How atSpoke creates a work environment away from the office
While our HQ is in San Francisco, we have Spokespeople all over; Los Angeles, Tennessee, New York, and India. At atSpoke, we support remote working roles and welcome members to join our team who are located outside of our home base, so we are no stranger to remote work culture. Due to COVID-19 concerns, we have switched to a full work from home policy so we can do our part in reducing the chance of spread.
Many of us are adjusting to working from home more frequently or for the first time. We asked our team members to give us a glimpse of their work from home life by showing us where they set up and what essentials they need to work from home properly
(Additionally, check out this awesome list of remote work tips to keep you on top of your A-game while you work away from the office.)
Founders
Employee: Jay Srinivasan
Title and Team: Co-founder and CEO
Where are you working from? Home in San Francisco
Essential items to work from home:
- Some sort of sparkling water drink
- Some natural light and a view, even if it’s mainly a wall
- An external monitor, keyboard, and mouse
- Showcasing art created by the kids (much of it created in a futile effort to occupy them while Coronavirus has shut down schools)
Employee: Pratyus Patnaik
Title and Team: Co-founder and CTO
Where are you working from? Home in Los Altos
Essential items to work from home:
- Natural light
- Charged Airpods & a backup wireless headphone
- Caffeine, water, and mints
- Exercise Ball
- Tax docs – to remind me that the tax season is coming
Sales
Employee: Eric Donovan
Title and Team: Sales, Account Executive
Where are you working from? Pleasanton, CA
Essential items to work from home:
- Bluetooth headset for calls
- Iced coffee for making the calls
- SV Business Journal
- TI-66 Calculator for quick and easy math
- Lastly, my standing desk
Employee: Claire Lamberto
Title and Team: Sales Development Representative, Sales
Where you are working from: My apartment in SoMa on the rooftop
Essential items to work from home:
- Water bottle
- Keyboard/Mouse
- Good focus tunes from my focus Spotify playlist
- Snacks!!!
- Charger
- Headphones
Employee: Ines Gerard-Ursin
Title and Team: Sales Development Representative, Sales
Where are you working from? Pod in my building/a corner of a couch in my living room
Essential items to work from home:
- Fidget toy
- Water
- Tortilla Blanket
- Running list of recipes I want to make
- Taking a long walk after work (2-3 hrs to watch the sunset over San Francisco)
Marketing
Employee: Erin Merchant
Title and Team: Marketing team (cross-functional), Technology Evangelist
Where are you working from? Migrating around my apartment like it’s a different space (because I’m not used to WFH), but I primarily get my Big Thinks done at my kitchen table
Essential items to work from home:
- A clean, well-lit space: I always start the day with a small tidy-up of where I’ll be planted for most of the day
- Post-work plans: I reach out to an accountability buddy, set a time for a workout or hangout and block it out on my calendar as I would my commute time.
- Do Not Disturb enabled on my computer: This keeps me concentrated on tasks at hand and ensures that my default video conferencing meeting etiquette is on point.
- My distraction list: When I start to feel stalled or distracted from my Job Responsibilities, I step away and take care of one of the things on this personally related list to re-center me.
- Sidecar on my iPad Pro: E x t e n d e d d i s p l a y, ’nuff said!
Employee: Riciel Crudo
Title and Team: Marketing manager, Marketing team
Where are you working from? I have a work desk in my room where I spend most of the day. If I need a change of scenery, I go to my kitchen table.
Essential items to work from home:
- Monitor: It gives the feel that I’m in the office and it allows me the space to see what I’m working on WHILE I’m having an online meeting
- Whiteboard: Being a visual learner, I love having space to throw my thoughts onto. This is also where and how I keep my daily WFH deliverables top of mind.
- Music: Having background noise makes me feel comfortable and “gets me in the zone”.
- Water bottle: In the office I have a designated water bottle that I bring to every meeting so I remember to stay hydrated. I want to keep that same concept at home!
- Home to-do list: To avoid the appeal of napping, I knock out a few home chores or start a fun project to keep moving and active!
Engineering
Employee: Suchit Agarwal
Title and Team: Engineer
Where are you working from? Jersey City
Essential items to work from home:
- Standup mat
- Coffee
- AirPods
Employee: Zach Hart
Title and Team: Software Engineer / ENG
Where are you working from? My Kitchen, San Francisco
Essential items to work from home:
- My Keyboard – I spend 8+ hours a day sitting behind one, might as well have one that’s nice to use
- Slack! – Gonna be cliché I’m sure, but it definitely keeps me in the loop
- A physical notebook & pen – I don’t write much when I’m in the office, because a lot of my ideas come out in conversations with my team, keeping physical notes when at home helps me make sure I don’t forget stuff for meetings or standups
- Music – the lack of noise can be just as distracting as too much going on in the background, having a few playlists that I can keep on in the background that I know I won’t have to fuss with every few minutes to skip or look up a track is ideal
- (Optional) – Roommate’s cat to help emulate workplace distractions
Employee: Robby Abaya
Title and Team: Senior Software Engineer/Engineering
Where are you working from? Brooklyn, New York
Essential items to work from home:
- Fast WiFi with good coverage. Just upgraded our home to this thing.
- Slack
- Zoom
- Sparkling Water
- Warm socks. I don’t wear shoes in the house, but warm feet are essential to getting work done.
Customer Success
Employee: Diana De Jesus
Title and Team: Customer Success Manager, CS
Where are you working from? Hudson Valley, NY
Essential items to work from home:
- Water! Aside from keeping me hydrated, I find that it also gives me a boost of energy and keeps my brain sharp.
- Spotify (Focus genre) – I can get easily distracted by songs with lyrics but I still enjoy good beats while I work so I tune into a chill/instrumental playlist and it helps me concentrate.
- Headphones – My husband is also remote so when I’m on a call, I want to be mindful of his space so I avoid creating additional noise for him (and he does the same for me). It’s also better sound quality 🙂
- Tomato timer:I use this technique to stay focused but also make time for mental breaks. Here’s a breakdown of the technique
- Healthy snacks (like fruit and granola bars), I constantly make snack trips to the kitchen so I avoid having junk food around the house. I do have some Oreos at the top shelf of my pantry just in case 😉
Design
Employee: Jose Solano
Title and Team: Product Designer, Product
Where are you working from? Tennessee
Essential items to work from home:
- A space you enjoy: Not everyone can have a designated office room, so even if it’s a corner in a bedroom make sure you create a setup you enjoy.
- A good speaker: One great thing about working from your home is not having to listen to music on your headphones all the time.
- A good chair: IT took me a while to invest in a good chair, but it’s completely worth it especially if you work from home full time.
- Work-life balance: It can be hard to stop working when your office is always a room away. But keeping a consistent schedule is important.
- Communication: Slack, Google docs, email… Wherever it is over-communicating with your team both for bonding and for work will help you succeed.
