The coronavirus has made the past few years very challenging for everyone across the globe. LifeBook, as the only global autobiography service headquartered in a 17th-century barn in the UK, had to ‘pivot’ and ask the whole team to follow guidelines and work from home. This ensured we were able to continue successfully providing treasured gifts and family heirlooms to families all over the world.
In fact, due to demand during lockdown, the team has grown ̶ not just in the UK but in the US and South Africa as well. This has meant many staff haven’t physically met their colleagues or visited HQ and the LifeBook library, which has been an ongoing point of note that everyone has been wanting to rectify, once it was safe to do so.
Thankfully, as national conditions have been increasingly improving, one of our new Project Managers, Natalie from Cape Town, approached Roy and Yvette (LifeBook co-founders) asking if she could meet the colleagues she had been working with for nearly a year. This sparked the decision to host a lunch and bring staff together for the afternoon.
“The new work from home system we implemented has been a huge success, but even with daily company video conferences and regular divisional meetings, sometimes you can’t beat face-to-face conversations and meeting in person. We’ve all been looking forward to coming back together and it’s been a regular topic amongst the Directors about when the right time will be, and with vaccinations and testing now in place, it was safe to do so and it was a fantastic afternoon meeting both new and familiar faces.”
Yvette Conn, LifeBook Director of Operations
Roy, in honour of his South African heritage and Natalie travelling over, fired up the braai (BBQ) and cooked for the 25+ strong team who were able to join.
“We thoroughly enjoyed having the team back at HQ and it was a pleasure cooking for my team once again. Over the past few years, everyone has had their fair share of challenges both on a personal and professional level. Having a large team back in the LifeBook barn once more was both great for our organisation and a promising sign that normality may not be too far away.”
Roy Moëd, Founder of LifeBook
Moving forward, LifeBook still adopts a work from home method of operation overall. However, with conditions seemingly improving in the UK, the team is hopeful it won’t be too long until the team can get together for another social event.
