DAS ON SG CIRCUIT BREAKER
#circuitbreakersg
DAY 9 – SOME GOOD NEWS!
Today we had a DAS Corporate Services & Finance Town Hall meeting using Zoom. We all decided we would dress up for the occasion, doing our hair and make-up and dressing with style! And today we had such a great get together enjoying the presence of everyone and sharing our news.
And just like @Some Good News with John Krasinski, who is doing his best to share the good news stories around the world, we thought we would share some of ours with you!
Losing our Relationships
Today many of us liked to see each other and talk again. But we were asked to share any issues that we might be able to find solutions for. But one wasn’t easily solvable. Our Finance and Logistics staff talked about the processing of paperwork and having issues of scanning and many have lamented that they have lost their relationship with the photocopier! Now having to use the scan options on their phones for processing documents adds many minutes to the whole process!
Vanessa Lim from Logistics shares with us this dilemma!
Finally, without owning a business, I can officially declare I am working from home! There is no hassle to put on make-up and ponder what to buy for breakfast, zero travelling time and I get to work in my own private comfort zone!
But I begin to appreciate the true importance of this wonderful machine – ‘The Photocopier’. As my job revolves around maintenance, my work deals heavily with quotations and invoice submissions. I relied a lot on the photocopier’s scanning function and currently in this situation, using my phone as a scanner, it takes 10 mins to clear 1 invoice submission.
As much as I am enjoying working in my ‘private comfort zone’, there is a feeling of real isolation without hearing colleagues’ voices (the laughter, sharing of food, the singing, and colleagues talking on the phone). I look forward to getting back to normal and using the office photocopier, oh and of course seeing my work colleagues again!
Technology is Amazing!!
It’s amazing how technology has changed the way we do things, we have to make do with digital signatures and scanned documents. This might be something we have to review for corporate governance so we might have a lot of work to do to secure “Paperwork” when we get back to the office.
But for now, …need a signature for approval but cannot meet? No problem, digital signature looks as good as the one you did using your Montblanc pen.
Need to deliver lots of bursary applications to an authority but cannot meet them? No problem, place them on a shared but secured google drive and off they go to the authority.
Working at home with kids
We have all seen those hilarious memes, where parents are struggling to home school their children, well some of our staff are facing the same issues. When you call our customer service hotline you are likely to talk to Marlini our dynamic customer service officer, she shares her story with us today.
“Feeling grateful amid the Covid19 Pandemic”
Staying indoors made me take a step back and do a little self-reflection. I used to think that I would not be cut out to manage three kids at home. Sometimes I doubt myself if I can meet the needs of my family and also handle a day job. There are days after a long day at work, all I wanted to do was just to lay down and ignore the pile of laundry waiting to be loaded into the washing machine, vacuuming the floor because the night before my child left crumbs everywhere, or simply think of what to cook for dinner. Sometimes it frustrates me (actually a lot) but someone got to do it right? Now, with this circuit breaker going on and working from home, I get to stay indoors 24/7. How fun.
On a more serious note, staying indoors has me worrying about my elderly parent’s health and wellbeing and not being able to visit them or hug them, hurts. Especially when my children say they miss their Grandmas and Grandpas. However, I am glad that both my parents and my in-laws are well. We tried to do a lot of video calls and I am truly grateful for the technologies.
In this current situation, I am blessed to be given the opportunity to work from home. Although I really miss interacting with my co-workers.
As I am sitting here at my “make-shift” office desk looking at my children running around the house and my husband who is finally able to work from home too. I feel so bonded with my family; we can do things together such as assisting my children with their home-based learning. Being able to see my children and hug them, able to wake up and greet my husband good mornings, I do feel extremely grateful and blessed for this experience during this Covid19 Pandemic.
New to the Dyslexia Association of Singapore
The newest member of the DAS Corporate Services staff, Siti Fatimah, also shares her unique experience of joining DAS and then having to work from home days later!
I started with DAS on 1 April. I had only 4 days to learn as much as I could before the Circuit Breaker. Now I Zoom-learn. It was not an easy experience to learn DAS systems, protocols and workloads. I am a mother of two children: an 8-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. I love them to bits, always lamenting that I do not spend enough time with them. Well, that has changed! Daily I now put on multiple hats: staff-in-training, mother, wife, cook, cleaner, teacher (or more like a screamer). My elder sister who is a Special Education teacher gave me some advice on scheduling and making behavioural management charts.
It is overwhelming, to keep everything together: Learning, Working, Teaching, Guiding and Planning work. But I am glad that I have the help of my sister-in-law, who is a teacher, she takes this home-based learning well, and my husband who helps around the house I think I can cope. I guess I can’t put too much pressure on myself and I need to just be happy that we are all safe and happy. I am counting my blessings, considering there are so many others who have lost their job during 
this crisis. We need to keep the faith that all this shall pass.
Finally, on the subject of new staff, our Human Resources (HR) staff member Nurul ‘Asyiqin tells us about the latest recruitment of a batch of psychologists.
We made history today, Monday 13 April, by welcoming new colleagues on board virtually!
4 Trainee Psychologists commenced their employment at DAS on 13 April 2020. With the circuit breaker measures in place and workplace closed, we did not want to delay their start date – rather we moved everything online! HR arranged for our CEO and the Director of SpLD Assessment Services to welcome them on board virtually via a (secured) Zoom meeting. Although the platform was different, I believe it did not affect the message and the warm welcome for the new members of the DAS family. They are now undergoing their training online. We wish them all the best and welcome to the DAS family!
P.S. Nurul ‘Asyiqin also added…
I realised something today while checking with my parents what they want for lunch. Be it in the office or working from home, the food dilemma still stands – what’s for lunch??
#CircuitBreakerSG #SGunited #DASunited
