52 weeks ago today...

52 weeks ago today I woke up to begin my first day of homeworking. Uncertainty was overwhelming me together with guilt regarding the small amount of staff I had to furlough the day before.

I was conscious that William Ham Head of Department now Director, and I had set up two Skype meetings with the staff: support staff at midday and the fee earners at 3pm. These meetings continued until staff returned to the office albeit in very different ways in June 2020. It was always at the full front of my mind that it was our job to keep the team motivated through the tough times ahead. On our first Skype meetings we had very mixed emotions from staff – some very giddy that they were still in their PJs, some very concerned about what the future held and others with no reaction at all which were the ones who concerned me. These twice daily meetings for Will and I got harder and harder as we too as individuals were feeling the impact and had our own emotions to deal with.

I am glad to say the first meeting went well, our continuity plan was working. All laptops were set up and working, phone calls were able to be transferred to mobiles. Little did we know how long this would go on for.

It was after this first meeting that I realised that this pandemic was going to be a real test on people’s mental health and I felt responsible for all of my Teams mental health and decided to try and keep them in as normal of a working routine as I could to assist them further down the line.