Lockdown had a huge impact on how we spent our time. Almost everyone in the commercial business had to adapt to home working, bringing the best out of colleagues as they found new ways of doing things and innovative methods for keeping in touch. Here, we hear what some of you did during those difficult weeks which started in March.
Order Fulfilment Coordinator Rebecca Casey contacted The Bubble to tell us how the Independent Merchants and Retail teams pulled together as they figured out how to maintain their customer service standards from a remote location – and how to keep in touch with each other while they were away from the usually vibrant environment.
“Every week, our team leader Rachel would plan a quiz for the full team, including those furloughed, to keep us all connected via Microsoft Teams.
“We were regularly updated and found a completely new way of working.
“As one of the furloughed members of the team I would really value the check ins, making sure that we were ok and generally updating us on anything that we would need to know.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to Rachel for the job she has done supporting her skeleton team as well as the five of us that were furloughed and want her to know it hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
Jo Edwards’ team stayed motivated during furlough by getting together on a Wednesday afternoon for an hour between 4pm and 5pm to have fun sessions on Microsoft Teams, including Play Your Cards Right, bingo and Through The Keyhole.
Jo said: “It was the highlight of my week, to get the whole team together and see them on the screen, smiling, in the midst of the crisis was a real feel good factor and moral boost.”
Business Development Executive Liam Pryszlak ran a total of 200km in July, finishing with a half marathon on 30 July, an average of just over 6km per day.
He said: “I started running again during lockdown in April and thought I would put the time to some good use and get fit and lose some weight! I hadn’t been running for a few years before then so it was tough.
“I wanted to raise some money doing this as well for Dementia UK, a charity close to my heart as I have lost two grandparents over the last few years to dementia and I have seen first-hand the effects of this debilitating disease and the great work healthcare nurses and carers do to help families.
“I completed it with one friend and we managed to raise £1,200 for the charity with some donations from Ideal Standard staff. We did not expect to raise so much!”
B2B Marketing Manager Tony Rheinberg was part of a team who raised £550 for the local branch of Samaritans, for which he volunteers.
Tony and his wife Jill are keen walkers who last September completed a marathon walk in one day in London.
This year, the couple were supporting Samarathon, which involves walking 26.2 miles over a month.
He said: “We were unsure about asking people for money during lockdown but we saw Samaritans were doing it nationally and so we thought we should raise funds for the local branch.
“We live near Beverley Westwood so there’s plenty of good walks on our doorstep and I would say we walked at least the equivalent of four marathons in the month, maybe as many as seven!”