Innovators Circle

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A research-driven circle where members share feedback to help impact Juniper's direction. Members gain opportunities for rewards through e-gift cards and exclusive content. To become a member, simply click “Join Community” and follow the quick prompts.
  • 1.  How are you doing?

    Posted 07-02-2021 12:14

    Here on the Innovators Circle Community, we hope you and your family are doing well during these unprecedented times. As the vaccine is becoming more readily available, and more and more are opting to inoculate themselves, we are beginning to see businesses lift their COVID-19 restrictions and even bring their employees back into the offices. We thought we would check in to see how things are going in your personal and work lives and better understand your unique journey through COVID-19.

    And, the first twenty (20) people who qualify to earn rewards and share a thoughtful post in this discussion will win one (1) guaranteed $5 eGift Card for their time. If you're with a public sector organization and can't accept the reward, we still welcome your input, as your feedback is also critical to how Juniper shapes their actions. To see contest rules, click here.

    Personal Life

    • When thinking about life before the pandemic, during the pandemic and now, how has your ability to manage your time changed, if at all?

    Work-Life

    • Did your company implement any changes as a result of COVID-19? Now that things are beginning to lift, are these changes something you plan on continually doing, and if so for how long?
    • What type of work style (i.e., in-person, hybrid, etc.) are you currently working within a typical work week? Is this your overall work style preference and why or why not?
      • How if at all can your company support you if your work style is different from your preference?


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    Lisa
    Innovators Circle Moderator
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  • 2.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-02-2021 12:48
    • When thinking about life before the pandemic, during the pandemic and now, how has your ability to manage your time changed, if at all?
    With Work from home being made mandatory during pandemic not only the productivity has increased but achieving work life balance has become a bit easier. I no longer have to rush and drive in traffic to get to 9 AM meetings and i prefer to work late since i dont have to drive back home either. 

    • Did your company implement any changes as a result of COVID-19? Now that things are beginning to lift, are these changes something you plan on continually doing, and if so for how long?
    Our company is taking it by the ear and watching how things are progressing. Some management folks are in office and plans are to bring some of the resources back to office in staggered manner and offer flexible working schedule. 

    I'm currently working 100 % from home but i would prefer a hybrid approach where i go to office 2 -3 days a week and work from home or choose any 2 days in a week to work from home.


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    ANKUR
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  • 3.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-06-2021 10:59
    ​I think people in the IT industry lucked out that most of us had ability to work from home.  Network support means a lot of after hours work so regulate disruptions.  I do feel most disciplined engineers are productive and can get engaged.  I feel that being in the office offers more opportunity for innovation.  I say that because working in my team we usually know the bulk of what "we" are doing for our job.  What is gained is when meeting others in office from other work groups.  I think it's better for business to have a higher ratio of in office engagement.  Sorry I know there are good arguments for working remotely. 

    On the personal front, I am near retirement and I think pandemic work strategy hurt my last months of seeing co-workers and family too.  I hope that  family make more of an effort to come for visits, rather than using work stoppage and media fears to stay away from friends and family...


  • 4.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-02-2021 13:59
    Personal:
    The biggest impact on my personal life was how often me and my SO would go see our family.  We both have family within a 30 min drive, so holidays and birthdays and periodic weekends would be spent with them.  Also, outings with friends.  We put all of that on hold for the year when things started locking down, and only started back up once we were vaccinated, and the people we were going to see had also been vaccinated.  Nobody was taking chances.

    Other than that, I'm an introvert who prefers taking apart 30 year old computers to going to the movies, so pandemic life suits me just fine!

    Work Life:
    My company closed down offices in favor of remote work.  The HQ office was a little quicker to open up, but our local satellite office has mostly used the shared space as a work area for anything that required multiple people to collaborate, or projects involving company-owned equipment in a lab setting.  Most of us are still working remotely.

    I feel like I am thriving in a WFH environment, with the exception of having a nice rack full of network equipment and VM hosts that I have nowhere to put at home.  That has been a little challenging, so I really need to carve out some time to build a dedicated VPN tunnel to get access to some of that from home.  If that were solved, I think I would prefer occasional work lunches with the work family to keep our bonds strong, and then I would be happy to continue this way indefinitely.

