Working from home guidelines from IS: With more employees working from home, we need to clarify that employees should only be taking home their Cook Children’s-issued laptops. All other equipment should be left in your work area (i.e. monitor, docking station, keyboard, printer, mouse, etc.).
The goal is to use the equipment left in employees’ cubes to achieve adequate social distancing for onsite staff that cannot work from home. Without that equipment, we cannot do that effectively.
Please return any equipment other than your laptop to your work station. If you have any questions, please speak with your supervisor, or call or email the IS Service Desk at servicedesk@cookchildrens.org or (682)885-7999.
- At home, you may lose the natural breaks you typically get in the office from going place-to-place. Don’t forget to build these moments back in to your day. Take breaks between conference calls and emails to stretch, walk, say hi to your puppy, grab a coffee, etc. Your body, family and colleagues will appreciate it!
- Meetings don’t have to be an hour. Consider having 5- to 15-minute check-ins with your direct reports or manager each morning, mid-day and late afternoon.
- Reset your expectations for remote work. Celebrate what went well and accept that working from home leads to different accomplishments. Forgive yourself and others for barking dogs, a needy child or other unexpected life sounds. We all know that’s what home life is all about.
- Allow for social time with team members in whatever way works best for your group. Have a virtual coffee chat!
- Breathe and appreciate the unexpected moments with family. That’s less frustrating than feeling “interrupted,” and years from now, you’ll be so glad you did.
