Today is the first day our coffee team has started working from home. Following government advice following the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve set up a desk in my lounge rather than heading up the road to the Revolver offices.  

It’s quite a strange feeling – almost like being back at university, but during normal working hours. The week started like any other week – getting up at a normal time, getting dressed and ready just like a typical day.  

Personally, I think that treating everything as if it was a normal working day is critical to making sure you remain productive while you work from your lounge. By that, I mean dressing properly, taking breaks as you would in the office, and checking in regularly with the rest of the team. For us, we’ve made use of Microsoft Teams – a shared platform which enables all of us to collaborate on documents, share our screens, and hold video conference calls. 

So, just like a normal working week, we held a meeting this morning to discuss our plans for the day. As you can imagine, the café and hospitality industry has been hit quite hard by the social distancing measures, so we’ve had to change our work accordingly. Without giving too much away, we’re focusing now on product development, engaging more with our members and customers over the coming weeks, and making our office and warehouse more efficient.  

I think regularly keeping in touch with colleagues is essential during this period of self-isolation. At Revolver, we all work quite closely on a day to day business and have the fortune of cooperating in a small team who understand every aspect of the business, so it is important that we don’t shut down our lines of communication.  

Something I have found really important is holding yourself to account. With nobody else to do it for you, you have to take it upon yourself to make sure your work isn’t impacted by distractions at home, whether it’s getting slightly too comfortable working on the sofa, or your dog pulling you away to play fetch…  

Despite the disadvantage of not having top of the range coffee available here, it is quiet. I have found that my focus has increased, and I’ve been able to complete tasks quickly that require a lot of concentration.  

Having said that, I am missing the office already. We’re lucky at Revolver to work day-to–day with our friends on projects we really enjoy – and there really is no substitution for the atmosphere in the office. That’s going to be the thing I really miss over the coming weeks and months.  

As we mentioned in a press release last week, we are doing our absolute best to keep things running smoothly for our members and customers. Orders are still being processed through our website, and long term projects and plans are still being worked on and developed collectively.  We are very fortunate to be able to communicate and continue to operate, even if it is remotely.