Age of Womenship: #ChooseToChallenge

It’s the month of March wherein we celebrate the International Women’s Month! This month we feature our Sprout Women who are spearheading the change and comfortably adapting to the remote-work environment. We bring you the Age of Womenship: #ChooseToChallenge

• Diane Litan
• Julie Martinez
• Karofa Cartaño
• Lourdes Ramos
• Vk Virata
• Miren Eizmendi
• Alex Gentry

Diane Litan

Meet Diane, also known as DJ, an Iteration Manager at Sprout Solutions! The ONLY woman in her department!

We asked DJ some questions, below is what transpired.

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?
   • “Before the pandemic, I was used to asking questions directly to the team. I will walk from the North wing to the South wing of the office to receive their feedback from my questions immediately. But now, I handle my time properly by asking them ahead of time and will do follow-up messages using Slack.”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?
   • “We all know that we cannot avoid house errands during work hours because we are all at home. For me, I list down all my daily tasks as an Iteration Manager and will finish those items the same day even if it's after 6. Doing extra hours for work can compensate for the non-work-related errands during day time.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?
   • “The Sprout Mobile. Opening the app and clicking the Clock In really saves time!” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for every one, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?
   • “Since we have this "Girl Power", passion to finish all the tasks assigned to me helps me overcome the stress of this pandemic. We believe we can do it so we finish it.”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?
   • “I make sure I have physical activities like jogging or games even before pandemic. Competitiveness should not be removed even when we are at home. I make sure we perform Team building games every after sprint review to improve our bonds and communication.”

6. This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?
   • “I #ChooseToChallenge everyone to do what they did not do last year. Since 2021 is a year of another chance and time to do what you want and focus on what is important.”

We love your “grit” and determination DJ! 

Julie Martinez

Now we want you to meet Julie, Our Director for Implementation and Payroll Professional Services.

We asked Julie questions and here were her answers.

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?

• “When we shifted to WFH last March 2020 due to the pandemic, several adjustments were made to be able to adapt to what we call now as the "new normal". It was challenging enough that my work requires constant collaboration and coordination with different groups within the organization but to manage a big team that interacts with clients is even more demanding. We were forced to revisit and update our processes in a short span of time without interrupting our operations. With everyone's commitment, passion and hardwork, the transition was surprisingly not as heavy as I initially thought it would be.”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?

• “Honestly, it was challenging for me because I always played by the rules. When I'm working, I'm just working. I can't be bothered with any other things outside of work. Few months into the WFH setup, I realized we have so much time to do other things aside from work. We can be productive and efficient at work while learning new things, enjoying old hobbies, etc. As for me, I tried different things for a while until I finally figured what works best for me.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?

• “Sprout Mobile” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for every one, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?

• “Thru Work-Life Integration - I realized that I am capable of doing other things that I want/love without neglecting my responsibilities at work.”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?

• “It totally changed almost everything. There’s no need to rush in the morning to avoid traffic and that also means that I don't need to spend 2 or 3 hours every day driving. I can start working as early as 7am or as soon as I'm done with my morning meditation. I can practice yoga during lunch break or as soon as I clock out. Now more than ever, I can enjoy doing things that matter to me the most.”

6. This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?

• “Be the woman who chooses kindness above all regardless of gender &  position”

Amazing insights and work ethics Julie! Keep rocking rockstar!

Karofa Cartaño

Introducing Karofa, a Sales Administrative Assistant at Sprout Solutions!

We asked Karofa the same questions and here were her answers.

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?

• “There’s been a blurred line between Personal & Professional Life. I found it difficult to function at first and I felt out of focus. I discovered that the key to overcoming both of these challenges is to set boundaries between my work life and personal life. I also had to define a routine that I stick to.”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?

• “The first thing I did was to change my mindset. I needed to make a switch from thinking about work-life balance and changing that mindset into work-life integration. This is an entirely different way of thinking, work is a natural part of life and it shouldn't be looked down upon. It should be something that we're looking forward to. I really believe that Work life-Integration is the future.”
• “Second, I had to keep a schedule, I wrote down how I would spend each hour of the day to gauge whether or not I am achieving my daily work tasks while juggling house tasks. By being productive in tracking what I am doing, I'm able to make changes in the future for me to properly and effectively create a balance in work life integration.”
• “And lastly, I focus on productivity, not on the time spent. It doesn't matter how many hours I spent working, what matters is how much I accomplished by the end of the day.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?

• “Sprout Wellness helped me the most during the difficult times when we had to adjust to the new normal. Working from home doesn’t only impact physical health but it can also have a huge effect on our mental health. This is a great initiative of Sprout, they gave us access to free online fitness classes and well-being sessions. Sprout is doing everything they can to help keep their employees and clients in the best health possible, both physically and mentally.” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for every one, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?

