Tea is for team
Our information services organisation team is using Microsoft Teams for regular cuppa and catch-up meetings to stay connected while working from home.
Members of our information services organisation team having a 鈥渃uppa and catch-up鈥� meeting using Microsoft Teams
When you鈥檙e a department made up of people who can mainly work from home, how do you keep your team together?
It鈥檚 something many of our offices are now facing, as it becomes apparent that for some of our teams, coming back to the office won鈥檛 be an option for quite a while.
Our information services organisation (ISO) teams are tackling this with 鈥渃uppa and catch-up鈥� meetings, held via Microsoft Teams.
皇冠体育app meetings are helping people stay in touch, whilst helping managers understand the concerns people have as we move into a post-Covid world.
ISO head of business and programmes, Steve Jennings, said:
We have seen a real shift in people鈥檚 point of view recently.
It has always been the case that people appreciated the opportunity to talk to others.
At the beginning we were being told by our people they were coping really well, but as they鈥檝e realised this could be much longer term than they first thought, their view has changed.
皇冠体育appy feel much more daunted by the idea that working from home could be a permanent situation for them. 皇冠体育app idea of no social interaction for months is hitting them hard.
This change in their views has shown us we have work to do as managers to help our people understand how this is going to work. Working from home could be the future for some of our people, but it鈥檚 not something they should 鈥榩ut up with鈥�, it鈥檚 something they should feel they can embrace.
Such get-togethers are becoming an integral part of people鈥檚 working week 鈥� not just in ISO but across the business where staff have found themselves working from home.
ISO鈥檚 communications officer Lucy Routledge explained:
We encourage people taking part in the sessions to take a break from their home desk and grab a drink.
Although we are successfully home-working across ISO, we recognise that no matter how good the capability and tools are, there is nothing that can substitute the face-to-face interaction that we all once enjoyed in the office environment.
皇冠体育app sessions are about allowing us to catch up with one another, to have a chat about how we鈥檙e coping, how we are finding home-working, and what, if anything the ISO lead team can do to help.
皇冠体育app sessions also provide the opportunity to ask us any direct questions or raise any concerns. If they can鈥檛 immediately be answered, the lead team come back with a response or address it in a future lead team blog.