As a result, work has looked a little different for us this year. BAM made sure to equip team members with the necessary office equipment needed to make at remote work…work. But in true BAMf form, our team members took it a step further building out some pretty inspiring, functional, and productive spaces to get their work done each day. In this series on remote work, we take you inside our team's work-from-home spaces.
Today, we're chatting with Jenny Bourne, Senior Account Executive at BAM. Jenny is a member of BAM's San Diego team and transitioned to remote work last March.
When the pandemic first hit, I was living in a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate who was also working from home. This meant my desk was in my bedroom and I hated it. I felt like a caged animal, sitting in one room all day, every day.
Fortunately, I was able to move to my own apartment and set up my workstation in the living room, providing some separation between my personal space and workspace.
The overall setup! I have a great rose-colored velvet chair — named Beatrice — to sit on and my living room gets a ton of natural light.
I also love having two monitors. I don’t know how I would have survived working from home for the last year with just a laptop.
Remote work has been a huge adjustment for me. I really enjoy being in an office with my coworkers and having somewhere to go every day. Plus, BAM has an amazing office space in downtown San Diego and I always looked forward to seeing the city’s skyline during my commute.
Now, almost a full year later, I’m used to working from home and I’m enjoying the perks of getting to sleep in a little longer in the morning, having time back that would normally be spent commuting, and having a space that’s just mine.
I still miss the office though and look forward to the day when we can start going back, even if it’s only part-time.
Find a routine and stick to it! Nothing about our lives is normal right now so any opportunity to create “normalcy” is important. For me, it’s all about mental health. Every morning, I get up and get dressed (yes, I’m one of those people who puts on jeans every day). I may not be leaving the house, but feeling ready for the day has helped immensely. I also take a real lunch break every day. I set 30 minutes and log off everything completely — no alerts, no disruptions. I use this time to eat, take a walk, catch a quick nap, or just relax.
It’s also important to set healthy and realistic boundaries. It’s very easy to blur the line between work time and personal time when sitting at home every day, but it’s a recipe for burnout if not addressed. For example, I do not check Slack or email when I first wake up. At BAM, we have coworkers all over the country, so while it may be work hours for the East Coast team, my day doesn’t need to start until 8 a.m. PT.
Chapstick that’s within reach, and lots of water!