Filimin is working from home!
With the pandemic, a lot of people have moved to working from home, or attending online classes. It's actually good for some, those that are more efficient, more comfortable, and happier working or doing schoolwork from home. Some people are mildly inconvenienced working from home, and have a little trouble adjusting. Others (like me) struggle a lot.
No matter which boat you're in, a shift in your working routine and environment can be tough, and it requires a lot of adjustments to move work to home.
I do marketing and social media work; all of my stuff is online, so working from home isn't so hard. I'm joining the rest of the world in attending Zoom meetings and communicating through instant messages rather than tapping on a coworkers shoulder.
But what about the stuff that isn't so easy to move home?
"There's no way to do manufacturing work from home." I hear you say. "It would be crazy to send a weeks work of materials home with employees and expect them to manage themselves," you argue. "It would be ridiculous to take a drill press home with you to work." you protest.
You read that right. We actually moved a drill press home for Gilda. There's pictures below!
Our Filimin Family has done amazing things during this rough time, doing a stellar job of adjusting. We moved our customer service and marketing home, sure, but way more importantly, we moved everything home.
Friendship Lamps aren't "essential" by any means, but they matter. Especially now, when people are trapped at home, lonely and worried about each other, it matters. I have one with a few coworkers, and seeing the yellow glow helps me feel whole. Hayley might not be at the desk behind me making me laugh with jokes, but she can still brighten my morning with a yellow light.
So we want to keep making them. They aren't essential, and they aren't worth risking anyone's health for, but they do make a difference. Now more than ever. So we've taken measures to make sure that we can all continue to make and deliver Friendship Lamps.
Our warehouse sits mostly empty, with only three people allowed in the building. The Plant Manager (and company mom) Michelle goes in to ship lamps, chief Mad-Scientist Tom goes to operate laser cutters and cut wood parts, and our Commander-in-chief John goes in to help them. Even when they're there, they are separate and safe. They keep to different parts of the building, and if they can, go in at different times.
The rest of us are home. We go in and pick up our supplies from a shipping container, where materials have been sitting for days (to make sure we can't spread the virus). When we pick up, we drop off the things we've made to sit for another few days until Michelle can get it. All of this no-contact.
Our team has done so good in this transition. I think everyone at Filimin deserves a bit of a pat on the back. Good job, guys.
As we all got our home offices setup and ready to work, we posted pictures. It was fun to share and see how different our setups were! So lets compare!
Customer Service
The CS room at the warehouse usually has Patrice (the head of CS), Jade, Jane and Kelley in it. The wall you can't see in here is a big whiteboard! Lots of light and lots of plants, taken care of by the wonderful Tiffany. Michelle may be the plant manager, but Tiffany is the plant manager! 🍃
Patrice has three monitors at home (so jealous!)
"Welcome to Janeland!"
I agree whole-heartedly, Jane. I'm sure you want more space right now, having to make room for making shades and customer service.
Marketing/Logistics
Hey, that's me! I'm the head of marketing, and I share an office with Angela and Hayley. Angela manages the inventory and order processing, while Hayley manages the logistics of returns/repairs. They both also crack jokes and make my world a brighter place. I never thought I'd miss this little room so much.
Angela just moved into a new house before this whole pandemic started. Her desk looks really small! She also keeps orders taped to the door beside her for organization. Whatever works!
Hayley doesn't have a lot of space to spare, but she made room to work. Hopefully that mountain of stuffed animals doesn't avalanche down onto her during one of our meetings! ⛰️
Luckily, I already had a home office setup. My computer is nice enough to handle video editing with ease, which is a blessing. I normally use my office for gaming, painting, or personal projects.
Command Central
It's the nickname we've lovingly given to John and Michelle's office. It's really small, but its right in the middle of the warehouse and always has people coming in to ask questions and generally bug these guys. I'm pretty sure this is the first time this room has been empty since we moved in.
Michelle still works at the warehouse, being one of the only people allowed in the building right now. She's done an amazing job helping everyone else get our materials safely. ❤️
John goes up to the warehouse some, but he's mostly at home too. I wonder how he's managed to get any work done without all the interruptions?
Engineering
Tom and Pankaja are the resident engineers, and in engineer fashion, have way too much stuff in their office. Tools and test products and computers and things they plan to fix fill the shelves! Never a dull moment in here.
Pankaja just built himself a new computer, so he's all set to work from home. Too bad he can't put my keyboard in Jell-O from home, too.
Tom might be working at the warehouse still, but he shared his home setup too!
Base Making
This one was probably the trickiest to move home. The base room usually has carts to load bases onto, it has a drill that hangs from above for convenient access, and the programmer that prints the labels we stick on the bottom can be finicky.
Tiffany is known for taking care of the company hermit crabs Phil and Minni, watering the plethora of plants through the warehouse, and sticking googly eyes to anything and everything. She's awesome. She's also taken everything from the big base room and squeezed it into her basement. I have no idea how she manages to do that and keep working on social media posts.
Shade Making
If you couldn't tell by all the chairs, this room usually has quite a few people in it. Safari and Marie make shades in here all day, and Michelle comes and goes to check on things. Throughout the day, Customer Service will come out here and make shades too. Most everyone does a little bit of manufacturing as well as their main job. We also hold meetings in here and celebrate birthdays.
Gilda is the newest member of the Filimin Family! Angela is her mom, and she still lives at home, and they're still getting moved in. Yup, there's the drill press we sent home with her! At least they've got some space!
Angela and Gilda are a hoot. They even added a bit of Filimin Flare to their new house.
Thank you, guys.
For all the hard work everyone's done. For the flexibility and adaptability we've all shown in this hard time. Now is the time to come together, and I think we're doing great.
We are constantly looking to make sure our processes keep everyone safe and healthy. I know we can't work together in person right now, but we're still in this together.