I have spent years hiring great staff members and its not until Covid-19 and the resulting lockdowns hit, that I have realised how much spending time with them motivates me.

Having my team working from home during the lockdowns has been fine from an output point of view; they have a really good work ethic, we have good communication systems and I don’t think the clients have noticed that we haven’t all been in the office.

But with that said, I have really missed the office atmosphere! Don’t get me wrong, there are pros and cons to having everyone back…in fact, I am writing this from home because I need to be away from the office to concentrate on writing…. and don’t get me started on the choice of music we play from time to time (country) or the smelly food that is heated up in the microwave (not mentioning any names but you know who you are!)

But in my day-to-day work life, on balance, I would rather have the team around me than not, and I have realised that having the team in the office means:

  1. We collectively learn from each other – I can quickly run an idea by two or three people on the fly. Our newest and youngest team members absorb knowledge just by overhearing these conversations.
  2. We are more efficient – we can quickly have a conversation about a client or an issue then and there; we don’t have to waste time setting up zoom calls, having them drop offline etc.
  3. My team can get a break from home – it sounds funny, but I believe you need a contrast between work and home sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, working from home has its place and I have now set up a flexible working from home scheme to allow my team to work from home more.
  4. They give me energy – my team are all enthusiastic, keen to learn and a pleasure to be around and this is infectious. We don’t have anyone who doesn’t share our vision. So its good to be around them.
  5. More banter – I like the occasional banter… I think as a country we have a good sense of humour and this humour helps get us through – virtual banter just isn’t the same despite the use of GIF’s to liven up the occasional message!

So, on balance, I like having the team back. Hopefully, as clients, you won’t have noticed, we tried really hard to ensure you didn’t. But we are now back in the office and looking forward to not having to work at home for some time.