Socmed team: Of working from home, silver linings and the pandemic

Social media (socmed) specialist Doris Mondragon has found time to watch the sunsets in Medellin town in northern Cebu where she lives and works from home — a perk for this kind of work setup. | Doris Mondragon

(As CDN Digital [CDND] turns two, here are glimpses of the people behind CDND, one of the local leading online news portals in Cebu.)

MANDAUE CITY, CEBU, Philippines — The pandemic has brought a lot of changes and challenges in the way we do things in CDN Digital.

For the social media team (Socmed team) and content creators — Doris Mondragon and Micah Marcellones — it means, like everyone in the team, would have to adjust to working at home or to adopt to the work-from-home (WFH) setup.

Pre-pandemic, CDN Digital team worked at its office at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City — the team was on a roll then as we worked as a unit to deliver news online and keep pace and even stay on top with the leaders of the local online news industry.

Then the pandemic struck. And the future then seemed unstable and all our lives, including the team, drastically changed.

With people ordered to stay at home to prevent the virus from spreading, the whole team has to work from home too.

And this situtation has its own challenges and perks for us — moreso with the social media team.

“Our team has been facing challenges in producing content since we have quarantine and health protocols to obey. (These challenges include) Not being able to shoot videos for our shows and the limited resources we could get to name a few,” Mondragon said.

 “This puts pressure on us in the social media team to look for potential content online,” she added.

Micah Sophia Marcellones, social media specialist, says she is adjusting to the work from home setup. | Micah Marcellones

For Micah Sophia Marcellones, who rejoined the team this month after leaving it in 2019 due to pregnancy complications, she also have to quickly adjust to the changes at work — like the work-from-home setup.

“Upon entering my new post, it was quite challenging since all reporters and editors are working from home, and I do not have proper training or face-to-face training on the technicalities of my job,” said Marcellones, who rejoined the CDN Digital team as a content specialist this month.

She, however, took it all in stride and saw things in a positive perspective.

“In all fairness with the situation, it opened new doors for innovation and ways to stay connected with one another,” she said.

“Working with such creative minds motivates me to keep going despite this new normal,” said Marcellones about the CDND team.

“The effect of the pandemic on the workplace was so sudden and unthinkable. Who would have thought that it would turn out like this?” she said.

As both also struggle to adjust to the new work setup.

They also would have to cope with the challenges of the new work setup like losing focus due to distractions at home; and, of course, the most of the time slow internet connection, among others; add to that the pressure to deliver at work while being cooped at home. All of these sometimes take its toll mentally and physically to the team.

During these trying times, both turn to their families to keep themselves sane and happy.

“Notwithstanding the unfortunate events of the pandemic, I got to realize the silver lining in staying at home and reconnecting with our loved ones,” said Marcellones.

Doris Mondragon, social media specialist, does yoga to relieve the stress from work and staying at home amid this pandemic. | Doris Mondragon

Aside from having more time to bond with the family, Mondragon also took time to learn to cook more dishes, do yoga, and read books to while away the time.

As for the work-from-home (WFH) setup, she also sees its perks.

“But one thing I like the most in the WFH setup  is that I get to enjoy the little things in life; like watching the sunrise and sunset everyday, or I get to enjoy every sip of my coffee because I’m not always in a rush and have more time with my family at home while being on a job I love,” Mondragon said.

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Doris Mondragon and Micah Marcellones are social media specialists of CDN Digital. They, together with Immae Lachica, multimedia general assignments reporter,  make up CDND’s social media team.