Working from home: The new normal

As with all businesses during the COVID lockdown year we’ve experienced, the Cyberjammies UK team had to adapt to a new way of working and we

wanted to speak with each member and get their personal thoughts on lockdown, working from home and what they think the ‘new normal’ will look like for

the Cyberjammies team!

 

We first of all, speak with Brand Director, Mark Tweed! Here is what he had to say….

 

 

We’ve been incredibly fortunate as a business which has therefore helped me tremendously during lockdown.  Aside from the first few weeks of April last year,

when we really didn’t know how things were going to turn out for us, we’ve been able to trade our way through lockdown.  Most importantly, whilst the odd friend has

had COVID-19, there have been very few people close to me that have had the disease or suffered badly from it.  I also took the decision to continue

working from our office close to where I live, but alone, while the rest of the team have worked from home. 

My routine has therefore been comparatively unaffected. I won’t lie, I consider myself very lucky to have been in this position!

 

I think the rest of our UK team are best placed to answer this question as I’ve very much been in the office. Having said that, it’s mighty quiet

on my own! One of the positive impacts on our business has been the daily zoom meeting with the UK team. 

It has brought us closer as a team and has ensured that we’ve stayed on top of all the challenges

that have faced us as a business.  We’ve been quick to make decisions and react to changes.

 

Probably not a great deal.  My role has always been to constantly seek improvement and to drive new learning for the business.  That certainly hasn’t changed. 

If anything, change has become the new constant.

 

With lockdown easing we will certainly be looking forward to getting together again in the Chelmsford office.  Having said that, I don’t see us returning to a rigid

5 days a week in the office.  Flexible working from home will be a regular part of the week, I’m confident of that.

Our interaction with our customers will continue to be less face to face and more zoom focused.  Travelling to and from customers offices or stores takes time

and adds cost.  Inevitably some customers, particular new ones or large customers placing substantial orders, may still want to see the product in person. 

Touch and feel will still be an important element to buying.  However, we’ve certainly discovered that buying/selling online is possible. 

Having social distancing in place for so long, business in zoom has become a habit that we have become comfortable with.  I suspect we may not see

previous working practices return for some time, if at all.  A very much suspect a hybrid version of pre/post COVID will settle in during the months to come.

 

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Next up was our Marketing & Digital Manager, Georgia! Here’s her thoughts below...

 

 

As a whole lockdown has been scary for everyone, the unknown is very unsettling and normal life disappearing was very strange at first, however

as a natural introvert I personally found myself enjoying lockdown life last year, everything slowed down and it was nice to savour the small things. I miss my family

a lot, but Zoom helps!

 

Transitioning to working from home has been very smooth for us as a team. We quickly adjusted to daily Zoom calls and we have all been more

productive than ever at home in our busiest year yet. Personally I have really enjoyed working from home, I don't miss my 2 hour commute every day and now

I'm home I can enjoy a lunchtime walk, home cooked food and more time with my partner and dog which has been wonderful, my work life balance has never been better!

 

Since lockdown started our business has ramped up a gear so our roles have evolved with it. Pyjamas and lockdown life went hand in hand so we

were busier than ever. My role as Marketing Manager hasn't changed but we are definitely welcoming more change than ever as a business, we have

introduced new systems and practices in lockdown to grow the brand and I expect that to continue.

 

Once it's safe to do I think we will head back into the office for a few days a week and it will become more of a 'Cyberjammies Hub' for our team. We will become

more flexible about working from home and will hopefully be able to travel to our trade shows and photoshoots as normal again. It will be nice to see people face

to face and balance that with working from home, giving everyone in our team a great work life balance. I think our popularity in lockdown will continue out

of lockdown and I expect exciting things to come in the future at Cyberjammies!

 

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Sharon heads up our Customer Service and she said had the following to say on working from home...

 

 

To be really honest, as I have worked from home for the past few years, it wasn’t strange at all for me! I’m used to working remotely as I’m based

in Wales but the UK main office is just outside of London. Therefore, I’m very comfortable working alone or as part of a team. Luckily as we’re

a very busy company, the days do fly by! The most noticeable difference I think, is that as a team working remotely, we have been far more interactive

than I’ve ever experienced in the past. This is down to our daily team meeting on Zoom and an array of other meetings we hold via Zoom which are all

very interesting and have been an incredible help in letting us communicate efficiently with our wholesale customers and other external contacts.

 

This doesn’t really apply to me in my case as I’ve always worked from home anyway, with the exception in the past for trade shows and important

meetings that I’ve had to attend in London with the team, so no adjustment required!

 

My role itself hasn’t changed much, I’ve just got incredibly busier! As the business has grown substantially over the past 12 months, there’s just more

of my tasks from before to do for more people, which is great news all round!

 

For me personally, it will be the same as before working from home, so no new normal for me!

 

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Karen, our Merchandiser started with Cyberjammies not long before we went into a full lockdown. Here is what she had to say...

 

At the beginning I found lockdown quite difficult. I’d only been working at Cyberjammies for 8 weeks!  I’m not really one to go out a lot anyway,

so I’m more than comfortable being at home. I have horses so I still had to go out twice a day to see and tend to them but we were unable to ride,

as the government had said that it was not a good idea due to potential accidents that could happen and the hospitals being overrun. To be honest, I didn’t

want to risk having to go to the hospital as I’d actually caught COVID at the beginning of lockdown whilst at home and didn’t want to go through it all again!

 

Again, at the beginning it was quite difficult for me but as time went on things got a lot easier! I now find that I get more done working

from home than in the office, as there are no distractions!

 

Yes, definitely. As I had only been working for Cyberjammies for 8 weeks, I hadn’t really got used to everything that I needed to do so I had

to continue learning remotely. Even though we have been working from home, I really have been made to feel part of the team. It's a brilliant

company to work for as the support I’ve received from the directors and managers has been spot on!

 

I think going forward I can see a mixture of working from home and going into the office throughout the week!

 

 

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Phoebe was our newest recruit, starting February 2021 and has learnt the role and worked virtually alongside the team virtually since day 1! Here are her thoughts...

 

I think like a lot of people, the biggest thing that affected me was not being able to see family and friends but apps like Zoom

and Facetime really helped. Lockdown, however, has also provided people with the opportunity to prioritise life outside of work, to try new things

and just also take some time out to focus on what they enjoy. Therefore, although lockdown was due to horrible circumstances, good things have

also come out of this crazy situation we've found ourselves in.

 

Lockdown started for me when I was working at my last job at another company last year. I found the adjustment a

little odd to begin with as we hadn’t had the option to work from home a few days a week before COVID, so then when we suddenly went to the full

week at home, it felt a little strange! I quickly got used to it and as we had such a lovely, sunny summer last year, I made the most of it going on

some lovely lunch and evening walks at lunch and after work. Therefore, the challenge for me was actually starting a new role and learning

the ropes all from home when I joined Cyberjammies back in February.

 

As I only joined Cyberjammies in February of this year,  I’ve started the role and learnt everything virtually, so it's all I’ve known

in this role and therefore, it stayed the same for me! The team have all been great in teaching me everything I need to know and

supporting me along the way and I look forward to finally having some office time and meeting with them face to face!

 

I think the new normal for Cyberjammies and for a lot of other businesses will be a split week between the office

and home, providing a lot more flexibility across all employers than there ever was before! Businesses have realised that productivity

has not decreased, their staff are happy, healthy and have a great work/life balance and are still coming into the office for important meetings

and any other events to allow for that key facetime and socialising!