There’s nothing like a new face in the office, and amongst the madness we had two fresh ones join the team just last week. Along with almost the whole country, Fusion Unlimited has been a work-from-home operation for almost a month now, meaning our new starters began their first day with a virtual greeting from the team and a solo tea-round. Not quite the conventional first day in the new job they’d probably imagined.
Routine has been thrown up in the air for all of us, but have you wondered what it’d be like to be starting a new job in the midst of all this? In this post our new content consultant, Dalia, and the latest addition to our paid media team, Danielle, give you an insight of what it’s really like to start a new job in the middle of a pandemic.
Q. What was it like meeting everyone virtually on your first day, rather than in person?
Dalia: “To be honest, meeting everyone on Skype rather than face to face was just about as nerve-wracking as meeting new colleagues in the flesh! I have to say, doing it from a distance takes away some of the fun of meeting new people and settling into a new office.
It will be interesting to see how long this situation lasts and how it will be meeting the whole team face to face at the end of it. Something like “Hi nice to finally meet you in person, I’m the new team member you have worked with remotely for weeks now!..”
Danielle: “I had been working from home for 2 weeks prior to starting, and truth be told I’d gotten myself into the bad habit of wearing cosy clothes and not doing my make-up. My first day gave me a chance to reset, I made sure I wore something nice and it made me feel a lot better.
Meeting everyone over Skype for the first time was nice but of course a little unusual. I think working from home mostly got rid of the first day butterflies, although I was definitely still very nervous. But I know that if I had been in the office, I would’ve been a bag of nerves! Because no one has met me face-to-face, it’s nice to use video on calls.”
Q. Have you found it’s been more difficult to settle in?
Dalia: “Despite the situation, everyone has been so nice and helpful! I think they all appreciated that starting in a new company is hard enough, let alone doing it under these circumstances. I asked a million questions via Skype and was given tasks to begin with that helped me familiarise myself with clients and strategies.”
Danielle: “Everyone has been really lovely, and helpful. I love that there is still a sense of friendship and comradery over Skype. Everyone is still trying to have a laugh and it’s a great morale booster. I think it’s easy to feel isolated when you work from home, but I haven’t felt that way at all since I started. I also love that there’s a Friday pub quiz. It’s a great idea to bring everyone together and it’s something to look forward to!“
Dalia and Danielle, the newest additions to the Fusion Unlimited team.
Q. What would you say has been the main struggle?
Dalia: “The lack of human interaction is quite a big one! That goes for everything these days though. I really miss going out and enjoying a coffee in a busy cafe. It is also quite hard to have a full on-boarding remotely, so I find myself wondering what the best process to do something is and if we have any company directives to follow. In that situation, asking for help is key!”
Danielle: “I’d say the only downside is not being able to see everyone in person! There are a lot of positives to working from home, but I do miss office banter. I think we take for granted the value of seeing people and being around other people, it’s good for the mind.”
Q. Do you think this could have a positive impact in the long-run?
Dalia: “I hope so! I just know one thing though, the first day in the office will feel like a proper treat. Meeting everyone, getting to know the team better, setting up the new desk and please let’s all get a drink after! We will have survived a global lockdown, after all…”
Danielle: “It’ll be really reassuring to know that, if we can keep going on through this, we can survive anything that comes at us! Having everyone working from home isn’t an ideal situation but it’s a real confidence booster to know we can do it well if we need to. I’m sure everyone will pick up good habits and new ways of working that they can bring into the office on the other side, and we’ll all have a great new-found appreciation of proper interaction and spending time together.”
If you’re interested in joining the Fusion Unlimited team, anyone who is passionate about delivering great work is always welcome at our table. Take a look at our current opportunities and get in touch for any more information.
by Sam Holmes
