Tough times ahead, manage your emotions as you work from home

We have always taken pride in having work location flexibility as one of our USPs since we started CACTUS. As we have grown, this culture has been practised successfully in all our offices and I have always felt confident about Cactizens' commitment and dedication to our craft regardless of which location we work from. The unprecedented COVID-19 situation has tested our preparedness over the last two months and we have responded by successfully moving all our offices to a full work from home arrangement. We started with our offices in Shanghai and Beijing followed by Seoul, Singapore and then Tokyo. In the last one week, WFH was practiced through our offices in London, Aarhus and Princeton with Mumbai being the latest to move. We are grateful that there have been no cases of COVID-19 amongst Cactizens or their families globally and wish the best to everyone out there.

When we first started to work from home in some of our offices about two months back, the term social distancing wasn't known. Now we have all come to understand that irrespective of government mandates, it is important to do right for the community and embrace social distancing to "flatten the curve" through work from home. There are many organizations and institutions like healthcare, public and essential services and the likes that do not have the flexibility of being able to work from home. Others should all play the part to reduce the burden on the civic infrastructure and reduce the chances of further spread by staying and working from home.

While we work from home it is difficult to not be disturbed by realtime media (and social media) reports of COVID-19 numbers increasing, people panic shopping and rush mandates by various governments to shut down airports, malls, theatres, schools and public gatherings. The result being that families are stressed, parents are worried, and the general feeling is one of anxiety or confusion.

Coronavirus is a reality and a situation. This reality is triggering multiple emotions in humans. Emotions are more contagious than the virus. While we may not yet be able to control the spread of the virus, our inability to check the emotions we produce and spread will do more damage to ourselves and others around us.

That was my mentor and coach Sameer Kamboj, and it is apt. It is important that during this time we take charge of our emotions, not succumb to nor add to fear-mongering, and do our bits to ensure that the right information is spread amongst our friends, families and communities.

As I reflect on the work CACTUS does, I realize that our role in the world today is even more important than before, in helping research get published and see light of day as soon as possible, helping research be discovered and for the correct information reaching all stakeholders around the world. All of us at CACTUS commit to play our role well and cheer and motivate each other and our customers during this time.

It is said that crisis brings people closer. While the situation around us evolves, I truly believe we will come together as one regardless of boundaries or work location and continue to build faith and hope in each other to overcome this situation. I wish you and your families good health and urge you to support each other. Stay safe.