This has been an interesting few months for all of us since the UK went into lockdown in March. We have been very aware of how fortunate we are as a company to have been able to continue, albeit in a new way, throughout. Our sales manager Richard has continued to work, although largely from home with a very active four year old, and our team of software and coaching strategy trainers have continued making use of videoconferencing to maintain our clients training. Having a small staff team we have found that when we are all in the office on very rare occasions, we have not had any issues with socially distancing, as our desks have always been more than 2m away from each other. We have to take it in turns in our slightly small kitchen however!

All of our trainers are missing seeing people face-to-face, although some miss the travelling more than others! We have been greatly encouraged to see how effective it has been to train people through online means. Whether this is training in software using the client screen sharing function in mostly Microsoft Teams or Zoom, or workplace coaching using a combination of video calls and telephone calls. Going forward we would like to return to doing some face-to-face training when it becomes safe to do so, and according to our client’s wishes. However we can also see a future in continuing some sessions online.

Another interesting outcome from this new way of working is how many of our clients have thrived working in a home environment. Many who struggle with concentration in coping with distractions have found that working from home, rather than a busy open plan office, has increased productivity and their mental well-being. Likewise many using dictation software have found it easier to do so in a home environment. Despite Dragon being more than able to cope with a noisy open plan office, some clients feel uncomfortable dictating in such a context preferring generally to work from home anyway.

As always we will keep you up-to-date with how things are progressing with us and when we are able to start doing face-to-face training again. In the meantime we hope that you are all keeping safe and well and that the reasonable adjustments that have come out of Covid-19 are suiting you. If you need anything - you know where we are!

Petra Wainwright
Assistive Technology Trainer and Neurodiversity Specialist.