    How about you?  :-)


  • 5.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-05-2021 01:21

    Personal Life

    • When thinking about life before the pandemic, during the pandemic and now, how has your ability to manage your time changed, if at all?

    Earlier we are free to move , to do anything , to eat anywhere but now in pandemic everything is changed. No parties , not get together , no weekend short trips  etc

    Work-Life

    • Did your company implement any changes as a result of COVID-19? Now that things are beginning to lift, are these changes something you plan on continually doing, and if so for how long?
    We are now going to work from office going forward with a 50:50 rule and others are also allowed to work from home permanently 
    • What type of work style (i.e., in-person, hybrid, etc.) are you currently working within a typical work week? Is this your overall work style preference and why or why not?        
    •  Working style is totally changed  and whenever require we can ask team member to provide support or assistance. There is no restriction at all if any one have pending work or assignment which have low priority and can be finish as per their flexibility  and time 
      • How if at all can your company support you if your work style is different from your preference?
    • Company will provide support in arranging and building work place environment at home for those who are going to have permanent work from home 


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    AMIT GUMBER
    HCL Technologies Ltd
    NOIDA
    +9810873507
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  • 6.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-06-2021 18:15
    • When thinking about life before the pandemic, during the pandemic and now, how has your ability to manage your time changed, if at all?

      My first daughter was born last July so it is hard to separate that change from the pre/post pandemic change, but I think I'm more busy overall with family commitments but also have been able to re-prioritize things, realizing that some of the things I did pre-pandemic aren't really that important. 

    • Did your company implement any changes as a result of COVID-19? Now that things are beginning to lift, are these changes something you plan on continually doing, and if so for how long?

      We are implementing a flexible/hybrid work schedule. Whereas before the pandemic everyone in IT was required to work from the office, now we will have flexibility to work in the office a couple days a week and work from home the rest of the time. This is a result of management seeing that we can be more productive at home then in the office.

    • What type of work style (i.e., in-person, hybrid, etc.) are you currently working within a typical work week? Is this your overall work style preference and why or why not?

      Currently I am close to 100% working from home and while it is convenient I do miss the interaction with fellow employees, lunches with vendors and coworkers, and the social aspects of working in an office. I think i hybrid work week would be ideal for me.
       
      • How if at all can your company support you if your work style is different from your preference

        Providing flexibility as to how often and what days we need to be in the office.



  • 7.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-12-2021 13:56
    Work / Life - I was already someone who struggled with work/life balance, and found the pandemic did not help matters at all there. What I found is I had to make my own 'commute' time - dedicated time during every work day where I shut down and stop looking at devices and just focus on something else. That could be a simple as a walk around the neighborhood, a quick nap, or reading a book. But not having that commute / snack break / travel time was something that required adjustment. 

    My company went 100% to work from home, and we will remain in that fashion at least until September 2021. I'm really looking forward to some business travel again, which relates to that 'down time' I talked about previously. But ensuring you are focused on a single thing you are working on - that took many of us a lot of time and practice to get good at it when we all had to work from home with pets, family, etc. going on around us and need to continue that. 

    I expect we will go back to a more hybrid approach of 2-3 days at home and 2-3 days in the office going forward. I expect the office space in my environment to change to a more flexible space setup, and having 'my' desk may be a thing of the past. I actually prefer work from home with business travel as needed, but most of that will depend on how much business travel starts coming back into vogue. 

    My company has been supportive of the current approaches, and has no intentions for force everyone back.

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    MICHAEL NELSON
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  • 8.  RE: How are you doing?

    Posted 07-23-2021 12:55
    Personal Life:
    Our family of 5 went from having 2 kids away at college to all 5 of us (my partner is a teacher) home working/learning remotely. That took a bit of an adjustment in April & May as we were often all on Zoom! In August the college students were back on campus but I continued to work from home while our high school student continued online learning. They went back to school in person in October and I began to go back into the office 2 or 3 days a week. 

    Work-life
    My company mandated everyone back in the office and we have been since late April through May. In order for employees to continue to work from home full time we need to apply (although some recent hires are full time remote workers). My supervisor has allowed our department to work a few days a week from home. For me I'm able to focus a better while WFH due to lack of interruptions in the office. I do enjoy the interaction with co-workers when in the office. I would prefer to continue WFH for 2-3 days/week in the long term.