A new way of life
By Charity Vickers, CONNECT Vice President of Human Resources
In the midst of sorrow, loss and even isolation because of the pandemic, I think my family, the American Family Insurance enterprise, and society have evolved.
It’s challenged us to re-evaluate our days — how we spend them and who we spend them with. With two young girls, our schedules before the pandemic were exhausting, and they weren’t even in high school yet!
Although the pandemic has been challenging, the long hours were greeted with proximity to my family. Knowing I could pop out of the office to say “hi” to my daughters was truly a gift.
We also were no longer consumed by what invites to say yes or no to and shifted our focus to how much fun our family was going to have today. I have never been much of a menu planner, but cooking became a weekly ritual that everyone joined in. Even our youngest daughter started baking. Trying new dishes and having new cooks in the house definitely brought a lot of fun and distraction to our household.
We played more games, completed almost-impossible puzzles, and filled our evenings with walks and bike rides.
New challenges, new opportunities
Like many of you, some of my top challenges during the pandemic have been internet issues, wearing multiple hats day-in and day-out, and staying connected to a network of coworkers, friends and family.
Last year, we experienced a major internet service disruption when the kids were at home. Positioning for the best internet connection was met with who needed to create a new Tik Tok or livestream a Netflix show — or, for mom, lead a meeting with her team.
Balancing my work and personal life wasn’t easy. But I gave myself grace along the way.
We were all connected even more than we had been before the pandemic. The work didn’t shift, but having our pets and children at home to take care of did. I would have one-on-one check-ins on well-being with my team, everyone got creative with work schedules so parents could teach, and we worked together to redistribute work or priorities as needed.
Sometimes, I had to help with a math problem while sitting in a meeting — and that was OK. We accomplished a lot throughout the pandemic. Flexibility was key to that success.
At the start of the pandemic, I experienced angst on how to stay connected to my team and the overall workforce.
Knowing that I potentially wasn’t going to see my team in person for months, I found ways to still get proximate whether through a virtual happy hour, coffee or blocking my calendar to get some Zoom-free time.
I remember early on, one of my business partners, Jake Schneider, introduced the team to online game night. I even showed up with makeup and hair, compliments of my 6-year-old at the time. Many laughs, indeed.
Looking forward
As things slowly start to reopen, I’m excited to enjoy fresh air with neighbors and, hopefully, not talk only about COVID-19 and its impacts.
I’m looking forward to taking my daughters to the fair this summer, too. I can’t wait to walk through the cattle barns, enjoy funnel cake and watch the girls take it all in!
Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve come a long way in evolving how and where we work.
While I hope we can all enjoy some face-to-face time with our teams in the future, I am encouraged to know that our employees have figured out how to be productive in the face of extreme change.
We are leveraging technology like we never have before, allowing us to find different ways to connect and deliver results for our CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance.
I feel assured that if another pandemic hits, we’ll be ready to pivot just as we’ve done without missing a beat for our customers or each other.
