EQ at home – Katie Edward

Category: People - Posted On: Apr 3 2020


At EQ, our people are at the heart of what we do.

Although working from home means we are physically spread across our regions, our team are working hard to maintain regular communication with their clients whilst continuing to support colleagues by connecting with them daily.

We caught up with Katie Edward, Assistant HR Manager, to find out more about her experience working from home.

How are you finding working remotely?

I think I’ve settled in to our ‘new normal’ fairly well – my commute has dropped from 35 minutes to 2 minutes so I get a lie in and the traffic is generally quite light!

Our spare room has been transformed into my new ‘office’ (I say transformed, we rescued my desk and chair out of storage and plonked them in the corner). My partner drew the short straw and is working from the kitchen table – his new office doesn’t appear to have impacted on his ability to get the kettle on though…

No two days are ever the same in HR and that’s very much the case for us at the moment. There are challenges, and I’m sure there will be more to come, but we’re adapting to how best we can support everyone remotely and it’s also giving us the opportunity to look at our current processes and assess where these can be streamlined.

What are you doing to keep in touch with the rest of the EQ team?

We’re readily available to all of our employees via our dedicated HR email inbox or at the end of the phone.

We’ve been trying to keep up our communication to the whole firm in what is a very uncertain time – interpreting guidance as it’s issued so that we can in turn pass this on to our teams. We’re working closely with Marketing to put things in to place to keep morale up.

As an HR team we have a video call in the morning – either first thing or a little later for an 11am coffee. We are in constant communication throughout the day, whether that be calls or messaging on Microsoft Teams. We try to have a catch up in the afternoon too to see how things are going. Our 4pm finish on a Friday times itself perfectly with Rosie Ramsey’s Instagram 4pm wine time!

How are you looking after your emotional well being?

Before we started remote working, there was a small group of us from the office that went for a walk daily at lunchtime – I’ve tried to keep this up most days whilst I’ve been at home to get a break away from the computer and clear my head (just don’t ask me how much my pace has dropped).

I’ve tried to limit how much time I spend on social media as there’s a lot of misinformation being spread. A wise colleague’s advice a few weeks ago when things started to escalate in the UK has stuck with me – read the legitimate information first and read ‘opinion’ (if you want to) after.

It’s also really important for me to have a separate space to work in the house so I can distinguish between work and home life. When I finish up for the day, I can close the door and know that that is work done until tomorrow.

What advice would you give to others working from home?

Never underestimate the power of a simple ‘hello’. Whether that be to a colleague, client, family member or friend. I’ve even started saying ‘hi’ to the strangers I walk past when I’m out for fresh air (observing social distancing, of course). That might be the only human interaction someone gets in their day and you’d be amazed at how it can lift someone’s mood (as well as yours).

Communication is always important and probably seems like a given, but it’s even more important when your apart from everyone you know. You’d be amazed what just picking up the phone or sending an email can do to keep everyone in the loop.

And use video calls! It’s been scientifically proven that seeing someone when you speak to them is better for you than just chatting on the phone

Tell us, what are your new co-workers like?

They have a questionable work ethic, an insatiable appetite and a really bad habit of jumping on the desk at just the wrong time (and that’s just my other half!).

Milo says ‘stay safe’.

Our doors may be temporarily closed, but EQ are still here to support you. You can contact us on any of our usual telephone numbers and email addresses, which you can find on the Our People page on this website.