We started our company-wide remote working on Friday 13th of March. A #remotework channel was created on Slack, and since then our community has been sharing tips on staying sane and funny stories from their new remote working life. We asked a few of these people to share their stories and their “new normal”.
This is Riikka’s story:
What is your role? Which team?
Hi there! My name is Riikka Oksanen and I am an Account Director for a couple of nominated customers and also support our Data business unit to build new strategic accounts. In addition to this, nowadays, I’ve also got a colleague who I spar with regularly.
What are you working on?
Currently I am working with different teams to create or update the proposals made and closing them, negotiating contracts, understanding the client’s business challenges and supporting the teams creating the service to our customers. Essentially, I ensure that the customers are happy with us and our employees are also feeling fine in this uncertain situation.
What do you love about your job? How long have you worked at Solita?
I have been working at Solita for almost three years. I joined Solita because I wanted to be a part of the story of a growing to-be-international-company. And I have been part of that. It has been really fascinating to see the changes with all the colours of the rainbow and seeing the amount of talented colleagues increasing. At the end of the day, I am really proud of the agile way we have enabled our growth. Everybody knows that it has to hurt sometimes even a bit but without some pain you don’t don’t achieve the results. No pain no gain.
There are two best parts about my job.
- My working days are diverse. I really do not know what is usually happening next. I can easily turn my focus to the thing which must be prioritised and the to-do- list made in the morning will be postponed until tomorrow. Well, do not think that I wouldn’t plan my work days – I do, but in this role you have to be available easily and ready to pay attention and react where you are needed.
- Our clients, which are working at the same side as you with a “we-can-do-this-together”-attitude. That’s something which makes cooperation go to a totally different level; and is also valuable and more productive in the longer term, when you can discuss honestly about business development without roles.
What’s your biggest passion(s)?
My biggest passion is to work with people – in different organisations but also internally. My clients are just amazing and talented in their own industry. I really like to cooperate with them: supporting their bigger vision, developing their businesses and trying to find a balance between customer needs and Solita’s offering.
I am privileged to work with over 1000 people at Solita, which consists of specialists from data business and services designers to software developers and the internal coaches! Every time I work with them I think about what I can learn from my colleagues and how I can utilise it in my own daily work. And, they are really surprising me – not only with their professionalism but also as the people they are.
What’s your most impactful experience at Solita so far?
It is hard to mention just one most impactful experience at Solita because I believe that I can create impact in everything I do: It can just be a sparring session with a person who is struggling with their challenges, listening to my client’s worries and supporting them in finding a solution or creating a dream team for customer needs. A good memory though is from my first day at Solita, when I was picking up my badge from the reception and someone just came to shake my hand and said: “Oh, you have to be Riikka! I have heard so much about you. You are so welcomed!” That’s something I will never forget – it is also a part of how we Solitans are – we care, a lot. Quite cheesy, right? 😉
What brightens your #remotework day?
We have been joking for a long time with my husband that “let’s move to our summer cottage”. Well, as we all know, the big C came and changed everything. We decided to move here for the spring because there is more space for our family here to make noise and also this was the easy way for social distancing. This is in fact the first time in my life when I have been able to observe the winter changing to spring so closely from my window. And I love it! We are living in our “ruuhkavuodet”* (*rush years = a Finnish saying, for when you have the busy years when kids are growing up) with our family and I think we haven’t been able to just stay in the same place this long for ages.
Back in town we are busy driving to work and picking up the kids and sending them to the hobbies. Now everything is happening here. Life is here – I’m not saying that this is an optimal situation but I have enjoyed calming down and not spending time with my car in a traffic jam. We are not busy going everywhere and that’s something I value a lot.
I can do my work everywhere and I have been doing remote work 1-2 days a week regularly. However, here at our cottage I have enjoyed the small moments a lot, which brightens my remote work day: eating breakfast while looking towards the landscape, getting fresh lake air in my lungs when walking to my “remote office”, the sound of screaming seagulls, the voice of the ice while nature fights – trying to decide should it be winter or should it be spring. It’s magical.
Tips for remote workers? Enjoy the moment, grab a coffee and watch mother nature – summer is coming! ☕️☀️
– Riikka
