by Renata Kostencova, Carol Gillis and Jennifer Hamilton

Life with the Coronavirus is challenging for all of us.  A sneak peek into our marketing team’s pandemic  experiences will show you that our challenges and coping mechanisms with working successfully at home are as different as our lives are.  Hopefully our advice is of help to you!

Other marketing team members and valued contributors include:  Marissa Campo, Gabrielle Burgess-Smith, Laurie Weeks and Chiara Clayton.

Name: Jennifer Hamilton, marketing team member

What is your job title and how long have you worked there?

I am a Human Resources Communications Manager for U.S. Medical Management (USMM), a managed services organization who provides high-quality, coordinated health care in the home. As of June 9, I have worked for USMM for 3 months.

How long have you worked from home?

I have worked from home “off and on” for the past 5 years. However, I have been working exclusively remote for the past 3 months.

What barriers have you encountered?

I only worked in the office for one week before we were sent home due to COVID-19. Although I meet with my team daily via Zoom meetings, I am trying to build relationships with staff and leadership that I support.

In addition, I am enrolled in graduate school at Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich. I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication. The goal is to graduate in December 2021, no later than May 2022. Due to COVID-19, I have been unable to escape to a coffee shop to work on homework and watch pre-recorded lectures.

I am also a parent to an active 3 year old daughter. Her daycare temporarily closed in March due to COVID-19. Her daily schedule changed dramatically. She misses friends, teachers and her toddler gymnastics class. Although she was used to seeing her mom doing homework for school, she was now exposed to the daily juggle of work deliverables and meetings.

How have you overcome those barriers?

Using my departmental contacts, I was able to secure Zoom meetings with senior leadership to have the opportunity to introduce myself and offer my services. It is kind of like an electronic “handshake.”

With respect to keeping up with graduate school, I have utilized my daughter’s naptimes and work lunch breaks to catch up on recorded lectures and homework. Despite the fact that my program is exclusively online, I have needed to be even more flexible than ever.

Spending quality time with my young daughter while still performing daily tasks can be a challenge. Fortunately, I work for a wonderful organization that engages with my daughter during Zoom meetings. In addition, my department is a firm believer in cross-collaboration and support. As a result of these collaborations, I am able to fulfill my deliverables in a timely manner. I have also had the opportunity to split my lunch break into smaller breaks so I can play with my daughter.

Name:  Carol Gillis, marketing team leader

What is your job title and how long have you worked there?   I am a currently a business Strategy & Planning Director for Perspecta, a major IT services provider to the U.S. government.  I’ve held a number of business, marketing and communications roles in my career, all in the tech industry. In this industry, company mergers and acquisitions are common.  My current company was formed in a merger two years ago, and I’ve been through five mergers and acquisitions prior to that.   

How long have you worked from home?  I’ve worked from home for about 20 years!  The virtual way of working has been commonplace in tech companies for a long time.

What barriers have you encountered?  I learned how to focus and manage working in the home environment a long time ago, but COVID-19 has made my house a lot busier during the workday because my sons have been furloughed from their current jobs.  For some reason, my cat has become a lot more involved in my work lately, too (smile).  Because the people around me aren’t working and have more time to mix in fun time, its been making me feel like I want to have more fun, too.  So, I need to work a little harder at staying focused on my schedule and my deadlines.

How have you overcome those barriers? 

  • I make it clear to my loved ones when I have important virtual meetings and need quiet in the background or should not be interrupted.
  • When I first started working remotely, I didn’t have a dedicated office space at home. But after a while, I was able to repurpose a bedroom for my office and that made a huge difference.  Even if that doesn’t work for you,  I would recommend that you find a way to isolate yourself in a dedicated space so your family recognizes you are in “your office” working and need to quietly focus.  Also, stay at your desk as if you were working in an office. 
  • No matter where people are working, my work environment expect that you will be extremely responsive and always available to Skype messages and email, so there is a natural sense of urgency to staying focused.
  • I also think working from home can make you hyper-focused, so I work to remember to take quick breaks, take lunch away from my desk (sometimes), and turn off work as much as possible when the work day ends. Our technology tools allow us to stay connected at all times, but I try not to succumb to being “always on” for work.

Name:  Renata Kostencova, marketing team member

What is your job title and how long have you worked there?

I work for Meeting Coordinators, Inc., which is an event management company focused on managing non-profit organizations. I work there as a Project Manager taking care of one main client. I also manage social media.  A year ago, my family temporarily relocated to the U.S. for my husband’s career assignment.  In the Czech Republic, I have focused on pharmaceutical marketing for 15 years.

How long have you worked from home?

I work from home since the COVID-19 lockdown and home schooling started.

What barriers have you encountered?

The most complicated issue was to find a new rhythm for all of us to be able to do our daily tasks and  enjoy some free time together. Especially at the beginning, when due to cold weather we had to stay inside all day, we found it difficult. Our daughter had quite a bit of school assignments every day. She also needed lots of breaks and time for play, which usually disrupted her attention. She missed her friends a lot, too. I had to put together my own work, food preparation, home schooling and household keeping. On top of that, it was challenging to get a time slot for lunch from my husband to fit his schedule full of phone meetings and calls.

And, we were not exactly sure what Coronavirus was and what to expect, so we spent significant time doing research and monitoring the news – European and U.S. This also had a big impact on our sanity as we were worried about our loved ones overseas.

How have you overcome those barriers?

After a week or so, we developed a daily plan which includes important details like when we do home schooling and when it’s time for play. In addition, which day in the week we will do the grocery shopping and what will we cook each day for lunch and dinner. Even if all this planning helped a lot, everybody is tired when Friday afternoon arrives! 

We are also used to physical activities and all of them were suddenly cancelled. We started running every single day and our daughter rides a bike alongside us. Sometimes we had to wear gloves and hats as March and April can be still pretty cold months, but we did not miss a day to get out and move. We also incorporated morning yoga to stretch our bodies from sitting all day long. Approximately two weeks later, we realized how much help these physical activities were helping to keep us in good mental health to go through this long lock down.