Office politics
We read with interest last week that there is likely to be “No full-time return to the office for over a million”, with almost all of the 50 large employers surveyed indicating that they would be encouraging their employees to work from home for (at least) a significant proportion of the week.
Never one to swim with the tide and I suppose (to be fair) we’re not a large employer (yet), but in the week that this story was posted we were actually formalising our plans to open new office space in London.
Why?
Both of 50D’s bosses, Andy Bowie and Emily Bagley-Duncan, are in their (very) early 40s and, as well as retaining a youthful zest for life, they also have strong memories of what it was like to start out in the world of work. It was only 20 years ago after all.
Why do we mention this?
Well, this week Andy and Emily are interviewing a bunch of talented graduates for a range of positions in the new 50 Degrees structure. We’ve given serious consideration to what sort of environment we want to create for our new recruits. Of course, the Zoom/Teams rabbit is out of the hat and won’t ever really go back in, BUT we don’t want that to be ‘it’, frankly. Our view is that new team members learn most from bouncing ideas off one another; observing people with more experience; overhearing stuff; building a social bond and sense of team (useful for the late night drafting sessions)… and all that stuff that goes with working in an office. If only we had a value that described this… oh, we do…
Collegiate: we know we don’t know everything; we believe we can only create something great when we work together.
Also, home working is (just about) okay if you have a house with some space and maybe even a private office, if you’re lucky. It’s much bloody harder if you’re living in a shared house, with an iffy WIFI connection and limited dining table space. Like the majority of graduates. We care about the wellbeing of our team and don’t think that’s the best way for anyone to start a new job, particularly if it’s your first job.
It goes without saying we’ll be observing all social distancing guidelines and making sure our office is a safe place for our new team to work… it’ll also be a fun place to learn, to share ideas, and to focus on delivering a fantastic product for our clients.