By Cristina Orpheo – Executive Director of the Casa Socioambiental Fund
There has never been so much talk about working from home as in 2020. The feeling of those who have just started working this way is that they have never worked so hard! While a portion of the population suffers the effects of the pandemic without work, with the loss of their jobs, another portion has been working 12 to 14 hours a day. The home office, which seemed to be a dream job for many, turned into a heavy burden, with long daily hours and a large accumulation of tasks.
I have been coordinating a team using a home office system for almost 10 years. What I learned during this time helped me navigate the pandemic and quickly make appropriate adjustments to care for our team. Coordinating a team remotely requires some paradigm shifts. New arrangements and agreements need to be created, including: establishing a time and results control system, understanding flexibility in schedules, defining work by deliverables and deadlines, creating innovative ways of engaging the team, taking care of the bonds between everyone, being pay attention to internal communication, establish clear processes and policies and, finally, be very alert to all signs and nuances in relationships to avoid any type of noise among the team.
Working remotely requires another type of leadership. If you are a controlling boss, you are at a loss to lead a team remotely, as working from home requires trust and detachment. It is necessary to create an environment where the whole team feels connected to each other, develops daily companionship, supports each other in individual needs, this is what creates the bonds that make the difference in the expected results and institutional efficiency even without everyone being on the same page. space.
Fundo Casa was designed since its inception for home office work. We never knew any other way. Always believing that this system was not only ahead of its time, but was the most efficient way to offer quality of life to the team while maintaining acceptable operating costs and its largest budget being donated to groups. Our institutional mission is to support community-based groups throughout South America to protect the important territories that contain the great biodiversity of this region. So the decision to minimize institutional costs, avoiding large operating expenses (and all the physical and mental strain that this implies for a team to move around large cities), was taken since its foundation. It also brings the advantage of composing a team based on their knowledge and dedication, regardless of which part of the country they live in.
But nothing is that simple and conceptual. Even though we have been coordinating a team in this work system for so long, this pandemic has brought new challenges. The volume of work more than doubled, and life was just about working — every day was the same. An emotional feeling of imprisonment intensified.
Our team, made up mostly of women, several of them mothers with young children, experienced an increase in stress. I started to notice that emails were being sent at 5am or 11pm. Without school, and without help at home, tiredness became visible. At the same time, the situation that was getting worse in the country demanded more dedication from the team every day. There were 16 project calls in 10 months, around 500 supports, more than 900 payments, endless online meetings, and an absurd amount of other small demands that accumulated, ranging from answering the groups' doubts, understanding the situation in constant change in territories, guiding and mobilizing more and more partners and supporters. After a few months of this process, the red light came on: I needed to take care of my team! Both physical and emotional health were compromised.
We buy new and comfortable chairs, each employee can choose the one best suited to their body. We agreed on a period of the day when we would all be connected, leaving moms with more freedom to choose their schedules. We took a break due to the team's schedule and everyone was able to take 5 days off after the most critical period of work. Finally, we offer Yoga and Pilates classes for the entire team, twice a week.
Our group has grown stronger, we are more united and committed than ever. Despite the challenges, this is the year in which Fundo Casa donated the most and no one on the team was a day late with their deliveries. Everyone helped each other, we shared tasks and collaborated with each other.
Our 13 employees, spread between Cunha, São Paulo, Juquitiba, Santos, Brasília, Porto Alegre and Santiago (Chile) have never been so close and united. Together with us, consultants in Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Colombia made 2020 a remarkable year, showing that facing a pandemic together is much easier. We don't know when this will all end, we hope it's soon! But having the sensitivity to take care of the team while we developed strategies to increase our donations comforted my heart. Regardless of what next year looks like, we will continue to welcome challenges and support solutions, regardless of what comes.
Originally published at: https://casa.org.br/trabalho-home-office-cuidado-e-atencao-com-a-equipe/
