This article is a personal retrospective and reflection on 1 year of the pandemic crisis. I’ll also briefly talk about how we, at Runtime Revolution, adapted our recruitment process and culture initiatives.
First, I’d like to add a bit of context and share a personal note. I’ve lost my dear uncle to COVID-19 and know a few people that got infected, had serious symptoms and are still recovering. My girlfriend is a nurse and works at Lisbon’s largest hospital, so I get constant updates on the current state of the pandemic. She had her vacation canceled twice and has worked some 16 and 18+ hour shifts. I’ve mentioned all of this so that you understand why I take it so seriously.
As of March 2021, a year has passed since Runtime Revolution imposed work-from-home standards. It was on the 13th of March. The date got latched to my head — even though I really suck at remembering dates.
Before that date we worked from our offices with our eyes on the world, with a special focus on the United States market. That is something that really ended up helping out when we shifted to working from home. In a way, Runtime Revolution, was already a bit more prepared than other companies that focus on their local market. We were already accustomed to having video-meetings, organizing our projects in a way that everybody could have a clear picture, and using Slack and other tools to collaborate remotely on a daily basis.
In my department, People and Culture, we had to adapt quickly and, looking back, we did! Before the pandemic, our recruitment process was completely face-to-face, as we invited candidates to come into our offices and meet in person. Often, after the interview was over, we walked through our offices so they could get a glimpse of our teams and work environment. We created a very personal journey and candidates felt that. We’re recruiting our future colleagues, after all!
I’m not going to go into the fine details, but, long story short, the recruitment process is as seamless as we could make it. Everything is done through video-calls. We adapted our technical exercises to better suit our new reality, contracts are now digitally signed and people receive our welcome kit and a computer, while in the comfort and safety of their homes. We’ve been able to welcome many people into Runtime Revolution this last year, and it’s something that I’m really proud of. I’m happy about how we handled this whole situation.
Regarding company Culture initiatives, we also had to adapt our way of doings things, because most of our actions were spontaneous when we worked from our offices. After-work soccer and basketball games or even video game tournaments got scheduled casually during our lunch break. Nowadays, we have to be a bit more methodical and creative about it — but we kept it going! We’ve implemented monthly Company Updates to keep our team aware of the company’s “big picture”. We’ve created Virtual Hangouts where we shuffle everybody into random groups and schedule a video-call. There’s an ice-breaking topic, but most of the time, we end up chatting about our hobbies and having a laugh. Created a monthly Photography Contest and the winner gets a prize. Some of our after-work clubs get together remotely to play board games and video games, or, just to talk about music and our hobbies. We also do a bunch of other things to try to close the social gap that COVID-19 created.
Now back to my personal vision about things: We’re not working remotely. We’re working pandemic-remote and that’s completely different!
We might be working from home, but we cannot go to the movies after work. We can’t go grab a bite and hangout with our friends, loved ones and colleagues. We can’t go play soccer or go to the beach (one of the perks of living in Lisbon!). It’s been more than a year since I’ve gone to see a band play live. It’s been more than a year since I’ve rehearsed with any of my bands in a garage or played live… I’ve even released an album with AIM — one of my bands — and I haven’t been able to share it with people on stage. Music is a big part of my life, and now even that is restricted.
Not everything is bad though. While working from home I can play the drums/guitar/bass on my lunch break — and don’t have that dreadful commuting time!
While I’m writing this article in March 2021, we’re going through our second mandatory lockdown in Portugal, where I live and work. This lockdown started in mid-January and it’s working like intended, but it’s also testing our personal, mental and social limits.
Coming back to my reflection about this pandemic-remote, the things I miss the most about work are the social aspects of working and interacting with amazing people. I miss sharing a laugh, creating something face-to-face, being able to help someone immediately, or even playing Dungeons & Dragons with my colleagues that I have the pleasure to call friends.
Another thing that crosses my mind constantly, even going through some rough patches, is how damn lucky I am. I think we should give this some perspective. In my case, I’ve been able to adapt my job to work from the safety of my home, and that’s something that a lot of people can’t say. I’m grateful that I was able to help friends and family that weren’t that lucky. This pandemic also shed light on what’s truly important in our lives. I now have a huge list of things I want to do when this situation is over.
Working together, we can overcome the eeriest of obstacles. We will get through this, and I can’t wait to hug everyone again!
I follow a strict no-bullshit approach to HR and I’m glad Runtime Revolution supports it. If you are interested in who we are and what we do, make sure to reach out! I’ll make sure you get a clear picture of our way of doing things.