This is part of CNBC Make It’s My First Day Back series, in which people share their stories of returning to the office after working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.Are you planning to go back to the office soon?Share your story with us here.
Name: Nicole Perzigian Age: 48 Office: Zoom Office in San Jose Hours of Operation: November 30, 2020 Return: March 15, 2022 Return Requirements: Proof of Covid-19 Vaccine
But when a recruiter from Zoom approached her on LinkedIn with an offer to lead the videoconferencing platform’s first university recruiting and program team, she thought the opportunity was too good to pass up.
“When I took the job and told my friends I was going to Zoom, people screamed like I just got a movie part with an A-list celebrity,” Perzigian told CNBC Make It.”I thought, ‘Wow, Zoom is really a cool company, we’ve really been serving people during this pandemic.’”
In January, Zoom announced that employees could choose to work hybrid, in-person or permanently remotely.After surviving the pandemic at her home in San Ramon, California, Perzigian was eager to find her desk and meet her team in person.
After joining Zoom in a remote environment, Perzigian wondered how the working relationships she built online would stack up in real life — and if a company known for its video conferencing tools could make hybrid meetings less awkward.
Nicole Perzigian: I don’t know if people will recognize me personally!I lost sleep the night before feeling those “first day” tensions.As I drive to work, all of these questions swirl in my head: ‘What would it be like to have a face-to-face conversation?Do I know how to have a conversation?When I work from home, I talk to my dog all day.But in the end it’s all good – you pick up where you left off online and people recognize me via video conferencing.
I left home early because my commute was a bit long – about an hour – and I was worried about traffic.As soon as I got to the building, it was great that Zoom had staff directing us where to pick up our badges and find our floor.We don’t assign desks, but we recommend a “community” where each team sits together.
We had a great free breakfast, had a small glass of champagne, and started reopening with our head of business, then I took some time to “slack off” and chat with the five team members who came to the office because of this It was the first time I saw them.
The rest of the afternoon is for meetings, which are remote, in-person and hybrid, as I also work with people in different parts of the country.Example: One of my direct reports and I had our first face-to-face one-on-one, followed by a hybrid meeting with her and someone working remotely in Texas.
I’m amazed at how efficient Zoom’s technology has been in coordinating hybrid meetings – it’s so easy to work with people both remotely and in the office, and it makes collaboration so seamless.
You can’t even tell if people are in the office or at home because the video feature integrates you so well.For example, the Zoom room smart gallery divides indoor participants into individual video tiles, and instead of live groups together in one video, we use an interactive whiteboard tool to share notes that everyone can see.
I work very well from home, but I also love networking, so I’ll be there once a week until summer, and when our internship program kicks in, I’ll increase my days in the office to 3 times a week.It is exciting that our interns also have the flexibility to work on a mixed schedule after onboarding.Zoom allows us to collaborate wherever we work – we can’t just talk with our products, we have to walk.
For the first time since the pandemic started, I’m back at the office – with my new dog.How is this going
For the first time since the pandemic started, I’m back at the office – after having a baby.How is this going.
This feeling is very magical！
Post time: Apr-16-2022