It’s Monday morning again and the start of week four of working from home.
Kids up, dressed, breakfast eaten and myself ready in the hope that keeping to a routine might help us have a productive day.
My plan is to make all my phone calls to customers before my husband goes to work this afternoon and the kids can be kept out of ear shot.
I take myself off to my makeshift office in the utility room and close the door behind me. By now the kids have got used to this routine and have even started to knock before entering.
Our daily 9am call starts on Teams, all Community Partners (CPs) join the call and it’s a time to ask any questions and get an overview of our day ahead.
I prepare for my first call of the day, it’s one which would usually be done face-to-face in the customer’s home. I can see the customer has been in contact recently regarding some issues in the block where she lives, so I’m preparing myself for a difficult conversation.
Although slightly frosty at first I addressed some of her concerns and checked how she was feeling at the moment. Her attitude changed completely and she seemed reassured. My role is usually very much face-to-face so to be able to fill someone with the same reassurance over the phone gave me a huge boost and I was so pleased this customer felt better once we had spoken.
‘’Snack time Mummy!’’ that’s my cue to deliver supplies to the kids, who I see had been drawn to the arts and crafts I had set up at the kitchen table: winning right now! I leave Fin to keep practicing his “keepy ups” and Ruby watching the vets programme she’s obsessed with; ten episodes should last a while right?
Back I go to my hideout to follow up with a very poorly customer I visited back in January. Despite being terminally ill he has arranged for his family to help clear the property and decorate in two of the main rooms. This is a customer who didn’t ask for help even though it was offered and instead organised it by himself.
One thing that I hear throughout the day is a constant ‘ping’ from my phone (no it’s not social media), it’s from our communities Team chat, a forum where we all touch base. Since we’ve been working from home it’s been so reassuring to know your team mates are always on hand.
My most surprising call of the day was with a customer who had started on our action plan and cleared their garden of rubbish. This filled me with happiness that even in these uncertain times and with a challenging medical condition she could work with her family to achieve this.
Her husband is not working at the moment due to COVD-19 and to my delight they had contacted our financial responsibility team to update their universal credit claim to reflect their change in circumstances and receive the support they deserve. Another happy customer. It is more important than ever that they know we are here to support them.
Each call today has been positive and all customers I have spoken to have been pleased that we have still been contacting them.
This is also a great time for housekeeping. Going forward there will be changes to our patches so I am putting together some case notes to help a new CP with some of my more complex cases, having a comprehensive handover is key for consistency.
And that’s me done for today. I hear the kids dancing away in the lounge and it’s time for me to join them.
Do I have guilt that I’m not getting as much work done as I should? Yes
Am I grateful to be able to work from home at this time? Yes
Do I have mum guilt? Yes
Am I doing my best? Absolutely Yes
Stay safe everyone.
– Kayleigh Dorricott, Community Partner