Impact of covid

Covid, the global pandemic making people unwell and unfortunately even leading to the end of life of some people. I was finishing my final year of university when covid hit in February 2020. I remember a friend at the time said there’s lockdowns in other European countries and it was just a matter of time that it would be the same in Britain. I know covid had negative effects for a lot of people but that wasn’t my experience.

I was in a good place in my final year. My relationships, situation and routine were stable. Covid showed me who my true friends are. Those who replied to messages, those who didn’t. The rejection was not that important to me. I didn’t mind. In fact I used the opportunity to take a step back from a few voluntary roles I was doing so I could refocus on the degree and keep up with changes in my coursework.

Covid highlighted the importance of self-championing. Self-championing being the idea to do something for yourself since no one else will do it for you. The ‘you do you’ philosophy. This attitude helped me refocus my efforts onto myself. Therefore, with more time I was able to organise myself and put myself first.

I learned how much companionship meant to me. My girlfriend at the time played a key role in keeping me comfortable, sane and functioning. That continuity helped me make timely decisions like moving out early so save money since lectures were all online just like exams. Companionship continues to be highly valued to help me function (interface) in a society that thinks differently to me.

Covid was a tool to help me focus on what is important to me. Helped me reorganise my priorities and taught me what I valued.

It’s worth seeing opportunities in every situation.

Music and remote work. A saving grace.

Having attention deficit, or being easily distracted can make it hard to do anything. Particularly work when it is the less exciting tasks. One way to concentrate on tasks is by listening to music. Another way is to work remotely, this way distractions are minimal and empowerment may be felt more genuinely. The modern workforce has called for an increase in remote work (Jackson, 2022).

Music lets you focus. It does this by increasing motivation to make the work seem more exciting and easier to start and see through. Being motivated enough is important for meeting our day to day responsibilities.

Tunes improve enjoyment. Making the difficult manageable, music allows for a mood boost. This mood boost can increase productivity. Using music as a remote worker can be a great tactic to being able to meet targets.

Sometimes work can provide hurdles. Hurdles can take time to process. Music can speed up the time needed to process events by shifting mindset and unlocking perspective. When music unlocks perspective it becomes easier to recover from challenging events, and situations.

Working remotely can be challenging. Music makes the insurmountable bite sized. By breaking down or compartmentalising tasks, music helps us reach our potential. There’s rarely a time when music is unhelpful, and if it is, perhaps you’re listening to the wrong genre.

Stay Plugged In, Stay You, Stay Fruity.

Real Rubens

🙌A reflection of Supported Employment 💡

👋 Following my review of Support Work where I shared I identified with some of the behaviours the clients demonstrated, I was eager to help other people navigate these challenges at work. Filtering, masking, self-monitoring, fitting in, takes a lot of effort, and can be unsuccessful. I saw it as my mission to help people navigate and capitalise on their neurodiversity at work.

Supported Employment is special, it fosters commitment, inspires customer focus and the feeling when seeing people make steps in their journey into employment is out of this world. Supporting someone with a disability into employment is an extremely empowering and fulfilling process.

Supported Employment brought me plenty of satisfaction. The role allowed me the opportunity to coach others with employment and sometimes life more generally like their independence through travel training. It also justified the challenges I faced at university (struggling to see how strategic theory materialised into a role I could do right away).

Throughout my tenure, I continued to learn a lot about myself and my needs. I tried to improve myself. I expanded my support network. I engaged in new projects.

I continued to enjoy learning and development aspects. I designed and delivered creative resources for the people we supported but also lead employer engagement inductions. I will reiterate how I am focused on a journey of self-discovery, testing environments and people to reach my potential. 🤝

🎇 One element that surpassed my expectations was the quality of relationships I was able to develop over time. I now see this is something that comes naturally with the right people and right communication. 🪞 In my new role I look forward to championing and growing alongside young people. 📶

Finally, here’s an awesome video link to a TikTok by Ben McIntosh on his summary of Support Work shared by Mark Topps on Linkedin.

Thank you for your interest and readership. 📖

#StayTuned #StayYouStayFruity #ActionOverWords

Real Rubens

The reality of moving jobs

Handing in your letter of resignation is a key part of leaving a job. A resignation letter is the formal notice of leaving a role, confirming final expected date to finish, give thanks, and potentially share why you are leaving. Similarly, an exit interview to learn more may be held, and despite a company’s encouragement, note that this is optional to attend.

A reality of leaving a job is that people want to know the reason why you are leaving. If you haven’t told anyone but ‘news’ has spread, it may be helpful to consider how you’d like to respond rather than get lost in trying to unearth who shared your news without your consent. It’s an inescapable part of leaving. When asked why you are leaving, there is no hard and fast rule for how much information to share, it is a personal choice. But you are highly likely to be asked by someone whether genuine or not.

If you pardon the pun.

Another reality is working a notice period. Whether a week, month or longer. Someone recently told me this is for the employer, not the employee as per the contract of employment. During this period assets have to be return and you have to go in if working remotely. A strange time period. A necessary time period. An opportunity to wrap up, look forward and enjoy pastures anew.

One exciting part is starting a new job. The reality here may be delay. Delay in confirmation, receiving IT or receiving an employment contract. Similarly, you need to learn everything from scratch, build new relationships and earn new trust. Therefore the reality may be less clear than desired.

Being asked why you are leaving, working a notice period and the unknown level of clarity in starting a new job are the realities of moving jobs.

Stay True, Stay You, Stay Fruity,

Real Rubens

Does a company induction process teach you what you need to know to succeed?

An induction process is a company’s fast track training delivery programme so you know more about them and how to do the key parts of your job. Succeeding in a role can be relative. Success in a role could be defined as staying, performing, learning, progressing, satisfying customers, meeting targets or generating leads. Induction teaches new starters about the ins and out of the company. Usually induction is completed within the first 2 weeks in the role, however, it could be argued that this continues for the entirety of a probation period, whether 3 months, 6 months or longer.

A company induction does help you succeed because of the insight you gain with understanding:

• company culture, values and ethos.
• key people/contacts around the business.
• opportunity to build a rapport with manager.
• intentions/plans for the department.
• business priorities.

An organisation’s induction may not help you succeed if certain elements come up:

• issues/delays/red flags.
• the role is different than expected.
• you don’t like what happens when no one is looking/manager is away.
• no insight into reasons people have left (without directly asking) to overcome previous barriers.
• if you ask for support/make a reasonable request and it doesn’t happen.

In conclusion, the business induction is usually a top down process. There’s scope to ask questions, but not too many. Best to follow up with colleagues/ a buddy and if needed ask/escalate to a manager. The induction process usually teaches parts of what is needed to succeed but to say the induction is enough on it’s own for people to succeed in a role may be a stretch.