Working From Home During COVID-19: A Retrospective

Those of us who are child-free or whose children are grown weathered a less dramatic change. After all, Bospar has been a virtual agency since its inception, and all of us were already working from home. 

And yet, we were impacted. Like many people, I found that my work day and week grew longer. With no social engagements beckoning after 5 or 6 p.m., why not just get a few more things done? On the upside, I cultivated closer relationships with my colleagues. In many ways, they became my daily social interaction and helped to keep me sane.

As the pandemic winds slowly to a close in the U.S., I decided to check in with other Bospartans about some of the ways the pandemic changed their work-from-home lives. Here’s what they had to say.

We got to spend more time with our kids

While remote learning was no walk in the park, many Bospartans appreciated the extra time they got to spend with their kids this year.

“One of the unforeseen benefits was more family time—a whole lotta family time!” said Vice President Stacey Grimsrud. “Facilitating remote learning while working at home was challenging, but I appreciated the window into my son’s world. I got to hear his interactions with friends and teachers—rare moments I’m not typically privy to and really enjoyed.”

“I love having my husband and sons here with me all day. I’m dreading when he goes back to work full-time and the boys go to school in person,” said Vice President Ali Nagy. “I know we’ll never have this time together again, so we really made the best of it.”

We learned how to share space with our spouses

While Bospartans have always worked remotely, many were forced to share their office space with a spouse who was suddenly working from home for the first time.

“Sharing my work-from-home space with my husband was the biggest shift for me. In the 6+ years I’ve worked from home, I’ve never had to monitor my volume when speaking on calls,” said Bospar Vice President Gabi Jasinski. “But it’s been fun to discover that we can spend over 400 days together in close quarters and still really like each other. We probably won’t spend this much time together again until we’re retired.”

“I’ve really enjoyed working from home with my wife. She makes the tough days more enjoyable, and it’s always great to end the work day together,” said Bospar Account Supervisor Alisha Alvarez. “Now that we’re both working remotely, we moved into a bigger apartment that has space for an office, which is a nice plus. It allows me to fully separate from work at the end of the day.”

We got serious about our home office and work-life balance

“I found that I needed to prioritize a better work-life balance and practice more personal wellness routines before and after work hours in order to maintain more focus and energy,” said Bospar Account Director Gaby Perez-Silva. “Since I never ‘leave the office,’  I also created a new space for my work that felt comfortable and warm.”

“Perhaps the best change in my work-from-home situation is the addition of my Peloton bike,” added Nagy. “There’s a group of Bospartans with Pelotons, and we planned a weekly ‘Pelly Hour’ every Wednesday evening to take the same class at the same time. It’s a good mental break and has become something that I really look forward to each week.”

We learned how to dress for Zoom

Perhaps my favorite admission came from  Alvarez, also quoted above.

“I love not having to wear real pants on a daily basis, while still looking professional from the waist up,” she said. “That has allowed for some fun and interesting outfits.”

As I mentioned previously, while Bospartans have always worked from home, the pandemic still reshaped our work life in major ways. And not all of them were bad.