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Life at Polaris in the Pandemic Years

28 January 2022

Like many others, the Polaris team worked from home throughout the pandemic. Between March 2020 and December 2021, our team worked almost exclusively from home for over 464 days and held over 2,600 virtual meetings.

While it was business as usual, at a personal level the Polaris team stayed busy during the pandemic, taking a variety of courses on topics including cryptocurrency, interior design, and even mindful dancing. Project Manager Julia Layland joined freedomDANCE, a school of dance meditation and conscious movement, when the first lockdown was announced in March 2020.

I picked up mindful dancing to deepen my connection with my body and mind and to feel happier. The Zoom classes gave me a positive point of focus on a weekly basis, and helped me to be aware of my emotional state and release any undesirable tension by quieting my mind. It was a fun physical activity that uplifted my mood and helped me gain additional self-confidence while meeting interesting people.

Team Activities during the Pandemic

The Polaris team continued to support members of the Blackfriars Settlement Positive Ageing group through their phone befriending program, which involved us calling vulnerable seniors for weekly chats to combat loneliness during those isolating times. We also raised £860 pounds in support of the charity through our 2020 Star Mission for Positive Ageing, during which we travelled a collective 860 miles, equivalent to the number of light years from earth to the star Polaris and back.

Click here to read more about Polaris’ fundraising efforts.

Inspired to continue, the team joined together to complete several similar challenges to keep active during work from home orders. The first of these challenges was the 1994 miles challenge – inspired by the year Polaris was founded- which was exceeded, leading to the new goal of hitting 2021 miles before the end of 2021. After exceeding several more exercise miles goals, we set the current shared target of 10,000 miles, of which 8,459 have been travelled so far.

Managing Director Vivek Banga comments on Polaris’ range of personal activities during the pandemic:

“It was fantastic to see this collection of hobbies, courses and charity supporting activities that we at Polaris pursued during the pandemic influenced years of 2020-21. In lockdown months, during our social interactions – of course, over video – the enthusiasm for these activities was palpable, which gave us the idea of bringing them together in this infographic. I was part of our walking/running group and it often got quite competitive! I reckon many of these activities and their benefits will stay with us as we return to normalcy.”

As restrictions lift and we begin to return to normal operations, we look forward to working more from the office, meeting our clients in person, returning to face-to-face events, and continuing to serve the insurance industry.

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