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It’s no longer business as usual at Health Justice Australia

Tessa Boyd-Caine is writing from her home office in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If my colleagues could see my desk right now, they’d be horrified. Usually tidy and organised, instead my workspace is piled high with last year’s reports and unopened junk mail. Yes, I’m writing this at home because #COVID19!

A cluttered desk with an open laptop

The challenges of working from an ad hoc home office.

For the past two weeks I have been focused on supporting our staff to work from home for a prolonged period. At Health Justice Australia, we are fortunate compared to many of our non-profit sector colleagues. As a startup charity with a small and agile team, we have built an operating environment fit for this century.

What does that look like?

Firstly, all staff have work-provided tablets. That may sound like basic infrastructure in 2020, but for many charities and community services, this capacity is not recognised as ‘core business’ and not invested in by funders or supported by donors.

Secondly, we share services with a number of other organisations, enabling a level of IT support far more sophisticated than a charity our size would normally have access to.

Why is that important?

Over the past six months we’ve been shifting our computer-based operations into the cloud – a project demanding far greater investment and organisation than we could have administered had we been operating alone.  So for us, working from home is now feasible. 

There are downsides, of course.

Not everyone has a desk, or a quiet space away from family or domestic responsibilities. Lately, our virtual team meetings are peppered with popup contributions, whether from pets, kids or partners.

A zoom screenshot featuring 7 people and one cat

Weekly meetings have moved into the virtual and personal space

Stock shortages in large screens means we must keep an eye on staff wellbeing over prolonged periods of working on small screens, or in cramped spaces. We need to maintain good ergonomics, which is something I personally struggle with. I’ve found the perfect shelf to use in lieu of a standing desk, but I have to continually remind myself to stand up and relocate on the hour; a routine that had become second nature in the office. 

The biggest adjustment however is staying connected. My team has set up remote, informal catch ups throughout the week. This is where we come together via video link to make a morning cuppa or take a lunch break. This affords us an important check-in with each other, as well as space for the kind of casual social interaction standard in office life.

I’m doing the same with friends too. We are organising ‘remote dinners’ where we prep, cook and eat together online, providing us all a respite from the isolation. 

Meanwhile, I baked a birthday cake for my dad in the time I would have spent commuting. And I’m also enjoying the sneak peek into everyone’s home lives.

Homemade cardamom and orange cake for my Dad’s 75th birthday.

It might not be business as usual these days for our immediate work culture, but there are silver linings.

Not so for the communities we are here to help – and that is foremost on all our minds during this uncertain and worrying time.

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