Taking Steps to make it work: embracing the digital!

In this, the second of her occasional series of blogs, Kim Berry of the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex, gives us a progress report of how she and her team are adapting in the COVID age…

Just a few weeks ago we were frantically preparing for a possible lockdown.  Our IT support team worked like Trojans to ensure that all staff would be able to work from home successfully.  We were kitted out with laptops, instructions on how to ‘remote in’ and the all-important headphone and microphone set to enable us to do our best impression of the successful 1990s pop group, Steps, whilst participating in online meetings.  

We are now in our 6^th week in lockdown so I thought it was an opportunity to reflect on how I’ve found it so far.

I left my office and, later that evening, lockdown was announced.  This left me with a feeling of some trepidation on how the next few weeks would look. 

Very early on, our team, the Resource and Management Services team, set up a WhatsApp group enabling us to keep in touch.  As well as using this to check on the occasional remote desktop connection problem, we have also been using it more socially – sharing dinner ideas and setting crafting and other such challenges to keep us all occupied.  Our regular face-to-face team meetings now take place via Zoom.  As a team who already have a cohesive working relationship, this regular contact has only cemented that further.

As a department, the UK Data Archive have continued to host a weekly coffee morning, also by Zoom and a monthly one with the UK Data Service as a whole.  These give us the opportunity to share our stories of lockdown and keep in touch with other colleagues outside of our immediate teams (and check out other people’s lockdown work station set ups and interior design choices)!

With so much information coming from all directions, both within and outside of the University, we have tried to contain this as much as possible using our intranet pages as a “one stop shop” for all information.  We set up Facebook pages for staff and these have been another way for us to keep in touch and share information on wellbeing and social events, such as quizzes and the 6-oclock sing along as well as teaching resources for those who are home-schooling.

I have checked in with our line managers on a regular basis so that any difficulties or concerns within their teams can be highlighted and addressed at the earliest opportunity.

As well as the day to day work carrying on as much as possible, staff have been undertaking their appraisal meetings.  Several staff signed up for a training course which would normally take place at the University. The first one of these was held on Monday with excellent use of the breakout rooms and white boards functionality in Zoom. Everyone agreed that lockdown was a perfect opportunity to undertake such a commitment as being in the office can sometimes present its own obstacles in finding the time to do such things.

In my last blog I mentioned the induction of a new member of staff.  This has continued to go well and the newest team member is settling into their new role well.  We will evaluate any gaps in the process once we are back in the office.

Our IT support team have been required to parachute in to resolve any technical issues and are doing a sterling job in enabling us all to continue working remotely.  There have been challenges with staff having difficulties logging in and I know they are being kept very, very busy during this time.

In summary, and as I reflect back on the last few weeks, we are making it work. Personally, I have had a few ups and downs in terms of life in lockdown.  It’s been an adventure having older children who are meant to be home-studying whilst I am working.  They try to tell me that an Xbox session is actually an IT lesson but I’m not sure that’s strictly true!    Writing these blogs has given me a new and additional focus as it’s not something I’ve done before.  Zoom continues to be an extremely valuable tool for us to use and we all seem to be getting used to this new way of working.  The various support tools we have put in place are helping us stay connected.

We are now cautiously turning our attention to an eventual return to the office.  Working practices may look very different for some time but the planning will continue as the situation develops.

Finally, you may remember in my last blog I wrote about the Fat Larry version of Zoom? I have since been reminded of Aretha Franklin’s “Who’s Zoomin”. Please enjoy this additional earworm from the past!

Stay safe.

Would you like to write a short Blog for ARMA? Send a brief precis to enquiries@arma.ac.uk and we may well be in touch!