When the word out went out on Monday – hard to believe it was just Monday, right! – some of our teammates were startled.
They’d never worked from home. They weren’t really sure how to get started.
But this is National Life and we’re not a place that believes in problems. We believe in opportunities and solutions. Here’s one of those stories.
Johanna Petty-Dunlap is the Director of the Living Benefits Claims Team. She pitched in to help Mary Czapinski get set up at home. Mary is a Life & Annuity Claims Representative and she’s been with National Life for 14 years.
We’ll let Johanna pick up the story from here.
Mary is a knowledgeable and dedicated employee. Mary has always worked from our home office in Vermont and has not ever worked remotely.
Last week, when we received the announcement regarding the option to work from home, I was able to acquire a home office computer with instructions for Mary by the end of business on Friday, March 13th.
On Monday, we received the announcement that we will be required to work from home starting Tuesday.
Mary did not seem pleased about the announcement because she enjoyed working from the home office.
I had informed Mary that I would like to visit her home after work to ensure that she will be able to connect to our systems in order for her to be ready to function as if she was working from the home office. She agreed and provided me her home address.
Once I arrived at Mary’s home, she connected the computer with peripherals and said she is all set up.
I said, “That’s great; however, we need to turn it on and test it.” She sat down and turned on the power.
After 10 minutes, we noticed the computer would not show the “Login” screen.
I contacted the Help Desk and they said it sounds like you need an ethernet cable. He said, “The computer is searching for an internet connection.” We searched around in the box to see if the company provided an ethernet cable and noticed there were no extra cables.
As a result, I left Mary’s home to go to Staples to purchase an ethernet cable.
When I arrived at Staples, it was interesting to learn that I purchased the second-to-last cable. A store associate said that they are running out of the ethernet cables due to many individuals being required to work from home.
I returned to Mary’s home, quickly connected the ethernet cable to her internet modem and she was able to log in.
We tested all the system applications she would be using in order to perform her duties.
Then, we set up her mobile phone number within the Avaya Communicator. I asked her to log in to Avaya Communicator and let’s test to see if she can receive phone calls. Once she logged in, she received an error message regarding her IP address. I contacted the Help Desk again.
Trevor, the IT associate remained on the phone with us for 40 minutes to assist us in completing the Avaya Communicator set up.
Unfortunately, Trevor was not able to resolve the issue.
Trevor submitted the ticket for us to have the phone issue resolved by Tuesday morning.
Next, I connected her Bluetooth headphones to her mobile phone.
We tested the sound for phone calls to confirm that she would be able to hear voice calls and I would be able to hear her voice, clearly.
At the end of the evening, Mary thanked me for assisting her in checking her computer system to prepare her for the next day.
As a leader, I believe in providing support to my team to help them be more productive and confident in doing their job.
I was very happy to be able to assist Mary in preparing to work from home.
What a great story, huh? We haven’t checked, but we’re pretty sure that IT consultant is not in Johanna’s job description.
But neither is remote worker in Mary’s. Or in any of our job descriptions.
That doesn’t matter. To make sure that National Life was open for business and, in this case, processing claims, our teammates stepped up got the job done.
All we can say is, thank you for your dedication.
