Collaboration and social life from the home office
There is no doubt that our world has changed drastically as a result of the novel SARS-CoV-2 corona virus and its worldwide spread. The consequences for the economy and society are barely foreseeable at present. How do we deal with this at Pentacor?
In dealing with the previously completely unknown COVID-19 pandemic, we are guided by our values, which are lived out as far as possible, even in difficult times. We simply stay true to ourselves and focus on our strengths.
Freedom and active participation as well as consideration are essential components of these values, which strengthen us. Accordingly, long before the situation in Germany became so dramatic and acute, it was up to each individual to decide at their own discretion whether he or she wanted to travel on business or even come to the office. As an IT company, we are in the comparatively privileged position of being able to work from almost anywhere, provided that we have an Internet connection.
Yet we love coming to the office every day, we appreciate and celebrate the togetherness there — especially having breakfast together. The journey to working from home is therefore no easy task for us. Before that, we preferred to look for other ways to keep a distance from each other. Alternative forms of greeting That was the first step — particularly popular: the octopus greeting.
We invariably asked ourselves whether, despite all caution and without knowing it, we might already be infected ourselves. We were concerned about other countries that had been affected by the virus earlier and more severely. In order to protect ourselves and our families, we responsibly encouraged all Pentacorneses to work from home whenever possible before there could even be talk of contact restrictions or curfews in Saxony.
Of course, we cannot simply lock a team that thrives on direct communication and fun into the isolation of our own four walls. We still want to celebrate our togetherness and won't allow ourselves to have breakfast together. From the very first moment, we therefore have our Remote Coffee Circle launched. Since then, instead of in the kitchen of our office, we've been meeting in front of our laptops every morning, before Everyone is warming out again to their various meetings, which now take place online without exception.
Very different tools are used, but the bottom line is that they all enable us to continue working together on our projects and to be there for our customers — even if they themselves may not be able to do so in the usual way due to the crisis. In Slack, we write or talk to each other briefly and simply. Microsoft Teams and Zoom enable us to have meetings that go beyond that. Nothing stands in the way of even pair programming: Control of the other person's computer is taken over and thus developed together or works on presentations.
Every now and then, there is a beer after work on the laptop, in front of the webcam. We're already home. In many ways, this time of crisis is also a time of short distances. And as always, we trust and build on our secret ingredient for all major and minor disasters: laughing together and lots of humor. That is what makes Pentacor stand out, even or especially in times of particular challenges.
