How to Keep Spirits High and Office Culture Alive During Isolation

The Final Cut offices explain the different ways they keep socialising together and stay connected during the Covid-19 lockdown. 

People have found various ways to adapt to these unusual times of social distancing; whether alone or with family, everyone has different strategies of coping. We are inundated daily with news of how our industry has been affected by Covid-19 and about the uncertainty of what the future holds once all this is over. But how do you maintain a healthy company culture and keep spirits high in the meantime?

“We keep the wheels in motion,” says Final Cut editor and MD David Webb, “to keep our creative energies alive. We share a common ethos and a common spirit and that’s what spurs us on throughout even the toughest times.”

With this in mind, Final Cut’s offices in London, New York, and Los Angeles, have launched a series of initiatives to socialise together, lift each other’s spirits, stay connected and engage as a company. As soon as the ‘stay-at-home’ order was announced, Final Cut UK began their weekly virtual happy hour, Isolation Libations at their virtual pub 'The Lockdown,' for their team to come together in these unusual times. Sister sound company Machine began providing a daily stream of music from their bespoke Isolation Station to kick off each day with a lighthearted mood.

These initiatives also gave birth to a virtual quiz "Through the Keyhole" based on the UK programme of the same name. Each week one member of staff is selected to post photos of their home to a WhatsApp group accompanied by tantalizing clues. Their colleagues then guess whose home it is. A chance to engage and (more importantly) snoop around each other's houses, forgetting about the current situation for a short while.

“It’s been fascinating to see how everyone has transformed these challenging circumstances into such a positive creative time,” says Rick Russell, founding editor and CEO. “Amongst some on-going and new work for clients and partners, the initiatives to create our own content has brought out the real Final Cut spirit. I’m glad to report the usual competitive banter is alive and well.”

Other Final Cut initiatives for staying together are being broadcast on social media especially on Instagram. Their “Indoor Sports” Instagram series features a mix of activities that staff are engaged in at home. They have also begun sharing daily #FC10Films, 10-second films created by editors and staff, inspired by a series of planned prompts. The idea was borne of the notion that even while we work from home, we are all hungry to continue to tell stories and express ourselves creatively.

President Stephanie Apt says "We’ve found that the challenge of creating content together is a wonderful way to keep a dialogue going that’s not that dissimilar from what we experience when we are in the office together. The kind of conversations that go on around the lunch table are now happening over Zoom and we have some wonderful expressions of creativity to show for it!”

Final Cut is a creative editorial and post-production company collaborating with top directors and agencies on the most prominent commercials, feature films, and music videos.

Check out Final Cut here.