One year on, we reflect on the highs, lows, and in-betweens of a WFH world

It’s just over 12 months since the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic and CBDs across the world started shutting down. Here at Docusign, most of our teams have been working from home since that fateful day. Let’s take a look at how some of them have been faring.

For Natalie Carn, it was a full house

When WFH kicked in, Docusign recruiter Natalie Carn was living at home with her parents, as well as her sister, her sister’s boyfriend and their dog. “We had five people working from home at one point – it was a madhouse … or a boarding house!”

But Natalie soon settled into the groove. She gained 15 hours per week by avoiding the daily commute, and started cooking proper meals for lunch each day – giving her health and wellbeing a boost. She’s also learnt not to eat lunch at her desk, but to take a proper, scheduled break every day. 

Despite setting up a great WFH environment (“Docusign was very generous in giving us tech allowances for home”), Natalie can’t wait to get back into the office. “I miss (in this order) the amazing snacks in the kitchen, the Friday afternoon drinks and the office banter!”

When asked, one year on, what she would say to her 12-months-ago self, Natalie said, **“**Buy that coffee machine you’ve been eyeing off. You will get a lot more use out of it than you originally thought!”

For Natalie Mckay, a flexible future beckons

Despite missing the social aspect of work, and the ability to bounce ideas off the people around her, our Senior Marketing Manager Natalie Mckay is hopeful that the events of 2020 will enable her to pursue flexible work arrangements into the future. 

She appreciates the extra time in the day she’s gained from working at home – which she puts to good use by exercising or doing housework while listening to podcasts. And she’s made the past 12 months work by separating the physical space where work takes place from her ‘after hours’ relaxed zone. 

Sigourney Dean hotdesked at home

Events Coordinator Sigourney Dean quickly fell in love with a WFH sunrise walking routine along Manly Beach, and the ongoing ability to work from anywhere – a park, the beach, or a cafe.

To make her home office as comfy as possible, Sigourney bought a new lounge and fridge so she could make room for a desk. She’s made a point of packing up her desk each night and putting work away completely on weekends – and even moves the furniture around every couple of months to make it feel like she’s working somewhere new! 

Sigourney’s most memorable Zoom moment from 2020? “Dancing the night away with my Docusign Dance Crew. We made a dance compilation to Maroon 5's Sugar for Andrea Dixon's birthday. The most fun of 2020!” (Our Senior Director of Marketing, Andrea, agrees, saying this was her highlight of 2020, too!) 

And, despite missing the people, the random hallway conversations and after work drinks, Sigourney is hopeful that she can WFH forever. 

James Scott quickly got in the groove

Our Account Executive James Scott quickly went from ‘strange’ to ‘smooth’ in the WFH stakes. “It all felt quite strange at first – we didn’t know if it was all going to work and if we would be less productive. I soon discovered that we had the right tools in place so that everything worked smoothly. And I quickly came to appreciate the extra time back in my day to go to the gym or for a swim before or after work, instead of being stuck on the bus!”

James credits Docusign for making the transition an easy one. “I could not be more impressed with how helpful Docusign has been. The company has demonstrated they truly care about our welfare – I don’t say this lightly.”

Leaning on a range of technologies – including Docusign, Zoom, Outreach, Salesforce, Office 365, Slack, Whatsapp, ABS360 – has helped James stay productive, connected and collaborative during remote work. His most memorable Zoom moment of the year was when a colleague thought he was on mute while ranting to his mate about how great his new boardshorts were. Gold. 

James, like many others, is hopefully that the future is flexible. “My ideal situation would be having the option to go into the office here and there – say once or twice per week while still having the flexibility to work a few days or even most days from home.”