he first month of remote working at Ebury was extremely smooth. We immediately rolled out a weekly employee pulse survey to monitor how our employees were feeling. In just four weeks, we implemented several new initiatives to ensure our employees continued to be healthy, engaged and productive during this period of change.

The highlights were:

• Increased communication & connections with colleagues (e.g to support people who missing colleagues or feeling isolated)

1. 1. Increased our internal communication via 2 daily blogs to help employees stay connected to what’s happening at Ebury
   2. Organised more remote social events (e.g. online pub-quiz, remote coffee sessions, game nights, cooking competitions, virtual Easter Egg hunt)
   3. Set up interest-specific chat groups (e.g. pets of Ebury) so that employees could meet others across the business
   4. Launched weekly photography competitions (e.g. beard-off, most interesting work set-up)
   5. Celebrated special occasions virtually (e.g. birthdays, work anniversaries, Easter)
   6. Organised global and local ‘Ebury Town Halls’ to give leadership updates to employees
   7. Launched a virtual cookbook “The Ebury Kitchen” where employees contribute their recipe ideas

• Increased focus on health & well being (to support employees with the physical and mental health impacts associated with lockdown)

1. 1. Organised a remote HIIT exercise class 3 times per week
   2. Launched a guided meditation and mindfulness class
   3. Approved purchases on mindfulness apps e.g. Headspace
   4. Approved purchases of items that would improve comfort and physical health whilst working from home
   5. Increased flexibility to employees who need it (e.g. have young kids, carer)
   6. Offered external counselling services in some offices
   7. Regularly shared useful resources, tips and advice on health topics

• Supported line-managers (to help them to help their team members)

1. 1. Incorporated additional people-management training into the Ebury learning curriculum (e.g. how to manage remote teams) 
   2. Created a line-manager guidance document with a simple checklist for managing remote teams

• Increased focus on learning and development

1. 1. Organised more frequent internal & external training sessions covering a variety of topics
   2. Provided additional coaching and training on remote working (e.g. communicating remotely and principles that create a caring remote workplace)

• Increased recognition

1. 1. Celebrated 19 ‘Eburians of the month’ (instead of the usual 1)
   2. Launched the weekly ‘Ebury Lockdown Legends’ to thank all the Eburians going above and beyond to help colleagues, clients and the local communities

As we enter the second month of remote working, we will continue to review the pulse-survey results each week and continue to roll-out new initiatives to support our colleagues.