If there’s one thing we’ve all learned this week, it’s that you don’t have to be in the office to be at work.
The COVID-19 outbreak has forced many into their homes, with Google Hangouts, Skype and Microsoft Teams replacing the usual office chitchat.
As well as impacting the actual output of any business, these unprecedented conditions have the potential to place strain on the mental health of workers facing the prospect of social isolation.
Creative technology company Nakatomi, part of production business Finch, is aware of how these conditions can be difficult for staff.
Speaking with B&T, Nakatomi co-founder Emad Tahtouh outlined some of the steps that have been put in place so far to keep things running – relatively – smoothly.
“Communication is the single most important thing and substituting whatever you were doing in your day-to-day with the closest analogous to a digital version,” he said.
Nakatomi has started running more regular ‘stand ups’, albeit online, to ensure the entire business is connected throughout the day.
They’re also rethinking how they use technology to communicate with colleagues.
“We’re doing more regular check-ins throughout the day,” Tahtouh said.
“The trick there is not to make them so regular and constant that it disrupts the workflow, but there’s a lot to be said for someone working in a office environment versus working at home.
“An office is social and you don’t get that at home. I’ve got a lot of staff who live by themselves and it’s a big shock to go from working every day in an office to working at home with no one around you.”
As well as regular check-ins, Tahtouh and the team are trying to replicate the casual and social side of the office virtually.
As a creative technology company, the Nakatomi team are well-versed in the world of VR.
So much so, they are using the technology as a way to get together.
“You can just get a team of people together in VR and play a game, have an interaction,” Tahtouh explained.
As well as being a fun way to break up a day of working from home, Tahtouh is of the view VR is a scalable solution for remote work.
“If we’re looking at a six to 12 month lockout, we’re going to have to have better solutions than what we have now – and VR is an amazing tool for that,” he said.
“There’s always been talk that VR is good, but not as good as the real thing. And that’s true.”
He gave the example of travelling to Fiji.
“You can go to a beach in Fiji in VR and it can look amazing and it almost feels like you’re there, but you’re not really there, so it’s never quite as good.
“But now your option to actually be there is literally gone – you cannot go there, even if you wanted to.
“So now VR is the best thing you can do.
“So I think we’re going to start seeing more of that, especially in tourism, travel, leisure, but also social interactions.”
