Work from home effectively: How we’ve handled 20+ years of business in a remote office
By Wendy Roberts, VP & Account Supervisor
You could say that Orca offered its employees remote work before remote work was cool.
The pandemic of 2020 coupled with technological advances in recent years has changed what it looks like to work in the business world. Covid 19 sent businesses into a tailspin trying to figure out how to move all employees to a home office successfully without interruption in customer service or a severe impact on operations. Although the dust has settled now and we’ve all come to accept that Covid is a part of life, a large portion of businesses and corporations have maintained teleworking because they have seen first-hand the value and benefits in relation to employee productivity, employee health & wellness, and overhead costs. More than ever before, employees have the freedom and flexibility to work from home, coffee shops, vacation rentals, the beach, and, frankly, wherever they want to be that day. “Coworking spaces” are popping up all over America in big cities and small towns and this trend has grown exponentially in recent years. According to SpaceIQ.com, the number of coworking facilities will reach 36,000 by 2025, from 18,000 in 2019. More than 5.1 million people will have a coworking membership by 2022. Wow!
One thing is for sure, it’s a trend that is here to stay. Why? Because employees and management alike have been awakened to the magic that can happen outside the confines of a traditional office setting, both professionally and personally. It isn’t too difficult to work from home effectively.
Julia Hutton, Orca’s founder, was ahead of her time in realizing this 20 years ago when she founded Orca Communications. Ever since our inception in 2002, all Orca employees have worked from a well-equipped home office from Los Angeles to Orlando, from Austin to Indianapolis, from Phoenix to Chicago, and more. Countless successful PR campaigns have been executed from the confines of a cozy house, resulting in top placements in national media for our clients on a regular basis. Our customer service and client communication are unmatched! Most of our publicists are up at the crack of dawn to get media pitches out and still answering emails to editors after putting the kids to bed after a full work day. We have always run like a well-oiled machine and prioritized our clients right alongside our families because they are a genuine part of our daily lives – not a separate place we go from 9-5, but rather right there in our homes with us.
Our team, known as “the pod” internally, is as close-knit as any group of employees can be, whether it be brainstorming ideas, collaborating on media contacts and messaging, or simply sharing the first day of school pics of our children. Orca’s PR and sales teams are some of the most hard-working women and men you’ll find anywhere because they do not take for granted the incredible work-life balance a virtual workplace offers, especially to their families. Simply put, Orca’s remote work culture thrives because we’ve been at this for two decades and we know how to work from home effectively!
We are proud to be pioneers in this way. Who knew how much the world would change in 20 years!? Perhaps not all for good reasons, but the truth is it’s a positive shift for the professional world and it’s great to see so many companies embrace this fresh work model. Take it from any Orca publicist: when employees are happy, they work harder!!