The consequences of the Corona Pandemic were felt in almost all life situations worldwide. Switzerland was not spared and responsibly restricted public life temporarily. As a result, many employees from a wide variety of companies had to move from the office to their home office.

While some companies and employees had difficulties with the changeover, others coped well with it. After all, in addition to the hardware, the required software must also be available in the home office. Furthermore, communication within the team must be ensured. Every company and every employee has solved and experienced these changes differently.

The same happened to us and our employees at FireStorm. In this short article you will get an insight into the home-office experiences of our employees. We asked our apprentices Gentiana and Roger about their advantages and disadvantages in the home office. – Now we wish you a lot of fun while reading the two experience reports!

A field report from our apprentice Roger

The transition from office to home office was very sudden and yet went very smoothly. Within one day, all required devices for the home office were reconfigured and put into operation.

In the beginning, I needed two to three days to get used to the new situation and working environment. In the home office I had access to the same programs and services as if I had worked directly in the office. This meant that I could carry out my normal activities and duties without any restrictions. Communication with the other employees also worked smoothly thanks to VOIP.

Working at home had its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, I was able to focus on my work at home very well (especially when programming). On the other hand, there was no direct contact to my colleagues at home. The fact that I didn’t have to travel to work was also an advantage. All in all it was an interesting experience and I enjoyed the time in the home office, but I was glad to come back to the office after these 3 months.

Roger was optimally equipped in his home office and was therefore able to carry out his usual activities as normally as possible.
However, he still missed contact with his colleagues at home.

A field report from our apprentice Gentiana

The home office had many advantages and disadvantages. The positive thing was that I could work just as well in the home office as in the office. I was also able to communicate with the other employees, but unfortunately only by telephone. It was a great pity that I could not see my colleagues in the office. Contact over the phone is definitely different from contact in the office.

Of course, the office and document work was cancelled because I didn’t have all the folders and documents at home. Therefore, all this accumulated naturally in the office. When we could return to the office, I was very happy to see my work colleagues again.

Apart from that, I had a very good time in the home office. Over lunchtime you could be at home and have lunch together with your family. I was able to organize my everyday life similar to the office and to work on most tasks in the same way.