Remote working 1 - How the No.1 team handled working from home
Our new ‘updates’ page has materialised during very unusual times in Scotland. Like many people, we are working remotely to maximise social distancing but, at the same time, minimise the loneliness and isolation felt by older people throughout society.
Many of the ways we are tackling the paradox of socialising while distancing are addressed in our recent update (see last week). To tell us more about how we are rising to the challenges being faced, we turn to Audrey Mutongi (Managing Director) and Sheila McPherson (Business Development Manager).
“As all of our staff are in a position to work from home, we have been able to transfer all our activities and service delivery online” Audrey tells us. “While it’s been a challenging time, there are many advantages to working from home - we are communicating well, using online platforms and adapting work processes to ensure a continuity of service and support to clients and volunteers. I think we have a strong team spirit, and are flexible and adaptable.”
Sheila agrees. “We’re making a big point of staying connected, both with volunteers and clients and looking after the team’s well-being with various activities. We’re checking in regularly using online platforms, apps and telephone calls – it’s actually easier to contact people as everyone is home. The majority of the team work part-time and we don’t all work at the same time, but we need to connect and share what's happening in different departments so we have created a weekly team meeting online. Working this way has helped us at a time of disconnection. I think it's impressive how quickly we found new ways to work and to help people stay connected.”
“Our next step is to look at reinventing our Cup of Friendship activities. This is when a group of our clients are brought together in a local venue and share a cuppa and a blether, which normally brings older and younger people together to share time, laughter and new experiences in groups. Now we are looking at how we could move this online for the first time. We are seeking volunteers to remotely help as many older people as we can to get set up digitally – which would mean they could participate in the online activities!”
Would you like to contribute?
If you would like to support The No.1 Befriending Agency to reach more vulnerable people across Scotland, we have set ourselves the target of raising 30k by December 2020. This will ensure we can continue to fund all the important work being undertaken. Donations can be made at the ‘Donate’ page of our website today.
