Working during the pandemic

How to manage the balancing act between office and home office? Many people asked themselves this question in spring. In the meantime, working in the home office is nothing unusual any more. Since Corona has forced its way into our everyday lives, we have had to overcome many hurdles to adapt to the crisis.

The morning meeting at the coffee machine is now a thing of the past, and unfortunately so is quick coordination at the workplace. Today we will discuss the most important points of the day online. It is a completely different feeling not to be physically present. The unaccustomed distance changes social interaction and also the work process. Everyone knows that meetings can sometimes last longer. This is no different with the large number of online meetings. However, regular exchange between the team members and our customers is crucial for a smooth project flow.

Fortunately, it was possible for us to have all employees working in the home office right from the start. Of course, we were aware that the mothers and fathers in our circle are now not quite as flexible as usual. The team has done an excellent job here, despite irregular working hours. The internal organisation and arrangements were perfected and adapted to the new challenges.

In the meantime a few months have passed. The office is about 50% full again and home office is the order of the day, depending on requirements. The first meetings with customers could also take place again in the meantime, of course only with a lot of distance, hygienic safety measures and lots of fresh air. We have also developed new methods to support digital communication and the changed work processes. For example, telephone interviews and online questionnaires have been developed for our usability tests, with which we can now even test more easily and efficiently than before. The results can be evaluated more quickly and fed back into the design process. Our tooling has also been optimised accordingly. We now work with new conception and layout programs that focus on collaborative work.

We are looking optimistically into the future, even if many things are progressing somewhat more laboriously than usual. What counts for us is that everyone involved remains motivated and passionate about implementing their ideas. Many thanks to the whole HMI team as well as all customers and partners for their understanding and the still excellent cooperation!