Key Lessons We're Taking Away From 2021
2021 was a year we could not have expected! Going into a 5-day snap lockdown that turned into 107 days changed the scope of our year dramatically. We have had some huge successes this year, such as welcoming four new team members, moving into a new office space and welcoming on lots of new clients.
As we wrap up 2021, we felt this would be a great time to reflect on the past year, see what went well and what didn’t go so well. In doing so these were the key lessons we’ve found helped us this year and what will we be taking into the next.
Back yourself and don’t hide behind emails
Emails are for communication, not conversation. Although, emails bear the discomfort of relaying a difficult message, hiding behind an email loses the personal touch of the message and emotions can get lost in translation. Even in the face of a lockdown, it’s important to aim to have personable interactions as much as possible, whether that is through a phone call or video call. Face-to-face interactions will rip off the band-aid and get the message across faster without any mixed messages. So our key takeaway was to back yourself, be confident in your message and your delivery.
Next time you’re sending an email ask yourself whether you’re taking the safer route or whether you’d prefer to hear this face to face?
Flexibility is here to stay
We go on and on about flexibility as we value this at Core HR. Flexible hours and working options are encouraged as we believe it incentivises our team’s work-life balance and encourages a stronger work ethic.
One way to manage this is through capacity assessments, at the start of each week we discuss our capacity for the upcoming week with a colour coding system so our team is fully aware of where workflow can be redirected if needed.
How does it work?
“Red” lets our team know our capacity is full and there is not much room for extra work
“Orange” shows we are able to take on more but with the assumption that their week is already going to be quite busy
“Green” shows we are ready to have work redirected
It’s always okay to ask questions
We want to reassure you that you should never be afraid to ask questions! With new team members being onboarded throughout lockdown and having to learn their role as a distanced team member, the struggle will have been real. If anything, your team will appreciate it more than anything if you get it done the right way and it’s better to know sooner than later. So, ask all those questions that feel silly and annoying before you’ve been there for 5 years and need to ask for log-in details.
For employers, this is a great time to review and update your procedures and policies – check out our recent blog on HR policies to review post lockdown.
Taking a break – avoiding burnout
Limiting screen time – rather than switching from your laptop screen to your phone screen on a break try reading a book or going for a quick walk around the block of the office.
Creating weekly “me-time” rituals - earlier on we discussed our team “hacks to lockdown” and a common theme was how we all dedicated time to a weekly ritual which definitely helped us through the trickier stages of lockdown and will be something we continue into the next year. This could be a morning walk - no matter what the weather looks like, a quick yoga session or a food delivery from a local favourite. Having a weekly ritual to look forward to does wonders for our mental wellbeing.
Unplug at night - flexible working definitely has its pros however with fewer distractions in the home environment it can be that bit harder to switch off. It could be as simple as not replying to critical emails after hours or setting time limits on apps to clock off by.
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