The Remote Work Experiment We Didn’t Sign Up for

How did this happen so fast?

Not too long ago, I was signing off emails with “Happy New Year,” and now it’s some version of “Stay safe and healthy during this challenging time.” Gmail’s predictive text feature hasn’t caught up – it keeps suggesting I type “Stay cool.” Oh, the good old days of normalcy.

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis blindsided all of us. For many, each day feels like a bad dream and the endless news cycle resembles a dragged out apocalyptic movie. With every human on Earth facing the same threat, the event has brought us all together, but at the same time, pushed us all apart. To avoid exposure to and help slow the spread of the virus, many of us are hunkered down in our homes – working from home, cooking at home, teaching kids at home, exercising at home and using technology to communicate with others.

As someone who has worked remotely for years, you might think my day to day experience hasn’t changed much since the crisis began, and in some ways, that’s true. Remote teams, including the entire CU Times staff, have the advantage of an established comfort level with a work-from-home routine. The main difference for us has been a sharp shift to coronavirus-related editorial coverage, and on a personal level, we’re experiencing the disappointment of cancelled trips and events, missing loved ones we can’t visit right now and feeling uncertain about what our lives will look like after all of this blows over.

Of course, compared to those who are bearing the brunt of this crisis – the essential services workers risking their lives, owners of shuttered small businesses, people with loved ones who have died from COVID-19 complications alone and in isolation – the complaints of the healthy and financially stable are a privilege to have.

I’ve always hoped to see a surge in remote work throughout different industries, but not like this (be careful what you wish for, right?). Before all this happened, the best part of working remotely was the freedom to work from a variety of locations, even from different countries around the world, and now the farthest remote workers can travel is to their backyards. And many people who would have never chosen to work from home have been forced into it. I can only imagine the challenges facing professionals who thrive off of collaborating with others in an office environment, who are suddenly being thrust into making a remote routine work while also dealing with the stress of making unexpected business decisions due to the crisis, and kids or other distractions in their household.

Still, I’m hopeful that after the coronavirus crisis is over, this huge unplanned remote work experiment will result in more long-term remote workers than we had before, as employers who previously resisted the scenario realize that it can in fact work well, and employees who never considered working from home discover that they enjoy the lifestyle. This could lead to big cost savings for businesses, increased flexibility and work/life balance for employees, and a repopulation of rural parts of the U.S.

As we’ve been tracking credit unions’ responses to the pandemic, we’ve seen many of them showcase what they do best – step up to help their members and communities by way of emergency loans, financial relief programs, and donations to organizations helping groups of people who are most vulnerable to the crisis and its fallout. We’ve also observed that the crisis has given credit unions a chance to prove what they’re really capable of. One Atlanta-based credit union, Delta Community, had launched a project prior to the outbreak in which it planned to expand work-from-home capabilities for an additional 550 employees through a new virtual private network over four months; when the pandemic hit, the credit union sped through the project in just a few days. Another credit union, Signal Financial of Maryland, swiftly organized and ran a successful stress test on March 13 – the same day President Trump declared a national emergency – closing its branches and call center and having its 97 employees work a busy payroll day from home.

This situation is a nightmare in so many ways, but we hope it continues to bring out the best in credit unions, whose employees can also, by the way, take solace in the fact that their work is essential and needed now more than ever by members facing sudden financial hardships. We wish all of you health and safety as you continue to navigate this crisis, and look forward to hearing more stories about the impressive feats your credit unions are pulling off and how you’re shining light in your communities.

My Top Remote Work Tips

As a veteran work-from-homer, it’s my moral obligation to share some advice on the topic. I hope this helps some of you who have been unexpectedly thrown into remote-work life.

1. Befriend the to-do-list. Every Friday, I list every task I need to complete the following week in a notebook, using a full page for each day and drawing from a master list of weekly recurring tasks, and my personal and work calendars. A different system might work better for you, but the point is to have all your tasks recorded and in front of you with a deadline for each

2. Establish a daily routine. Set your alarm for the same time every morning and decide which parts of your day will be dedicated to work and non-work activities, like exercise, meals and showering. And designate a “hard stop” time for your work, like 6 p.m. Don’t let access to email and other work at home drag you into working much longer than you would in the office.

3. Don’t get buried in email. Without the option of swinging by a coworker’s desk for a quick check-in, back-and-forth email conversations can easily pile up. Reserve email for things like document sharing and communication with external parties, and move everything else over to a messaging platform like Slack. Also, discuss communication expectations with your team to determine how often check-ins should be taking place and how.

4. Create a work-friendly environment. Get a comfortable chair and set up your work space in an area of your home with the fewest distractions. Let others in your household know when you’re working so they can (hopefully) give you space during those times. If noise is an issue, try listening to white noise or calming instrumental music through earbuds. And while many people recommend dressing for the office even when you’re home, I say wear whatever you can be productive in. I’m amazed at what I’ve accomplished in sweats and a fuzzy robe!

Natasha Chilingerian is executive editor for CU Times. She can be reached at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.