An Employee's Perspective: Switching to a Remote Work Environment

Stephanie Cunningham
Solutions Advisor
SE2

When SE2 announced in March that all non-essential employees would be working entirely from home for the unforeseeable future, they didn’t miss a beat.

Stephanie Cunningham, a solutions advisor who has been with SE2 for 26 years, says the switch to a remote work environment for her team went smoothly because they already had some experience with it.

“My team includes people from other locations, even as far away as Ireland,” Cunningham said. “So, we were already used to holding meetings with half of us in the room and the other half connecting through Microsoft Teams from their outside locations.”

Cunningham said her team was also used to logging in from home to work on projects in the evenings or weekends when necessary, so the learning curve when switching to a remote workplace wasn’t very steep.

Management Communication

What did change, however, was the type of communication they received from management. 

“We received weekly email blasts that offered tips and suggestions for effectively working from home,” Cunningham said. “This included everything from tips on creating a more productive workspace, to self-care suggestions such as remembering to take breaks from the screen and getting some fresh air.”

Productivity Assessment

Productivity hasn’t been an issue for Cunningham. In fact, she says it is more productive working from home because she no longer has all of the daily interruptions. She says it did take a little while for her to learn to balance work and private time because there was no delineation of space. Early on, she found herself working in the evenings because she knew the work was waiting on her in the next room.

“I had to learn to shut the door and treat it like I was leaving the office,” Cunningham said. “Otherwise, I would just keep working, telling myself I would just finish one little thing and then stop. Except that one little thing often turned into lots of little things.

”Being able to work from home also allowed Cunningham to help her daughter navigate her schoolwork, which had also been moved completely online.

What Comes Next?

Almost six months into the work from home landscape, SE2 is trying to help employees navigate an uncertain future. Most recently, Cunningham says, they have been polling employees to understand the obstacles they face trying to juggle work with kids, school schedules, etc. 

“The company is working really hard to try to help people, especially those with elementary aged kids needing to do school from home, figure out how to make this work,” Cunningham said. 

Cunningham says that while working from home has been relatively successful, it isn’t her first choice.“I don’t hate it. But I don’t love it either,” she said.She misses the collaboration, the social aspect of brainstorming in the same room, something that she knows will still be missing when she finally returns to the office. 

“Even when we get to go back, it won’t be the same,” Cunningham said. “We will still have to keep our distance. No more crowding six or seven people into the same cubicle to look at a computer screen and brainstorm out a solution. That is what I miss.”