• “Before the pandemic, I felt like I'm never going to feel fully confident and I'm never going to feel fully ready to work from home but Sprout taught me 2 things! One is perseverance,never giving up (#Grit!) and the second one is that it's about “WE” not “ME”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?

• “Back then, I would have to get up, rush out of the house to commute going to the office. The total travel time would take 5-6 hrs a day vice versa. Now that I am working from home, I say goodbye to the maddening Manila commute. I can also strike a balance between toiling and taking care of myself like hitting a quick workout and making better food choices. Because I have ample time, I am not forced to buy unhealthy, on-the-go food. It allowed me to protect my health better.”
• “I love the outdoors. I really love spending time in nature and beaches. Going out helps me reduce stress and makes me feel better and happier. Since the pandemic began I’m only able to do quick workouts outdoors but I still make sure to have time to connect with nature and relax.”

6. This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?

• “I am a woman of Sprout and I #ChooseToChallenge negativity by embracing life’s changes with a positive attitude. I want to practice positivity in the face of adversity and to encourage women to have a voice that comes from our authentic selves. This pandemic has taught us that things have to be different. We have to be different, we're never going to go back to where we were. So, why don't we use this opportunity to develop a new version of ourselves, a better version of ourselves, a bigger identity. We are limitless.”

We love all those answers Karofa! Keep rocking, rockstar!

Lourdes Ramos

Now we have Lourdes, also known as Des. She is our Test Lead and QA Representative at Sprout Solutions!

We were impressed with what Des had to say to our questions below!

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?

• “One of the challenges that I had to face was when I had some anxiety attacks last year. To overcome that I used our ironing board as my table just to work beside my husband - this kept me from feeling isolated, alone and stressed out. Being in the same field as my husband really helped us a lot since we can exchange ideas and best practices. The other thing is knowing that most of us are facing difficult times especially now due to the pandemic. While I do get emotional sometimes, I feel that somehow I'm also responsible for making sure that those who are struggling in my team feel better. For us, we want to build a team mentality where people can ask for what they need (physical, emotional and sometimes financial) and that we can overcome this challenge together. Having said that, I'm so proud of my team's ability to reach our common goals despite circumstances that are outside our control.”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?

• “By having good Time Management. I can still cook lunch, prepare breakfast, do physical activities, make a video call with family and sometimes go outside and run essential errands by not limiting my working hours to 9am - 6pm from Monday - Friday.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?

• “Sprout HR. I can time in, time out while working from home; apply and monitor request applications; view my leave plans, documents; review my biologs or attendance and payslip; schedule a consultation, meditation and yoga session if I wanted to and so many more.” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for every one, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?

• “I feel so lucky to be part of this organization with a high trust culture. I am really grateful for the opportunities that I've gotten here in Sprout. Especially, for trusting me with decision-making, managing conflict, mentoring and developing team's skills. The management is letting me develop a plan and they provide me what I need to accomplish with the intended outcome.”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?

• “It really taught me how to blend both my personal life and work life into one. Even though I had been working from home (1-2 days per week) for a few years before I became part of the Sprout family, the pandemic made it complicated not only for me but for everyone. Most of the time, especially on my rest days, I do home organization, prepare a nice meal, read some books and do physical activities.”

6. This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?

• “First off, I would like to thank our heroes, the frontliners in the COVID workforce - majority of which are women. I personally support campaigns that aim to #saveourMOTHERearth and promote #GenderEquality. Earth holds us like a mother and nurtures us how a mother does. The Earth answers all our needs in a seemingly omnipotent way and like the vision an infant has of its all-powerful mother until it has grown enough to fend for itself, let us show our love and respect to our Mother Earth. I am also a firm believer that women should be in every room where decisions are made - recognize that women must have an equal voice and when women are in equal numbers in decision making roles, we all do better.”

We definitely agree, Des! 

So, why don’t we start now? Get rid of those papers in your office and start using a cloud-based HR platform solution! Check out Sprout’s products here and how it can help you and your company!

Vk Virata

Introducing Vk, one of our Product Directors for Innovations at Sprout Solutions!

We received amazing answers from Vk! Read it below!

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?

• “Suddenly having our home as my playing field was a challenge because I associate it with rest and other non-work related passions. Transforming a part of our home as my workstation definitely helped kickstart my adjustment. Who would’ve thought that a work chair can bring about big changes!”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?

• “The pandemic gave me the opportunity to know more of my colleagues on a different level. The directions of the projects I worked on also adapted to the changing needs. This helped me maintain my drive as I continue to see that I still bring value to a wider community. I think that’s what it means to have work-life integration.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?

• “Sprout Wellness helped the most by assisting me to gauge how I was able to cope during the earlier months of the pandemic. It also helped me get acquainted with other things that I can do to keep myself healthy.” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for everyone, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?

