Working together during a pandemic...

The world we have always known was turned on its head a few weeks back. I am sure you will agree that it has not been an easy task to adapt, especially with such little notice. Everyday life and simple activities like meeting with friends, going out for dinner, attending the gym, watching a movie at the cinema have been temporarily taken away from us and all at the drop of a hat.

Let me start by saying that this is not a negative post, we’ve seen enough of those over the last month. I wanted to write and express my gratitude to the hundreds if not thousands of people and organisations who I have seen pull together during this difficult time, it really has made me feel good about the industry we work in.

I have spoken with a number of people over the last month and one thing is evident, times are hard but the majority of our industry is pulling together to help each other. 

I have seen some great examples with the likes of F-Secure offering free guidance during the pandemic https://blog.f-secure.com/cyber-security-guidance-for-covid-19/

Cyberschool have offered free online lessons for children and parents covering computer science and cyber security, what a great idea! https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?keywords=covid19%20cyber&origin=SWITCH_SEARCH_VERTICAL

One that I am taking full advantage of is Pluralsight, they are generously offering access to over 7000 free video courses for the month of April. Why not spend this time on some personal Learning & Development. https://www.pluralsight.com/

I have also seen a number of service providers, recruiters and other professionals in the industry discounting their costs or even offering additional free services to help others during this time of uncertainty.

It also goes without saying that it is fantastic to see so many people across my network making charitable donations to the NHS, that’s something we are currently doing at CBSbutler. Our CEO Brendan Flood has encouraged us to spend time learning new skills.

For every hour an individual spends on L&D the organisation will donate £10 to the NHS. We are also holding a quiz over ZOOM where the winning team will be given a £1000 to donate to their chosen Covid-19 related charity.

We may not know when this will be over, we may now know when things go back to normal, that’s if we even know what normal is anymore……..However, one thing I do know is that the kindness, generosity and charitable work of so many people across our industry has filled me with confidence that we will come through this together.