Employee Diaries - #3 Part of the QuaranTeam

[RonanConsidine]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to try to keep my blogs more regular to give you a better idea of what goes on inside a company like BluePrism.

It's been a very strange month for everyone my last blog went out in early April and for many people everyday life has changed quite a lot. All of our teams are now working from home but still working just as hard, developing automations and helping each other stay sane and positive in this time.

To start with I thought I'd share a few things that our team have been doing to boost morale and help keep people motivated and on task to keep productivity up. If any of these ideas sound good to you please use them I hope they work for you and your teams as well!

1. More contact:
   We have been having stand up calls twice a day, in the morning to lay out the work we will be doing and anything that we hope to accomplish that day.
   In the afternoon we have a more relaxed meeting where we talk about the work done briefly and give opportunity to share if there has been issues or blockers. We also encourage finding a positive aspect of each day and playing games or quizzes here to unwind and de-stress. We're split into 2 pods so an element of friendly competition lightens the mood.
    
2. Work Life Balance:
   Working at home can be risky, especially for people who are new to it. We have encouraged our teams to have a split between times where they will work and not work to prevent a slow shift of "oh I'll just answer this email" into working much longer hours which can lead to a burnout.
    
3. Support:
   This is not an easy time and it can be much more difficult for certain people. It is important that we put systems in place so anyone who is in need of support can contact a helpline to receive all the help they need. Your team are your most important resource remember to care for them. BluePrism have a staff helpline and all managers encourage time off for mental and physical health if needed.

So onto the interesting part of the blog!

There has been a lot or work done but the most interesting work has been in our collaboration with other companies.

I have mentioned the EY Smart Futures program a number of times in my previous blogs and sadly that did not go ahead over Easter as planned.
However it HAS been rolled into the summer program which will be a virtual internship and the first of its kind for both BluePrism and EY where the students will get an experience of an automation company and the work that is done. We are very glad that this project will still go ahead and can't wait to have them join us for a week!

Our team are also very fortunate to be part of the COVID-19 response program that is ongoing to help business during this crisis. If you are a business that needs support during this time please follow this link and submit a request form to us:

Head of the CoE Matt Juden-Bloomfield has been on calls every morning to look at the incoming requests for automation ideas which will then be put forward toward a committee and sent to the appropriate team to develop. Another of our team Hanne Bakken has been helping Mencap with a HR process which is coming along really well and the fact that we can change focus from ongoing projects to more urgent response projects.

Sprints are going better than ever with our team picking up more points and better movement of tasks in and out of sprints with less blocked or points in to-do. This is really helping with productivity as people know what they should be doing and what everybody else has less to do which pushes everyone to meet their own targets.

Whilst in lockdown we have all been able to reach out to teams we would not normally work with, I have even bene in touch with Japan and America to look at possible automations in the near future which would be fantastic to increase both the number of automations produced and the amount of teams that we work with.

The last interesting change we have implemented is a "Friday Forum" where people who have a topic they are knowledgeable in a particular subject share what they know with everyone attending. I recently recorded one surrounding API's which are incredibly useful and can easily be used by BluePrism. This will soon be available on the LMS for anyone to view who would like to so watch this space!

I hope that you've enjoyed reading this, remember to keep yourself safe and I look forward to the day this is all over and we can celebrate getting back to regular life!

Ronan   -  Process Analyst in BluePrism Center of Excellence

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