• “Continuing to recognize my leadership skills and supporting me towards success are just some of the ways how Sprout empowers me even before the pandemic. These did not change despite working from home. Sprout also walks the talk on gender equality as we have good women representation in all levels of the company, with a number of them as our top executives.”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?

• “Routine went out the window when the pandemic hit but as I  was able to adjust, I also got my groove back even with the work from home setup. Wfh gave me unlimited time with our fur babies at home. Honestly, it’s a work in progress but I’m happy that I am still able to spend time with my loved ones.”

6.  This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?

• “I #ChooseToChallenge restricting gender norms to give women a world without limits.”

We love that final statement Vk! Let’s all challenge that!

Miren Eizmendi

We want to introduce you to Miren, the one and ONLY Product Marketing Associate in our Innovations Team at Sprout! 

We received amazing answers from Miren! Read it below!

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?

• “The biggest challenge of working from home was the fact that I was working at home. Home is the place where you’re supposed to get ready for work and where you return to after work. It was and still is a challenge to draw that line between work and the home itself. Accepting this situation as the new normal was key in helping me overcome this challenge.”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?

• “Accepting that working from home was going to be a new reality meant that I needed to stop treating it as a temporary situation. For me, that meant investing in a real table, office chair, and wireless keyboard. Little things like this went a long way in building a space for myself where I felt like I could efficiently do work, but still be comfortable.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?

• “I always say that I have the memory of a goldfish. Sometimes I’ll be finishing up some emails and daily reports when my shift is over that I forget to actually clock-out. Thanks to the new Attendance Logs feature of Sprout Mobile, I can easily check if I remembered to log out that day. While I’m eating dinner or about to go to sleep and I have my “Omg did I clock-out today?” moment, the attendance logs have been a huge help in reminding me if I haven’t yet, thus saving me from having attendance discrepancies later on.” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for everyone, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?

• “Sprout empowered me to do my best work every day by simply allowing me to be myself. With the work life integration culture, we’re encouraged to bring our whole selves to work. That’s what I’m able to bring to the table every day and that’s how I feel empowered to get the work done.”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?

• “I’ve actually been able to build my routine around working from home. I know that when I attend that first meeting, it’s game time. So before that, I make sure to have time for prayer, meditation, and a cup of hot water. These help me mentally prepare for the day ahead.”

6.  This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?

• “This 2021, I choose to challenge the idea that you need to be anybody other than yourself. Let’s stop trying to put people or ourselves in boxes. Let’s stop comparing ourselves and looking at other people’s habits and personalities as formulas for how we ought to be. We shouldn’t be anybody other than ourselves. We are enough.”

Can’t agree more Miren! Keep doing you, and to all of you out there, repeat what Miren said, “We are enough”!

Alex Gentry

Now we have Alex, our CPO and Co-Founder at Sprout Solutions!

The answers given by Alex are so inspiring! Check them out below! 

1. What are the challenges that you’ve been facing adjusting to remote work and how are you able to overcome these?

• “Juggling daily operations and high-level strategizing at Sprout, plus homeschooling 2 young children and nurturing a baby all in the confines of a small home was tough in the beginning. We had to give ourselves time to settle into a routine in our own carved out spaces. We also had to consciously and purposefully remind our whole family to live everyday from a position of gratitude.”

2. How were you able to achieve a good balance with Work & Life Integration?

• “I have always been an advocate of Work-Life Integration, believing strongly that bringing our whole selves to work (and bringing our work selves at home) makes us better, more well-rounded people. This just means that we don't have to choose -- being at work doesn't necessarily mean that we are sacrificing our life, and vice versa.”

3. What Sprout product helps you make remote work easier and why?

• “Sprout Pulse is really helping us keep abreast with how everyone is doing and feeling. More than ever, we need to systematically check in our teammates and dig in to understand their changing needs.” 

4. Working from home has been challenging for everyone, more so for a woman with a lot of domestic and personal responsibilities. How does being a Sprout Rockstar empower you as a woman who’s working remotely?

• “Sprout allows me to quickly see information about my teams and the rest of the company. Having all of this information readily available is a game changer. I have been using Insight more recently and it allows me to make data-driven decisions very quickly.”

5. With your busy schedule, how do you maintain your connection with the things that you love?

• “Working from home has allowed me to take on more meetings in a day, thereby connecting with more people and making more crucial decisions quickly. It has also allowed me to spend time with my kids over the course of the day, which I will always be grateful for. More importantly, it helped in amplifying my discipline to keep on improving in the different aspects of my life every single day.”

6. This 2021 is a year of change and new opportunities. What are the things that you #ChooseToChallenge?

• “I choose to challenge fixed mindsets. We all need to start understanding that we can cultivate our basic qualities through our efforts -- that we can literally change our brain. Just understanding this concept can change lives!”

We love those inspiring and insightful answers Alex! Hope you got inspired as well!

To know more about how our Sprout products help our Rockstars, click here!

Cheers!