Working remotely

 Working remotely during a pandemic

This year has been very unpredictable for everyone. A year ago we hardly knew what Coronavirus was and now it affects each and every aspect of our lives. A big change has been the opportunity to work from home. The current workplace climate was already moving forward to this option more and more, but the pandemic has given everyone that final push to be given the flexibility to work from home.

Remote interns

This year, hiring interns has been a bit different. Erin is currently working from home but in the UK - working remotely. Here is what she thinks about it.

"It has been a very weird experience. I feel like I know the team but I've never met anyone, only chatted through zoom. It has been difficult trying to feel like part of the team when everyone is in Barcelona together. Even if people are working from home, everyone can meet up whenever. Although it has been quite a distant experience, everyone has been so lovely and welcoming and I have no qualms about messaging anyone with any problems I may face. 

I never could have imagined to have such a unique experience when I was looking for an internship but it definitely has been an amazing opportunity. It has helped me to become a lot more organised, it can be very easy to stay in your room and in your pyjamas when working from home! But getting up every morning and, in essence, having a full working day from your bedroom has definitely taught me to be more organised. 

Overall I do think having the flexibility to work from home should be utilised by more people, but it is difficult to work remotely and be so far from your work."

Interns in the office

Despite working remotely, Erin’s testimony goes to show how much can still be learnt and achieved without physically being in the office. Pablo, another intern of ours, started working remotely from the UK and made the move to Barcelona later on in September where he joined the rest of our team in the office. Here is how he described his experience:

“It was a bit strange at first, as I was spending most of my days thinking about properties in Barcelona, looking up addresses and contacting owners and clients all without leaving my house. Despite not physically meeting my colleagues until I got to Barcelona, I still had the opportunity to work with most of them 1-on-1; they each made me feel welcome and I felt integrated. It wasn’t until I arrived and started working in the office, however, that I realised how much I had actually learnt through working remotely. 

I expected to have a fair amount to still catch up in terms of day to day tasks and that it would take longer to get into the swing of things, but truthfully, I felt like I hit the ground running. I was given more responsibility than expected from day one and was able to start showing apartments almost immediately. I realised I had a solid understanding of how things operated, in addition to already knowing where to look or who to ask when I needed something, all of which made me feel confident when tackling my new tasks. I felt I had already started to improve my organisational, interpersonal and time management skills even without being in the same country. I’d say this experience has taught me to keep an open mind and to not underestimate the benefits of being flexible when it comes to unconventional forms of work.”

Daily schedules

We spoke to Erin about working remotely:

"It was difficult at first working from home, in a national lockdown because my house and room became my whole life. I would wake up for the morning meeting, over zoom at 9, and stay in my room, only leaving to the kitchen during the day. On some days, I would have meetings with the marketing team to discuss new projects and issues we were having. It was nice to have this time to speak with everyone.

I found as the internship went on, I found a good routine that worked well for me. Getting up and doing some exercise before the morning meeting meant that I was a lot more focused and productive during the day. Having a schedule to stick to is so important when you are working from home, otherwise it can become so difficult to be productive. One thing I can take away is definitely learning about myself and how I work best in such limited circumstances." 

Heres what Pablo thought:

"A typical day at Casamona starts off with a morning meeting where everyone outlines what they’re doing for the day, in addition to attending to clients on our email and office phone. Each team member dedicates a certain amount of time searching for new properties to upload and calling our owners to ensure all our information is up to date on our database. We’re all split into various departments including rentals, sales, human resources, accounting and marketing; therefore, everyone has their specific tasks to keep them busy throughout the day. Despite all of us having a specific department we specialise in, everyone in the team also has the opportunity to manage their own properties in addition to going on visits with clients and working on a variety of projects."

As we can see, due to the current Coronavirus situation there are many variations of ways to work. With each one having their advantages and disadvantages, it is interesting to see different points of view, from people who have experienced both working remotely and working in the office.