Dear RIPE Community,

 

A couple months ago we began discussing in a small group the challenges around personal mental wellbeing in the RIPE community and how we could potentially investigate the issue and what we could potentially put in place to make things better.

One outcome of that was the development of a questionnaire around how the community is coping in the current Covid-19 era.  ( The questionnaire is here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JPNJG57 ) 

 

Participating in this is a personal decision for you but we do appreciate your feedback, either via the questionnaire or other means.

 

As some of you may know, I did a presentation in 2019 at the Dutch Network Operator Group ( NLNOG ) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7areInUXbyo  

about working in a toxic work environment and the risks of running into a burnout.

 

This topic, ( having a burnout . .the risks and being able to talk about this in groups of small peers or even in public ) is in many countries and communities still a taboo topic.

 

Based on the experiences that we have from that presentation and what it did for the people in the Dutch NLNOG community.. and providing a safe place for people to talk and discuss about this..

We decided that we also would like to see what the current state is in the larger community .. and start with a questionnaire on the topic.

 

The feedback and results of the questionnaire ( and your input is highly appreciated if you participate ) will be looked at and I will do a presentation in a plenary at RIPE82 in a couple weeks.

 

The goal is to see if we as a RIPE community need to provide similar ways for people in our region to (anonymously) be able to communicate about various topics that may or may not be directly work related.

 

It could be that we need to have a place where we can discuss about the situation working remote .. not being able to go to the office.. the additional stress that this brings ..

or that we need to talk about what all those additional social distancing rules bring to you.. or how you feel about these rules.. for some it is a blessing ..

and for some it works like a new stress factor as the rules are changing per shop / public store / building .. and some of us like to have nice and clear directions ..

 

But also about how people deal with the lockdowns .. and don’t get to meet other people that have a similar interest .. or a relation ..

So what we like to see is how are you feeling .. how are you coping .. or not ..

And then the question comes .. can we help .. and how

 

I’m aware that I’m currently the one that is pushing this as a topic in public (and here for instance) .. but I’m very aware of the group of great people that helped to get this initiative and questionnaire to a state as where it is today.

And I would especially like to thank Eileen (INEX), Mirjam ( RIPE Chair ), Carolien (NCC HR) , Alastair ( NCC ), Ulka ( NCC ) Alun ( NCC ), Vesna ( NCC - for her mad Wiki and notary skills ) and the people assisting in reviewing the questionnaire already for us.

 

We like to get the information before May 11th 2021, so that we have some time to look at the results and prep the ppt for the week of the RIPE82 meeting.

The data itself will be stored for max 2 weeks after that.. and only 1 admin from the NCC and the HR manager of the NCC will have access to the data, besides myself. As we use the NCC survey monkey account for the questionnaire.

All questions can be skipped if you don’t feel like you want to answer a specific question.

 

And feel free to reply here on the list .. or reach out to Mirjam, Eileen  (both in CC: ) or myself in private if needed. We are planning a bit larger support group once we are done with the RIPE82 meeting on this.

 

To minimize tracking by Survey Monkey .. You can paste the questionnaire URL in an incognito window..

The questionnaire is here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JPNJG57

 

Thank you all in advance and see you all at RIPE82.

 

Kind regards,

 

Erik Bais