Monday morning

I’m on the train, travelling to my first observation week for the WiSP project. I’ve never shadowed a social worker – or indeed anyone – before. Am feeling a bit nervous – will I fit in? do they want me there? I anticipate shadowing will be dull at times. I won’t know what’s going on and I can’t interrupt them to ask. So I imagine there’ll be lots of time to reflect on, well, anything at all.

Monday – during the day

It all feels quite full on. I’m introduced to lots of people. We have meetings in different rooms and I try to note the route back to the office so I don’t get lost. I write copious notes on everything. There is a lot to take in…

The main thing that strikes me is that it’s so noisy in the office! There is always someone talking near our desks. Someone’s on the phone so I hear half the conversation. There are two social workers talking at the end of my row. Voices on the other side of the room aren’t audible but are a constant backdrop of sound. I hear laughter in the ‘corridor’ between the rows of desks. This seems to be a feature of hotdesking and working in an open plan office – everyone hears everything.

…

It’s quieter now, after lunch. I can still hear voices across the room, cupboard doors banging. It’s hard to settle to anything requiring concentration. I find myself thinking more about my own kids than I usually do in a working day. Is this because I have more time to reflect? Or possibly simply because we’re discussing children all day.

We eat lunch at our desks as the social worker I’m shadowing is on duty. By the end of the day I have a headache – I think partly from the full-on nature of watching other people (more tiring than you’d imagine!) plus the office environment, but mainly from the noise all around.

Wednesday

The journey in to work seems easier today – I’m getting used to the commute. People say hello to me in the office and it’s starting to feel like my place of work. And I’m allowed to travel alone in the lift rather than being met at reception and chaperoned. I make us both tea and feel less like a visitor.

Most of the talk is work-related, I realise as I tune in and out of various conversations – ‘I’m concerned… ‘   ‘…pupil premium…’ If pushed, I’d estimate that 80% of the chat is about work. And that one-fifth of non-work talk is really needed! This is a tough job so no one could begrudge a little downtime. After all, if you can’t tell your colleagues about the sick dog or your holidays looming then who would commiserate/ask you how it went?

I wonder if anyone can ever grab a quiet space to work for an hour or two. ‘My’ social worker and I have two office-based appointments with an hour’s gap in between. I’d be really tempted to hide in the meeting room and work inbetween these, but she says there’s a crush on rooms and this would be frowned on…

We manage lunch out today, so no headache!