It’s Friday, April 3rd. The third week of remote work is coming to an end. And since remote work predisposes to reflection and looking inside, why not take advantage of this moment and look at what is already behind, what is ahead, and in general, what is going on there.

If someone had told me about such a development of events at the end of last year, I would never have believed it. China, Wuhan – this is somewhere in another galaxy… We live on an island, in a house, and nothing can reach us.

But no, that’s enough. Moreover, from conversations with friends, something like this hard-pulmonary thing has been observed in our blue-eyed area since last September-October. Some cleared their throats, choked, and cleared their throats themselves, and others were treated for pneumonia in the hospital. The word COVID-19 was not yet heard.

A week before leaving for remote work, we at the company began to work through the necessary measures. The company’s IT infrastructure was initially adapted for remote work; it was only necessary to expand the Internet channel and VPN connection capabilities in case of an eventuality, which subsequently happened. As if looking to the future (or catching up with those who have gone ahead?), Belarusian legislation added remote and remote work to the Labor Code on January 28, 2020; Each employee switching to remote work only had to write a corresponding application. We conducted a survey of employees regarding the possibility of remote work: only 5% of employees did not have computers at home and 7% did not have the opportunity to work fully.

An important point in preparing for remote work was informing customers. It’s no secret that many customers believe (with good reason) that the transition to remote work will negatively impact team productivity. However, we don’t really have a choice here: either we work slowly but remotely, or we work quickly, but then we can suddenly stop for 14 days of quarantine.

And then came Friday, when the first case of the disease was officially reported in the Republic of Belarus, and Monday, when the company’s management put Plan B into action. A couple of hours later on Monday the command to “go home” was given. We went and went home…

The first week was spent getting used to it. It’s hard to get used to the fact that everyone has different working hours. Someone is waiting for you cheerfully and with headphones on at 9 a.m., someone may need you at 19:00, or someone does not have lunch at 13:00. The line between the beginning and end of the working day is blurred, and personal space becomes a work space, and your entire home becomes an office. By the end of the week, my butt definitely started to hurt from sitting and not having to go to the floor above for coffee; a kitchen workspace is evil.

The second week passed with the realization that something in the current routine needed to be changed. You got up, washed, ate, sat down at the table – and you’re already at your workplace. Slowly, envy began to appear towards those who ran in the morning. Going to the gym twice a week does not change the weather, this is too little. We started taking family walks in the evenings. During my lunch break, I walked to the store a couple of times, the walk took about an hour – it became easier. But laziness still took its toll.

The third week went somehow better. The main thing is not to turn on Euronews on TV in the morning, maintain a positive attitude (half of the world’s population is already sitting at home, and in the end 90% will get sick from COVID-19), and find even more positive news, of which the most positive is us We will all undoubtedly die, and this will undoubtedly happen someday. For many evenings I have wanted to watch my favorite film, “On the Beach” (2000). Meanwhile, life goes on, work goes on, although not as it was before, and positive news from television eradicates any suspicion that what will happen in our country will happen in others. As they say, no comment.

We look into the future with unbridled optimism and firm confidence that everything will be exactly as it will be. See you on the air!