Our People are at the heart of everything we do. Yes, it is something we shout about quite a lot! And during these challenging times, we are ensuring that our team are putting their health, wellbeing and safety first and above all else.
Most of our fantastic team are all currently working from home, so seamlessly and efficiently. And, while we all miss that face-to-face communication IMMENSELY (in between our twice-a-day ‘cuppa and virtual cuddle’ teams video calls!), we thought it would be great to share what the team have been up to and how they’re spending their days at home (alongside working of course!) – with all of our lovely readers, policyholders and community.
This week, we hear from our Customer Services Assistant, Becky, who gives us all an insight into how she’s adapting to the new, current lifestyle of working from home… it’s a very worthy read! 😊
“It is now my 39th day of working from home; an opportunity and experience that had never arisen or been imaginable due to the nature of my job (a Customer Service Assistant at Paycare).
I must admit, it is something that took a while to get used to – I spent most of my hours during the first 3 to 4 days trying to organise my new ‘at home office’, arranging and organising my bedroom to function the most efficiently alongside all the new IT Software and Appliances I needed to help support me with my role.
To make it still feel like home, I chose to have an array of oil melts and incense around me, along with playing as many Old Skool R&B songs as possible, surrounded by my usual collection of funky pens. Working from home with your parents is a challenge (something I imagine a few people are experiencing right now!) but finally, after a few days of give and take, I’ve found the perfect volume for my music to avoid annoying Cheryl – not only Paycare’s Policy Administration Team Leader but also… my Mum! 🤣
As I began to slowly settle into working-from-home life, I realised just how much time I had to my disposal and that I really needed to keep myself progressing. If social distancing were to remain the norm for the next however many months, I really have no excuse but to pro-actively revisit targets that I’d set myself a long time ago, but admittedly, always procrastinated on!
Before I knew it, in came the Fitness and Food planner, something which reversed and doubled as a whiteboard, soon to become full of tasks…
The 3 tasks I recognise to be my top priority are as follows:
Learning to speak/read/understand French (again)
Reading along with our Paycare Book Club
Doing some writing of my own.
“You can never understand one language until you understand at least two” – Geoffrey Willans.
Honestly? I’m not learning French for any other reason than to say I can. I feel like broadening your horizons in terms of language can only mean for a healthier, happier, nurtured mind (Becky – we couldn’t agree more!). That being said, my friends and I have decided that we are going on a girls’ trip to Nice, France as soon as we can… I think the Wanderlust is finally settling in!
Paycare has formed a Book Club since we’ve all been working separately, something which I have taken a keen interest in. Some of my colleagues, including Kerry, Siobhan and Sally, have all began reading the novel titled, ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ and I plan to write a review on my social media once I’ve finished it. I can already sense that this is the novel that will make me fall back in love with reading – it is written beautifully, poetically and transports you to another world.
If anything, this has inspired me to write even more but first, I need to focus on gaining an idea of what I want to write about…
I do hope to be able to sit with my laptop soon and allow my fingertips to dance over the keyboard to create something spellbinding, but we’ll see.
My upcoming plans at home will consist of using my lunch hours to do some choir warm-ups online, do some exercise – perhaps some circuit training in the garden once the weather has brightened up and to then unwind after work, doing what I love – reading a few more chapters of our Book Club novel…
Ahhh perfect – stay safe everyone 🧡
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Wow, Becky! Thanks so much for giving us an insight into how you’ve been spending your days at home during these very challenging times – it’s so uplifting to hear of all the positive and exciting at-home activities you’ve been setting yourself to achieve and take part in 🙌
And Becky, we’ll be the FIRST to read your upcoming novel 😉
Keep your eyes peeled for our next ‘Meet the Team’ blog, where we hear from others in the team and how they’ve been managing their health and wellbeing 🧡
Until next time… 😊