九个月前, 新冠疫情极大地改变了我们的家庭和工作生活，给我们所有人带来了新的挑战. 在Zuhlke, we have been blessed that our business kept thriving despite the recession, which allowed us to further grow our teams. Our Manchester team in particular has seen unprecedented growth this year, going from 8 employees to 27. 两位软件工程师讨论了远程工作和发展团队的挑战:
Ioana 她于2020年1月澳门十大正规赌博娱乐平台公司，并在入职后不久见证了向在家工作的过渡.
Eadred joined in 2015 as one of the first local employees, and is the most tenured engineer in our Manchester team.
Working from home – are you a fan?
Ioana我绝对是你的粉丝. I enjoy the lack of a commute. I think some people like using that as a headspace, but for me it was just hurrying to the train station, waiting for a train that I could actually get on, 然后被沙丁鱼吃掉. Now I just have to roll out of bed, get ready for work and that's it. I miss people though I have to say.
Eadred: Yeah, I'd say, on balance I'm a fan. 我同意通勤:没有时间可以让我有更多的时间和家人在一起——尽管, I do like it for that separation. 一般, I’ve been finding working from home quite useful in the past, but having worked from home for a prolonged period of time now, it's made me realise that it's not something I would want to do full-time. It’s those interactions with people - ad hoc, sometimes - that I miss.
在一个遥远的世界里，你与同事的互动方式有什么不同吗?
Ioana: In the office it's more ad-hoc, you bump into someone in the kitchen and just start talking, whereas now it's less spontaneous. 另一方面，我周围的人都很友好，总是很乐意聊天. The team is very supportive and if anyone wants to talk, everyone always has an open ear, especially if someone is having a difficult time.
Eadred是的，当然. 十大网博靠谱平台临时谈话，我还想补充一点，你在家里往往更容易被孤立:我的日常互动实际上是与我直接共事的人, 而在办公室里，我周围的人都在做其他事情，所以会有更多的相声, 或八卦, for the lack of a better word.
在过去的几个月里，你看到车队的规模扩大了三倍，你还认识车队里的每个人吗?
Eadred: I have to admit, I’m struggling... I'm one of those people that need a face to the name. 所以只要每个人的脸出现在我们每周的团队会议的屏幕上，我就没问题了, but now with 20+ people that's no longer the case. 所以，我担心，当我们回到办公室的时候，我可能会叫错别人的名字.
How do you still make new joiners feel included, despite these challenges?
Eadred: On form is our buddying system. I've been the mentoring buddy for a couple of recent team members; and I believe that having such a slightly closer 1:1 connection with someone on the team up front is quite important. 对我自己来说，这也是一个了解新团队成员的好方法.
Ioana今年年初澳门十大正规赌博娱乐平台，我很幸运能在办公室遇到一些人. 从那时起, I’ve had the opportunity to buddy up with new members remotely as well, and you do get to know them – even if it's from a distance. 如果有人需要喝杯咖啡或聊天，我总是鼓励他们喊我一声.
作为一名雇主，Zuhlke在向远程办公过渡的过程中很好地应对了哪些挑战, and which ones are still to be addressed?
Ioana向在家工作的过渡非常顺利:我们已经有了在线协作工具，VPN也运行得很好, so the technical workplace challenge has been mastered. What I miss is a proper whiteboard and being able to move sticky notes. The virtual tools just don’t quite beat the real-life option.
Eadred: Yes, in terms of the tooling we've got what we need. We’re also proactively sharing best practices: Kevin (Regional Director), 例如, 在封锁初期的第一个完全远程发现阶段之后，他的报告做得很好吗. In terms of general support and the mental health aspect, there's been lots of help offered and check-ins, and I know there are people who’ve got my back for it. 这很好. Zuhlke is a very supportive environment in that regard.
人们(不仅仅是Zuhlke的员工)尚未掌握的一个挑战是在线视频会议的不同礼仪. Lags can easily lead to people accidentally interrupting each other, and then it’s not quite clear who goes first. It’s almost like you need to say “over” after every sentence, and I think this can sometimes rob meetings of a bit of their spontaneity.
Which abilities have been increasingly important in the new remote set-up?
Eadred: For me it’s the ability to shut down interruptions, 通常以聊天通知的形式弹出，你不知道它是否紧急. 在办公室里，当你注意力集中的时候，你可能会听到别人的玩笑，这要容易得多. 所以，我学会了限制我在聊天中有通知的频道的数量.
Ioana: For me, communication has been a key aspect of this. 我们必须更有意识地表达自己的观点，但也要倾听别人的意见. Ask for clarification when it's not as obvious what they mean, because visual clues such as body language are missing.
另一个方面是休息:如果你不为休息做计划，你很容易工作太长时间. We usually apply the pomodoro technique in pair programming to avoid this, 也许我也应该试着为自己实现这一点，以更好地管理我的时间.
Do you tend to work longer hours now that you work from home?
Ioana我想我有. 当我的工作在白天被打断时，我倾向于觉得有必要“弥补”时间. 即使我只是想快速回复邮件或修复这个bug -接下来你知道的, you’ve spent an extra half an hour. 所以我认为我们必须格外小心，不要一不小心过度劳累.
Eadred我不确定对我来说是否正好相反:有家人在身边, they’ll let me know when I’m working too long. They’re almost like my work alarm – my pomodoro technique. Different situations, different perspective, isn't it?
What helps you keep the balance?
Eadred: I've been enjoying some extra time with the kids, 我很高兴在他们上学前或回家时能见到他们. 我也经常骑自行车来模仿这种通勤方式，呼吸新鲜空气. With the weather starting to turn, I’m doing it less frequently now, but I’ve managed to keep it up once per week.
Ioana对我来说，健身和营养也能让我保持理智. 而之前, I’d usually see what I can find in town for lunch as a quick fix, 我现在可以吃得健康了, 煮熟的食物. 在这方面我被宠坏了，我和我妈妈住在一起，她会把食物送到我的办公桌上. 我也很喜欢在家锻炼:我现在可以在午餐时间做高强度的间歇训练, 洗个澡, and be back at my desk in time.
And lastly, what was your funniest video meeting moment?
Eadred: Maybe stretching the definition of funny, 但你可能还记得几年前BBC的一则报道，一位韩国记者的孩子在节目进行到一半时突然闯进来..? 也没那么糟, 但我和孩子们在外面玩蹦床开了个视频会议, 突然，一个非常兴奋的3岁孩子走了进来，喊道:“爸爸, 爸爸, 我渴了, 我渴了!”. 哦，我还不止一次听到别人说:“我喜欢你的沙发!”, and I've had to say that it's not actually my couch, it’s my bed.
Ioana: Sometimes my mom will bring in the food while I'm in a video call, so once I had a team meeting when she placed a pizza behind me, and my colleagues pointed out: “Your food is ready!最后，他们开玩笑说要在我的披萨变冷之前结束会议.
Ioana Grigoriu
软件工程师
Eadred Birchenough
软件工程师
