How Did We Get Started on Remote Work?

No wonder they say that sleds need to be prepared in the summer! This is exactly what we did at Israel IT, of course, we could not foresee the quarantine, but we immediately began to prepare a “retreat” plan as soon as the coronavirus came to Europe. A month before the official quarantine was announced, we began preparing a plan for the transition to a remote mode of operation.

First of all, this concerned the provision of all equipment to our employees. I personally drew up forms to fill out, where it was necessary to indicate what you need to work from home. Next, I processed each form and made a general list of required stuff. This helped the company a lot after a few weeks because people could easily come and take a table, chair, laptops and other things they needed for work. If necessary, we delivered everything directly home by ourselves.

How Long Will it Last?

As soon as the quarantine began, the faces of the majority read “Why all these extra movements at all? It will all be over soon.” But, unfortunately, they were wrong and did not understand that this was for a long time. Therefore, the mood of experts at the beginning of the pandemic can be described as “Cool, we will sit at home for a month, and then back on track.”

Subsequently, when an enhanced quarantine was introduced throughout the country, it was no time for jokes. Every day, employees put + in a special corporate chat, as a sign that everything is in order with the health. This is where the real feeling of responsibility for your life began. To minimize the feeling of isolation, the following measures have been taken:

• Weekly meetings with the co-founder of the company
• Special channels to share content, impressions, communication
• Questionnaires so that our people understand that they will not be abandoned

The joy was that people did not get irritated, but, on the contrary, a feeling of collective support. Positive changes are noted by those who have the opportunity to go out of town, for example, to their parents and work from there. A laptop, you, fresh air, and loved ones nearby – unexpected advantages of a pandemic!

Feeling of Collective Support. How Does it work?

In the company, we perceive this as an experience and share it with others. Here’s a simple example, a team goes to a zoom meeting and everyone hears someone’s repairs done. And it starts like “Oh, my neighbors are doing repairs upstairs too!”, “And my neighbors have a child on the side!”. And everyone supports each other, you know, hardly anyone would talk about repairs being in the office because it is corny, they would not even hear it! People also gather, so to speak, according to their interests – who has children, who has a car, who loves board games, who have neighbors doing repairs. This is really unexpected but nice. In short, a sense of collective support is a sense of collective responsibility at the same time.

For all employees, we gave gifts for Easter, held a safe photo session in the summer, corporate in the fall, if you are interested in how we did it, you can read via the link. We also held an online Halloween celebration, Open-Talk Day, gave presents on the occasion of the New Year, collective vaccination with the support of Lviv IT Cluster, NewComers Day, online conferences, opening an office in Ivano-Frankovsk, regular updates on changes and plans of the company. Of course, we conducted all offline events with security measures in mind. It would seem that these are trifles, but they play a big role, especially when colleagues do not see each other every day, do not communicate with managers as often as before. Such things bring people closer and give a feeling of support.

Pros of Quarantine for Specialists

Of the advantages, we noted the following:

• Ability to work from anywhere. This makes everyone very happy, I think you can go to live with your parents, in the Carpathians, Odesa or Ternopil, in general, wherever your heart desires. Employees are positive about the change in the environment.
• Leisurely mornings and no public transport. This plus is noted by the workers as simply huge! There is no need to explain much here, I think. You wake up an hour and a half later, there is no need to rush to the minibus, standing to go to the other side of the city, etc.

Will IT be the Same Again?

  Before the pandemic, remote was more unusual than the norm, but now it has become something without which we can no longer even imagine life. Before the pandemic, there were no problems with trust in the company and it was possible to work remotely, but now it’s just a must have! Now we are moving towards a hybrid work model – if you want, work remotely, if you want – in the office. For our part, we are not against any of these modes of operation, as long as the employee is comfortable. Of the main achievements during this period, this is undoubtedly an increase in the number of projects and specialists, respectively. Now Israel IT employs 250+ talents in two offices – in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk. By the way, if you also want to become a part of the team, or have recommendations, then go to the vacancies page. We continue to grow and get better, the signing of the IPO in September only proves this once again. This autumn 2021 Central IT Academy starts its work. Further only more!