The first, the main offices in large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, and the second, affectionately known as “provinces”, where hundreds of colleagues are located, thanks to the great capillarity and presence of our company throughout the country.
I have been lucky enough to know both. I started my professional career in this “house” in Madrid, a whopping 20 years ago (they have flown by).
I lived through the move from the central Paseo de Recoletos to Distrito T and, years later, I was lucky enough to change my coupling to my city, Granada, landing squarely in the Telefónica de provincias, which I only knew by hearsay.
Well, with the knowledge that comes from experience, I can corroborate that office life is not the same here as it is there, but as happens between siblings, having common parents is noticeable, and there is much more that unites us than separates us.
At the end of the day, although day-to-day life is somewhat different, Telefónica’s principles, objectives and good work are present in each and every one of its employees, wherever they are.
Our way of working
Moreover, in recent years, the way we work has changed a lot. Relocation is no longer an obstacle thanks to the many virtual work and meeting tools available to us, which we all use even when we are sitting next to each other (the sociological implications of this would have to be analysed, but as it is not my field of expertise, I’ll leave you to your own devices).
Despite the obvious difference in terms of the number of people and the modernity of the buildings, compared to our smaller staffs and locations in historic buildings, which have nothing to do with Distrito Telefónica or Diagonal 00… “those of us from the provinces” don’t feel so different or so far away.
To give you an example: I’ll tell you about my day-to-day life in the office and I’m sure it’s not so different from yours.
After dropping my son off at his school bus, I head quickly to the office. I like the “good morning” in the morning, seeing the little heads of my colleagues, still sleepy, peeking over their desks and saying hello. Just after that my “start-up” protocol begins, I guess we all have our own.
I open my locker, grab my bottle of water, notebook and pen, and turn on my computer. The first thing I do is check my mail, sort by priority and write down the tasks that arise from them on my to-do list.
My tasks and tools
With a certain irony and double entendre, I like to say that “I am the fool of lists”. I make lists of everything: to-do lists, shopping lists, to-do lists, to-do lists, to-do lists, to-do lists, to-do lists, to-do lists, to-do lists, to-do lists… everything.
For the to-do list at work, I admit that I still use paper, but I also like to reflect it in the calendar and in Outlook tasks, because at a glance, I have my entire work plan on screen, tidying up my mind and optimising my time.
I work in the Business Intelligence area, so my day is spent between queries, reports and tables, which allows me to be in contact with many colleagues from different areas, which I love.
For meetings, like everyone else, I use Teams. Although I’m not a big fan of turning on the camera, I think it’s the tool that has helped us the most in recent times to keep in touch and maintain the level of work, saving distances and confinements.
And of course, OneNote, which has given an almost fatal kick to my inseparable notebooks. I find it very practical for jotting down any topic discussed in meetings or courses, above all because it allows you to look them up a posteriori without any effort and have everything within reach at the click of a button.
Of course, between one thing and another, a little coffee and a joke with colleagues also falls into the mix. It couldn’t be any other way, because you will agree with me that the good atmosphere among telephonists doesn’t understand buildings or cities.
