HOME-OFFICE

A Day in the Life: Working from Home During

Coronavirus
Hi, I’m Matt. I’ve been recruited to do some temp work in London, but from home,
during the coronavirus outbreak. Thanks to my recruitment agency, I’ve worked in
various London office support jobs, so I’m familiar with temping in the city, but this
is a new situation for many of us.
As homeworking quickly became the norm, I assumed I wasn’t going to get any
work. However, the role I’m doing has been created specifically because of
coronavirus, which is interesting. I’m working for a medium-sized law business,
organizing homeworking schedules and taking responsibility for communication for
those now working from home.
Here’s what today looked like for me:
8am: I get a lie-in. With no London commute, I can get up at 8 am and still be
ready to start work at 9!
9am: Sat at my desk, I take a quick look at the priorities for the day and everyone’s
schedules. I look at emails that have come in, organizing them in terms of priority. I
then head to Zoom, which we’re predominantly using for online meetings. I make
sure all the right people have been invited to the right meeting and that they have
the necessary access code.
10.30am: I make some phone calls to different people in the business. I want to
check in that everyone has what they need at home and finds it possible to
continue working. I make notes about what they’re struggling with and assure them
that I’ll look into solutions.
11.30am: I do some research into different solutions that may help to supplement
what we’ve done so far. One of our legal secretaries is struggling with her headset,
so I order a new one to be delivered as soon as possible. A paralegal is struggling
to ensure she has proper approval before commencing with a task, and she’s
feeling worried about it. I do some research into different work management
software that could be used to track approvals across the whole organization.
12.30pm: It’s lunchtime. I make a sandwich in my kitchen before heading out for a
run, keeping well away from other people!
1.30pm: I’ve got a Zoom meeting with the partners. We discuss what’s going well
so far and what could be done better. This is useful for me to hear. I make notes
and assure them that I’ll take action.
2.15pm: I’ve been asked to ‘sit in’ on a Zoom meeting and take notes. Much like I
would do in an office, I listen attentively and take minutes.
3.15pm: I type up the minutes of the meeting and send them out for approval.
4.00pm: I take the time to answer some emails, pointing different people towards
various options. One email concerns a team member who’s not responding
properly to others, so I phone them to find out why they aren’t using the right app. It
turns out they’re struggling with tech knowledge and their children being at home.
We talk through different ideas to make life easier for them. We agree to trial some
different hours, and I get agreement from the partners about this.
5.00pm: I’m done. It’s a short commute today!