Experiences from pandemic times: Turbulent take-off with safe landing in the New Normal

The coronavirus pandemic has turned our lives and work upside down since the beginning of 2020. Our personal contacts have been reduced to a minimum, our own four walls have become our daily workplace, and many hobbies have been put on hold. In this article series, employees talk about their (professional) everyday life in pandemic times. How do they cope with the ongoing situation, what hurdles do they encounter and how has their life changed due to the restrictions?​

By Yulia Shershneva, Deputy Head of BPO, Rödl & Partner Lithuania

March 2020 divided our lives into two parts: the usual life before the quarantine and the new unknown life ahead. For all of us it was a very unexpected situation. At the beginning we were not ready for Covid-19, but finally we overcame this challenge altogether. This is our victory. There was an urgent need to organise the employees‘ work from home by moving computers and checking software connections. It was not easy to avoid technical equipment-related problems. But we did it! In addition, many questions had to be answered in order to reassure employees and customers and prevent the panic. The Covid-19 situation disclosed our capabilities to unify ourselves and work effectively under complicated conditions. Our progress was rising day by day, step by step.

We started using Skype for Business for communication purposes more often in comparison to the pre-pandemic times. At the beginning of the quarantine, kindergartens were closed in Lithuania, meanwhile, the schoolchildren were transferred to distance learning from home, and stores, except for food shops, cafés, theatres and museums, were closed. Wearing face masks became obligatory inside and outside. Once I forgot my face mask and went outside. I felt very uncomfortably – like a person committing a crime.

Within the initial days of quarantine it was an issue to work from home. I have got two kids, 5 and 10 years old. The teachers weren’t ready for distance learning at all. The systems were facing technical problems and were not working properly. I had to do many different tasks within a day: prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner, help the older child to connect to distance learning, keep the younger child occupied and, at the same time, work effectively. Everything got mixed up. There was no boundary between working hours and family time, no evenings or weekends dedicated to the family. I used to face a long working day, containing two directions: family and education-related matters and the issues of customers and employees. I used to feel guilty towards my company because of taking my youngest child to bed during official business hours. Also, as a mum, I felt guilty towards my kids every time I used to turn on TV while I was attending online business meetings.

At the beginning of the quarantine, a possibility of going to the food store seemed to be like a holiday. Afterwards, we got used to this unusual situation and started perceiving it as a new normal. Gradually, we learned to draw a line between working hours and leisure time. Although my temporary office was established in the kitchen, every time before entering my new office, I used to dress up in the official manner. It helped me to motivate myself better for the professional tasks.

I am so glad that we managed to find new forms of communication amongst our colleagues. We attended lots of remote online meetings and organised online team buildings. We came up with a range of original birthday greetings, including collages of our photos and lovely wishes. To my mind, we became closer by learning great lessons on supporting each other.

Overall, I believe that the pandemic itself gave a chance to think in-depth about an instability and fragility of this world and inspired to be flexible, dynamic and ready for upcoming changes and challenges.​