My name is Jacqueline and I have been working for SISA in marketing for twelve years. Ironically, my journey of working at home begins on a Friday, 13th - 13th March 2020. I said goodbye to my office colleagues as I do every Friday with the words: " Bye-bye. Have a nice weekend and see you on the Monday". However, at that time I did not know that this would be the last time I saw my office colleagues in person. Since then I only see them pixelated via Skype during our daily DEXI at 9am. DEXI by the way is a creation of our sales manager and means Daily Exchange of Information...
Thus, on the evening of March 13th my husband came home with the news that his receptionist had been tested positive for Corona. Well, great! So I called the SISA task force just after 5 o'clock. After a few phone calls back and forth, my office was suddenly no longer located on the Gewerbestrasse in Aesch but at my home. A colleague brought me a monitor, docking station, laptop, keyboard, mouse and so on at half past seven in the evening.
So far a normal working day looked like this: getting up shortly before 6 o'clock, getting out of the house at half past six onto the bus and at 7 o'clock sharp I usually am sitting in the office. Then my office colleagues gradually arrive, at 10 o'clock I get myself a coffee from our piazza, take this opportunity to chat with colleagues and at 12 o'clock I finish work.
Now I get up at five to seven and sit at my little improvised workplace at 7 o'clock sharp. My colleague is usually here before me - he lies on my bed, is hairy, has four legs and listens to the name Gipsy. In between I go to my very own private piazza and get a tea or a coffee. I haven't seen my colleagues, whom I usually meet in the piazza, for almost three weeks now. We have a digital "coffee break" in the afternoon at 3pm, but usually my PC is already off by then and I do my second job. Cleaning, vacuuming, dusting...
I often ask myself: what would we have done a few years ago without the technical possibilities we have today. Within a very short time, our technical department has made it possible for us to work at home without any problems, as if we were in the office at our workplace. Skype also makes it possible to talk to everyone "face to face". We even held our marketing meeting this way and our quarterly team meeting with all employees.
In spite of all these possibilities, I hope that this extraordinary time will soon be over and that I will soon see my colleagues all in good health again in Aesch. Although home office is a good alternative, there is nothing like personal contact.
In this sense: let's stay at home, so that there is a chance that everything will soon be over. And above all - stay healthy!
By the way: I was shocked to discover today that I will soon no longer fit into my jeans, so from now on my "way to work" will looka a bit differently...
Author: Jacqueline Birchler
Department: Marketing
Date: 06.02.2020
