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How Forest Interactive Makes Working from Home More Enjoyable and Fun

by Adelia Ramadhani, Corporate PR Intern 

This COVID-19 pandemic has changed the scenery of our daily lives — I, who had no problem cramming into the train for 1 hour to go to work daily, I am now confined to the four walls I call home.

I am not mourning, but working from home is not bad. I have an Internet connection, enough personal space, and plenty of things to do that often help me to forget that a pandemic is happening outside. But still, the reality of my daily life for the past weeks does make me miss the simplest social interactions I had at the office. Whether it is just going for a cup of coffee with my colleagues to begin the day, taking a stroll and sparking up conversations around the cubicle, or enjoying lunch at the pantry. I miss those mundane moments at work— a luxury I already eager to have back.

Amid all these contemplations of things that I took for granted, work continues, embracing the new normal. Yet, Forest Interactive never fails to impress me, the company has always been mindful of its talents’ health and wellbeing. Acknowledging the possible stress caused by working from home and self-isolating ourselves, the company organized a competition called Work from Home Should Be Fun throughout the first month of working from home period, so that talents could remain connected with their colleagues in a fun way.

The competition was open to all talents across 14 regional offices world over. To participate, they were simply needed to post a photo together with an interesting story behind it. The photo must fit for one of these categories: Best Workstation, Worst Workstation, “I Woke Up Like This” and Best Virtual Meeting. At the end of the competition, the winners were determined by the vote of the talents.

The competition had definitely brightened up our days. The commentaries of the photos made the competition funnier and more enjoyable. We were allowed to speak up our mind in a profound manner. Not only that, but we also maintained our workplace camaraderie by joining the competition even though we were confined to our homes. Through this competition, we were aware of what our friends had been doing during this period.

Corporate PR Show Your Thumbs Challange

Here’s a picture of my team participating in the Best Virtual Meeting category. Instead of our faces, we showed our decorated thumbs during the virtual morning meeting. Even though we didn’t win for the category, I was grateful for the funny and enjoyable moments we shared while creating the best screen of the virtual meeting. Thank you, Forest Interactive for mitigating the usual office culture that we missed dearly.

Each one of us, most without realizing it, will put more passion and importance to the otherwise canned morning greetings to colleagues and other things that we usually took for granted. I can’t wait to go back to the office! In the meantime, stay safe everyone. We’re all in this together.