. This motivated me to gather some thoughts and ideas on how people – at March and in agencies everywhere – can and should focus on their own physical and mental health as they adapt to the upcoming weeks of working from home.
Don’t feel guilty
Be purposeful and give your day structure. Allow yourself to take breaks and enjoy your day. You will do much better client work as a result.
Get outside
Twice a day, in fact. Go for a walk, go for a run. Maybe send pictures of your activity to your coworkers, over your company messaging platforms (Slack, Skype, Gchat, etc.) so that everyone can see. You should feel good about taking time for yourself. When we’re all looking at spending nearly our entire day and night at home now, it’s important to get outside for a change of pace and scenery.
Connect often
Find yourself writing a long email? Pick up the phone instead! Keep talking to people. Set up video conferencing, not just with clients but with teammates. Set up small huddles over video. Try to find ways that replicate how you would normally stop by someone’s desk or have a chat around a common table as if you were still in the office.
Move trainings and company culture activities to video
This goes hand-in-hand with the above. Don’t cancel all-agency training sessions; move them to video and over the phone. Do you do company culture activities like trivia? Make them virtual instead. And if you don’t already do trivia or other games in the office, maybe now’s the time to start.
Mentoring
This is also a good opportunity to expand the one-on-ones you normally have with an in-office mentoring system. Assign each member of the management team to reach out and connect with employees regularly, so you’re sharing their concerns and ideas. It’s also just good for management to check in with everyone individually, and often, to make sure we’re all navigating this new paradigm as best we can. We’re all in this together, and this is a great way to keep reminding each other of that fact.
Be mindful
Take time for yourself to think and reflect on your own well-being. How are you feeling right now? How are you dealing with being cooped up at home?
It’s important we all stay engaged and connected with each other during these bizarre times. It’s important for continuing to deliver the quality work clients can reliably expect. It’s important for our own mental health and sanity as we self-quarantine. But it’s also important to remember that staying engaged also means staying engaged and in tune with yourself, and making time to break up the day in ways we haven’t had to think about before. We’re all in this together, but that also means ensuring we support our individual needs for getting through this, too.