I work as a Communications Officer for Octavia, a not-for-profit organisation that provides homes, support and care in west and central London. This is where I throw in the typical line of 'no day is the same' but it's true. I love working in communications because of the variety, and particularly at Octavia because of the people we support.
So, it's a Friday, last day of the working week. Let's go…
7.45am
My Alexa has been trying to get me out of bed since 7.30 but I've made it. I'm out of bed.
8.00am
I pop a pod into our Nespresso machine (a lockdown purchase that gets a 10/10 from me). I log onto my emails to see if there is anything urgent that needs actioning. I like to do this so I can prepare myself for the day ahead.
8.15am
I put my headphones in and go for a walk with my coffee. This is something I have started to do every morning since working from home. I treat it as my 'commute' which helps me set myself up for the day.
8.45am
I action any emails and make a list of my priorities for the day. First up is to finish editing a video for our next All Staff Briefing. We started virtual All Staff Briefings during the lockdown period so staff could keep up to date with important information from our Executive Team.
10.00am
We have our daily team call. We update each other on what we have going on and ask for support if we need it. Our team is very small, so we all overlap in some way which means I gain experience in different areas of communications.
10.30am
Catch up done, I finalise the video for approval. As it's exporting, I go back to my emails and complete some 'quick win' tasks. One of these is scheduling weekly 'virtual coffees', something that we also started running to support staff while remote working. Some weeks are more popular than others, but I always find it doesn't matter how many people are on the call – it's just nice to see colleagues faces! I then review our internal content calendar to ensure we are on the ball for any important national days coming up. I complete a few more things that aren't too exciting...
12.30
Lunchtime! I am very hungry.
13:00
Back to work…
I am leading on a project to review and rebrand our 'Welcome pack' which is given to all new residents when they move into one of our homes. I have a meeting with one of our Directors at 3pm regarding this so I review the project plan, update some information and ensure we are on track. I love internal comms, but I also enjoy being able to work on projects for external audiences. I am very excited to see the final version of this project.
14:00
Due to COVID, like everyone else, some of our planned work was pushed back or cancelled. I review our full Workplan and prioritise projects for the next 4 months. It can be quite overwhelming to see how much there is to do, but, when the next 4 months is laid out it's nice to visualise what is still to be done.
15:00
Meeting time. It goes very well so smiles all round!
15:30
I check our internal platform Workplace to see if I've missed anything throughout the day. We launched Workplace in January and it has been a big success – I don't know what we would have done without the platform during COVID. Thinking about it, launching Workplace was one of my proudest moments at Octavia.
Next up is reviewing what is still to be completed for our live all staff briefing next week. There are a few edits to be made to the video, so I complete those.
Emails, emails, emails.
17:00
I am on annual leave on Monday so I write an overview of what I am working on and any updates my team may need to be aware off. As it's only one day and I have no outstanding deadlines, I luckily don't need to hand anything over to anyone.
One final check of emails again to make sure I haven't missed anything.
A quick review my calendar for next week.
17.30
I put my out of office on for Monday and that's me done for today. I am now off to meet my friends for a glass of wine… or two.
