Covid-19 has changed organizations drastically. From one day to another, companies had to adapt to 100% remote work scenarios. At Nuvolar, we decided to implement a policy based on flexibility, allowing our employees to decide where they want to work at any time. In this article, we explain how we managed to make it happen, what we have done to cope with the challenges, and what our approach looks like moving forward.

Written by: Claudia Regàs, HR Associate at Nuvolar.

One of our core values at Nuvolar is adapting to new challenges and being flexible in every aspect.

We are driven by change and new challenges. Technology, businesses, people, and the world around us are constantly changing, and so we are.

At Nuvolar, we believe that adapting to this volatile environment is crucial for our growth not only at the personal but also professional level.

Since the pandemic started, we have primarily been working remotely, and it is something that we will keep doing when the pandemic is over.

Our people can decide whether they want to work from home or go to the office, as we each have our own preferences.

 

Our new offices are open to everyone

We have opened new offices at the WeWork co-working space in Glòries (Barcelona).

However, we leave it up to each employee to decide whether they want to work from home or go to the office as we understand that each person has their own preferences.

Whether you prefer to come once in a while to grab a coffee with your mates or you are more inclined to come to the office on a daily basis, we leave this decision up to you.

Going to the office once in a while or coming on a daily basis is your decision, we leave it up to you!

Our tools to deal with the remote work disadvantages

The advantages of remote work are obvious: Working from home allows better work-life balance and more flexibility.

Employees have more facility to organize their working lives with their personal situations. Additionally, it reduces the commuting time to work, which allows people to have more personal time to spend with their loved ones or dedicate to their hobbies.

On the other hand, it can not be denied that remote work also introduces some issues, such as no face-to-face connection amongst team members, a lack of team spirit, decreased team collaboration, and feelings of loneliness.

We’re putting extra effort into addressing the challenges of remote working. Daily catch-up meetings & social activities are our best tools.

At Nuvolar, we acknowledge these issues, and therefore we are putting extra effort into coping with this situation (and challenges) and tackle them.

Despite this remote scenario that we face, there is smooth communication among all employees, not only within teams but also throughout the organization as a whole.

At Nuvolar, we have daily catch-ups with our teams to discuss what we are working on, whether there are any doubts or challenges, if a more hands-on approach is needed, etc.

Additionally, we have a Nuvolar Coordination meeting every month where a member of each team shares updates and the status of each project to keep everyone up to date on what is going on at the company level.

Moreover, as mentioned above, our offices are open to everyone that wants to go.

Our Social Activities: Contests & online Escape rooms to make us feel we are one team

On the social side, we have several initiatives in place.

We have a Slack application called Donut that randomly matches team members with someone else in the company so they can arrange a short meeting to chat about non-work related topics, similar to how one might have a conversation with peers while preparing a cup of tea in the office kitchen.

This chat provides an opportunity to have an informal conversation with someone in the company with whom you might not have direct contact, as you may not attend the same meetings or work on the same projects.

Additionally, we also organize ‘Friday Funday’ the last Friday of each quarter. That day, the Social Committee organizes activities for the whole company, and we spend that day together.

With these activities we make sure everyone feels part of the family, a team who’s pulling the same rope together!

Whether we organize drawing games, quizzes, or as we have done lately, an online escape room, the ultimate reason for Friday Funday is to have a good time together and get some laughs!

All of these initiatives help to minimize the feeling of isolation in a remote work environment.

Last but not least, these activities help to make sure that everyone feels like we are still one team and one family pulling the same rope together, even if we might not see each other face to face on a daily basis.

Our commitment for the future: Continue to promote remote work & flexibility

To sum it up, we believe that remote work is here to stay. As a company, we have decided to accept this challenge and adapt to this new work environment.

As mentioned above, working from home has very obvious advantages, however, it also brings some difficulties.

Therefore, our goal is to keep working hard to deal with this situation by putting in place policies and practices that help us cope with both the positive and negative effects of this new reality.

Interested in joining our team? Check here all our open positions!