Working From Home During the Pandemic
Posted on October 28, 2020
The pandemic has changed many aspects of our daily lives, both large and small. For me, the biggest change has been my whole family, including myself, working from home. We are all co-workers now. We hear each other’s phones ring, catch one side of each other’s meetings, and pass around the emotional support cats, who we also refer to as “co-workers,” though they are not always the most helpful or productive.My mother, father, brother and I each have our own office: in two bedrooms, the living room, and our guest bedroom. We take walks together at lunch-time and enjoy the sometimes-crisp weather and changing fall leaves. My brother and I walk through neighborhoods in nearby towns, petting dogs and peering into parties thrown in people’s driveways. Almost everyone we pass by says hello, and although we are cautious and slightly stiff, we welcome the socialization at a distance.
Adjusting to this new schedule is not as difficult as I thought it might be, especially now that my brother is home. He came back to Massachusetts from California some months after lock-down, suited up in PPE, and prepared to work from here until there is a vaccine. We are all lucky enough to have jobs that we can do from home, although occasionally my father (an electrical engineer) goes into his office to fix something, and my brother (a mechanical engineer) laments the fact that he can’t go into a lab he is modelling and take measurements. As an artist, I’m fortunately used to “working from home,” as my studio is also in my home. Adopting a home office mentality when I am working at NDT is not too much of a stretch for me.
Many of my friends around the world- from Canada to South Korea- are in similar situations, working from home or attending university online. It’s certainly an unusual situation, but we are all supporting each other along the way, whether in person or virtually.
NDT is a great place to be during this extraordinary time. The positive, optimistic energy at work is refreshing and reassuring. I’m glad they are one of my connections to the “outside world.” One thing the pandemic has made me think about is how NDT’s business is truly about building strong relationships with people, and I have learned a lot about the importance of staying connected and checking in with people. The warmth NDT shows toward the people they do business with will stay with me, and will still be vitally important, long after the pandemic is over.
Be sure to check out NDT’s job postings!
https://www.ndt.com/job-seekers
Claire Weaver-Zeman
Operations Coordinator