When we all packed up our desks on 17 March 2020, I remember us saying it felt like the last day of school before the summer holidays; just instead of packing up our lockers and wishing each other a happy summer, we were packing desks and wishing each other a safe lockdown.
Having worked for Carnival UK for over 5 years, I’d enjoyed the slow but steady transition to flexible working pre-pandemic. I used to work from home two afternoons a week which allowed me to keep some time in my diary free of meetings and look after the newest addition to our family, our dog Peggy
This new type of working was new to us all and although as a team we found ways to make it work, personally I found Zoom never replaced the enjoyment of working together in person. The silence of my house after I clicked ‘Leave meeting’ a hundred times a day felt incredibly depressing – and I wanted to swap it for the chatter of what lunch we were going to have as we walked out of a meeting room. I’m a massive believer of having a good work/life balance and right now, I’m enjoying the flexibility of getting to the gym more, walking Peggy on my lunch hour and frankly, flopping on the sofa after I’ve sent that last email of the day. But I’m also happy to enjoy these benefits just a few days a week, instead of 5. For me, the office is where I now want to be.
After 20 months of being in the four walls of my house, I’m ready to swap them for the bright open space of the atrium, the face to face chats with colleagues who I haven’t even seen on Zoom for months and building those relationships again in the way we are designed to as humans – face to face.
If I think back over my time at Carnival UK I have so many great memories – and so few of them have taken place on Zoom. When it comes to striving to achieve more in my role, collaborating with other colleagues and feeling a sense of excitement about starting my work day, I know that I won’t get that from home anymore.
We will have to adapt to a new style of working and I feel fortunate to work for a business which is doing so much to support that transition. IT glitches at the office are fixed in an instant with a quick trip to the Tech Bar, the desktop Condeco app let’s you pick a desk next to your team (or one on your own if you’d rather!) and we’re constantly being asked for our feedback and how we feel it’s going – not a question all businesses ask for fear of the response.
So I’m ready to come back from our (metaphorical) school holiday and enjoy this new way of agile working. We have a great opportunity ahead of us to make the Carnival House and the new “9-5” lifestyle one which works for us individually, so why not embrace it?
Got a hybrid working story to share, we want to hear from you! Get in touch at Internal.Comms@carnivalukgroup.com