AdNews brings the stories of those working from home (WFH) in the advertising and media industry during the coronavirus crisis.
Angie Smith is managing director at MediaSmiths.
How are you dealing with the silence?
I haven’t experienced any silence throughout this period with the exception of trying to meditate daily. With three of my four sons at home, two home schooling and one in tertiary study, it’s a very busy household. I have also spent a lot of time on Zoom calls, phone calls and working with clients, supplier and team members to ensure everyone is supported as successfully as possible through to the recovery period.
What’s the upside?
There are lots of upsides – not wearing make up! (proof in photos attached). Spending more time with my gorgeous family, my dog (Tyson a Belgian Shepherd) who is getting really old and is not used to having us at home so he is very happy to have us here, and also the opportunity to strangely get closer to people both personally and professionally through quality conversations and helping each other as we are giving each other more time. We have also had the time to review how we do things, think about how we better support our clients, improve our business processes overall and in turn build something more robust for the future. It’s also been heartening to see how agile our team has been through this period and I take my hat off to them for their incredible strength and resilience.
The downside?
I miss the opportunity to have those little impromptu conversations with team members. Even though we have regular contact via Zoom meetings and phone calls, there is an element missing when not when we’re not physically around each other. I think the mental health element is an issue that is of concern for me in ensuring my team and others around me are well supported and not being able to really gauge body language etc makes it difficult to check those things in real time. There’s a lot going on in the news cycle, in their lives, partner’s lives, family etc which I know is elevating stress levels.
How are you using the commuting time saved?
It’s allowing me to spend some time supporting the home based learning of my eight and 10 year old sons as well as cooking up a storm for the family.
I am looking forward to being back in the office because…
I’m really looking forward to seeing my team and getting on with doing what we do best for our clients. The ability to brainstorm together is something that is difficult to replicate via online methods. The overall face to face human element is so important in what we do; building relationships with team members, clients and suppliers and I’m looking forward to getting back to that.
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