“May you live in interesting times”
Our westernised version of the ancient Chinese curse seems poignant. Though there is debate on whether it is a curse or a good thing. Either way this is our time and we can only do what we can do to make the best of it.
Hybrid working is now the standard, and one Crush have had to deal with. It is not a decision made by democracy but one forced on us by Covid (and then petrol prices). And it seems most staff prefer spending more time at home, which is no surprise, but what was a surprise was learning that we did not need the hawkish supervision of our staff that we thought we did. Maybe we got lucky with our team but they have been, and continue to be incredibly reliable.
New staff will pose a bit of a problem. They have much more to learn about Crush, how we work and what we expect and that can only be done in person. It does look like we need new people in the coming months and it will be interesting to see the type of people applying and what their expectations are on working from home.
We have concluded that we need an office to be a successful design and website agency, and I think all businesses need a based.., a home. Though not the one we have because that is too big to be empty half the time.
So we are on the move!
It is more important to get together regularly than I thought, but not to check on work performance and growth, but for mental wellbeing. Getting out of the house and meeting colleagues now becomes one of the most important needs for having an office.
The fact that well being is considered more important that staff supervision may be a good thing to come from these interesting times!