Five Tips for Working At Home, and How You Can Help Others

To Our Clients, Talent and Friends:

As we continue to monitor and respond to the rapidly evolving Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, please know that our top priority is the health and safety of our clients, our talent, and our communities.

We know it’s important to keep all business moving forward, regardless of where the work happens. We are utilizing digital tools such as Zoom, Slack, and Google Drive to communicate and connect so that there is no lapse in service for all of our clients and talent.

We encourage clients to continue the process of hiring talent, either temporary or full-time, and can provide assistance in the following ways:

• We would be happy to set up a Zoom session so you can do a live video interview.
• Many of our talent can work from home with their own equipment.

We can set up a secure folder on our Google drive to share files.

If there’s any other way we can assist, please don’t hesitate to ask! Since working remotely (when possible) has become the new “norm” for now, we’re always open to ideas on how to support both our clients and talent in their searches.

In that light, we are offering the following tips for working at home:

Home (Office) Sweet Home (Office)

If there’s one thing C2 talent knows about, it’s how to be productive working from home. (It’s actually just one of the many things we know a lot about!) And now that so many of us have been advised – or mandated! – to do so, we thought we’d share a few tips on how to make the most of your time away from the office.

Make Yourself Presentable
Don’t just roll out of bed and check your email. Take a shower. Get dressed. Comb your hair, shave, put on makeup – whatever you normally do as part of your morning routine, keep doing. The point is, do what you would do if you were going in to the office. It will help you maintain a more professional attitude, keep your spirits up and get stuff done.

Set Up a Designated Work Area
Though it may be tempting to stretch out on the couch or your favorite chair with your laptop, it’s probably better (in the long run) to set aside a work table. It doesn’t have to be an “office,” just a table or desk that tells you “I’m at work now” when you sit there. Make sure you have enough space to comfortably work.

Keep a Schedule
Have a start time and a stop time. It’s easy to think, “Oh, I can just finish this later tonight.” But you’ll regret that thinking if it becomes a habit. Do everything you can to make your “home office” feel more like your real office.

Take Breaks, Get Moving
Put regular breaks into your schedule and stick to it. Designate a lunch hour and at least two 15-minute breaks, morning and afternoon. Avoid the temptation to just sit at your computer and scroll through Twitter for 15 minutes. Get away from your desk, clear your head, and stretch your legs. Take a walk around the block if you can.

Keep in Touch
One challenge of working from home is the lack of human contact (for some, however, this is a feature, not a bug!). If you find yourself missing the regular chit-chat or “water cooler talk” of the office environment, make use of emails, DMs, or your favorite social media platform to keep in touch with fellow employees. Just don’t overdo it or let it become a distraction – just like in the regular office!

Please help local small businesses, arts organizations, service workers and charities!

Many local businesses and organizations, especially restaurants, bars, theatres and charities, will be severely impacted by the mandated closings, reduced gatherings, and drop-offs in donations. We urge everyone who is able to support these businesses through donations, buying gift cards for later use, purchasing drive-up and delivery meals, or any other way possible. Here is a short (and by no means comprehensive) list of opportunities to help:

• MKE restaurants and bars open for takeout and delivery amid coronavirus – JSOnline
• Pabst Theater Group Employee Relief Fund – GoFundMe
• Odd Jobs for MKE Service Industry People – Facebook Group
• Lifesaving blood desperately needed throughout Midwest – Donate Now
• LocalFirst Milwaukee is posting on Facebook about local businesses you can support that are open/ready to serve
• Milwaukee Rescue Mission is collecting emergency supplies for families in need – COVID-19 Emergency List
• United Way of Greater MKE & Waukesha has an Urgent Needs Fund
• Multiple ways to help others – JSOnline

TAKE A SURVEY:  Americans for the Arts has created a survey to collect about the financial and human impacts that the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus is having on the creative sector. The survey also collects basic information about participants so that the data can be parsed by states and specific geographic regions, artistic disciplines, and budget categories. This is important data needed for advocacy and action. Please take five minutes to fill out the survey.

Other Helpful Links:

• WEDC announces targeted grants to small businesses suffering losses due to coronavirus emergency – press release
• How to apply for unemployment if you’re laid off due to coronavirus – JSOnline
• Arts Wisconsin’s Info and Resources on COVID-19
• Wisconsin Arts Board’s COVID-19 and the arts in Wisconsin
• Americans for the Arts’ COVID-19 Research and Response Center
• Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Coronavirus Information
• World Health Organization (WHO) Coronavirus Information

We hope all of our talent, clients, friends and family stay safe and healthy during this unprecedented event.

And Now, Something Beautiful

If you need something to brighten your day, have a listen to this Carnegie Hall performance of the “Siren Sounds Waltz,” written by 14-year-old Alma Deutscher (a modern-day Mozart). In writing this particular piece, she says she “took some ugly sounds from the modern world [sirens] and tried to turn them into something more beautiful, through music.” We think she succeeded – don’t you?