COVID-19 – It’s not business as usual

As of Monday 16th March 2020, the 10 Degrees team have all been working from home.

I’d love to say it’s ‘business as usual’, but we know it’s going to take us a week or two to settle into our individual routines as we get used to new ways of working together remotely. I prefer the term, service as usual, because we’re fortunate enough to be able to work remotely and still offer the same high quality service.

The little things that we took for granted are now being reworked, such as:

• The whiteboard in our office is now virtualised in Confluence.
• Our standup meetings are run by Slack video calls.
• Our landlines are using a VOIP softphone app.
• Zendesk is managing our client support requests.
• We’re using Jira to manage support escalations internally with our development team.
• Video calling is our preferred method of communication but we’re using Slack messaging more asynchronously as working patterns change.

Each day presents new challenges. 10 Degrees wasn’t created to be a remote working agency – we value face-to-face working and are having to find new ways to communicate effectively (and we rarely get it right first time).

Team mental health

The mental health of our team has always been a priority for us, but now more than ever, as the team face potential periods of isolation.

Our Talent and Culture Manager, Inga, who started on 24th February has had a baptism of fire since starting. We’re very fortunate to have such an experienced HR professional on our team to help us navigate this unprecedented time.

On a daily basis we’re trying to promote the following to help manage isolation and anxiety:

• Taking regular screen breaks.
• Sharing simple day-to-day experiences with each other.
• Exercise – e.g. a lunchtime walk.
• Flexible hours to work around childcare.
• Working out a routine to the day.
• Disconnect when you’re finished working .

For our clients

We want to reassure you that our project team and WordCare support service is operating as normal and the team here are looking after our clients’ websites and ongoing projects.

Like many of us, I am taking each day as it comes and with schools now closing, everyone is going to be affected in different ways, both personally and in business. We are all facing a global situation that is likely to impact every business for a long period of time.

The conversations we’ve been having with our clients have prompted some interesting ideas which I thought are worth sharing:

1. We have created ‘status’ pages and popups for websites where our clients can publish up-to-date information for their audiences which helps reduce email and phone calls.
2. We are helping some of our clients refocus their websites towards specific products or services that will be more beneficial to market at this time.
3. During a period of lower website traffic, now has been a good time for one of our clients to consider how to make their websites work more efficiently and reduce ongoing administration time.
4. We can help temporarily disable or block particular parts of your website so that your online presence is a true representation of what you can currently offer.

It’s a time when every business faces uncertainty, but it can also be a time to reflect on the opportunities that it may provide which could put you in good stead for when the world recovers.

Above all, kindness and understanding are hugely important and I hope that you, your family and colleagues remain safe and well.

Jonny

The Author

Jonny Vaughan

Founder & Technical Director of 10 Degrees. Jonny's day to day focus is on determining the best technical solutions for our clients, driving technical innovation and leading our sustainability agenda.

The 10 Degrees Team