The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Homing in on a successful strategy
BIG Partnership’s early response to pandemic has allowed it to transition smoothly to home working for its staff
Having been a proponent of flexible working for its 115-strong workforce for some time, BIG Partnership had a smooth transition to remote working last week, giving an uninterrupted service to its clients.
The marketing and communications agency has offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. Its coronavirus contingency plans were drawn up a month ago, resulting in staff already working from home (WFH) before the government’s official announcement.
Zoe Ogilvie, director of BIG in Aberdeen, is working at her home on the coast, rather than at BIG’s Alford Place address alongside her 25 colleagues.
She’s found that despite the speed of the unfolding situation, the business hit the ground running. “We’ve always encouraged and supported our people to work remotely if required,” said Zoe.
“This helped simplify things in the last couple of weeks as we already had the IT infrastructure in place, and knew our staff find WFH a positive and productive experience.
“We moved everything on to a cloud-based system for easy access. We’re using Microsoft Teams and our IT department was on (virtual) hand to iron out any teething problems.
“As well as providing staff with laptops, we encouraged them to take their workstations home if they preferred. This included double monitors, printers and chairs.
“We know this is likely to last for a while, and we didn’t want anyone struggling or being uncomfortable.”
BIG provides strategic communications support to its clients worldwide, and is able to do this remotely.
Its expertise in crisis communications and internal communications is being increasingly sought by clients, as they navigate the current unprecedented social and economic challenges.
Zoe added: “Being able to deliver our services, without affecting the standard and quality of work we are known for, was a crucial part of our contingency planning.
“We’re glad to say it’s working.
“Some of our clients are currently going through WFH anxieties and we’ve been able to support them with lessons learned from our experience, as well as helping them with robust messaging to reassure their employees and customers, that it’s business as usual, as far as it can be.”
Earlier this year BIG introduced a holistic wellbeing service offering staff a range of emotional, health, and “life admin” support for any health, mental health, financial, family or legal problems.
“This initiative couldn’t havebeenmoretimely,” said Zoe.
“Prolonged WFH has its challenges and keeping a healthy state of mind is imperative, especially when juggling work, childcare and family life.
“Or, if living alone, coping with the lack of camaraderie, structure and routine.
“We’ve been checking in regularly with our colleagues across all offices, keeping morale up through WhatsApp groups with lighter, fun content during breaks.
“We also trialled our first social gathering at the end of the day last Friday, when colleagues from all offices came together for a ‘virtual BIG bar’.
“My advice is to keep in touch with colleagues as much as possible, take regular breaks from your screen, get some e x e r c i s e a n d k e e p your work as separate as possible from your home routine.”