Three of our Glanbia Ireland colleagues based in China describe what life was like during recent lockdowns and what they’re looking forward to now restrictions are lifting

Barry Deng is National KA Manager

My area in Shanghai is Qibao Town in the Minhang District. It went into lockdown on March 14th and it was lifted on June 1st, so about two and a half months in total.

During the lockdown, we had to stay indoors and in order to get enough exercise and not be bored, I learned to cook and began to run on the treadmill.

I worked from home during the lockdown, which has been a mixed experience for me; on the good side I had more time to stay with my family and pets but on the bad side, the lockdown has really caused a lot of inconvenience. I really missed the additional monitor in the office when I was working on forms and documents and of course I also missed colleagues working together in the office.

Restrictions eased around the end of May, life began to return to normal and we got freedoms back. I returned to the office as soon as possible and began working every day from there, but unfortunately the Minhang District was locked down again for another 14 days from June 21st.

With restrictions easing again, I’m looking forward to the normal freedoms of walking and jogging. I really hope the world returns to normal soon – no more lockdowns, no war, full of peace and love!

Steven Zhang is Head of Food Services Channel

I live in Shanghai Puxi which has been locked down for two entire months since April 1^st.

To be honest, I’ll say it’s been a horrible experience in people’s lifetime caused by the lockdown. Initially it was announced for a week and then another and then eventually, lasting for two months. This period seemed extremely hopeless in Shanghai, where we have the best economy and finance in China.

To tide over that difficult time, I was reading and working out at home in order to keep both physical and mental health and I was really enjoying time with family. I should mention that during that two months, Glanbia Ireland China twice provided high quality daily food stuffs to all employees; it wasn’t easy to deliver to dozens of different places during the lockdown period. I’d like to express my appreciation to the team for bringing employee confidence and pride over that tough time.

I worked from home during the lockdown period and I really appreciated the company’s flexible and agile operation system – for example I could ask for help from ServiceDesk to solve some problems when I was working from home.

I really missed the freedoms we take for granted and I wish to never experience it again. Since June 1^st, the restrictions lifted and now I’m back to the office fulltime during weekdays.

It’s been exciting to meet and communicate with colleagues and clients again but unfortunately, we haven’t been allowed to travel out of Shanghai yet. Hopefully the epidemic will fade away as soon as possible and the economy and normal way of life will get going again.

Lesley Zhu is E-commerce manager with our team in China

I live in Shanghai with my family and we all went into lockdown in my city on April Fool’s Day this year.

In April, we were confined to our homes every day and because of the disruption in supply chains, it was hard to buy groceries. We had to take a Covid test almost once every two days. The circumstances became better in May, as many online shops and supermarkets reopened. We could order online and fast delivery recovered. Then finally, we could walk in our neighbourhood.

Lockdown finished on Children’s Day, June 1st and we are now all back in the office full time – it’s been great to reconnect with colleagues once again. I like to keep active, so getting outside again has been what I’m enjoying most. I’ve loved the freedom of going for walks, jogs and going out on my bicycle again.

I’m really looking forward to being able to travel again and restrictions were lifted at the end of June.

Now, we can go to other cities and I’m excited to think about where I will go. There are so many places; maybe cycling along the river in Shanghai, then perhaps I’ll go to Suzhou or Hangzhou, as they are near Shanghai. I can go there to enjoy my weekends and there are many hills to hike in these two places. In autumn, I’d like to go to Sichuan Province to see the pandas.