Member-only story
Managing with Courage and Compassion During a Global Pandemic
In early 2020, COVID-19 took hold of our lives and turned our world upside down. At the time I was working for a large international financial firm. I managed a team of three employees. Our department’s work was hands-on operations/customer service for the Los Angeles office. Close to 97% of our work was done onsite. Space and facilities management were our primary responsibilities. When COVID hit, our office, like those of most companies, was closed and we were relegated to working remotely. For many other entities within the company, this transition was far easier than for us due to the type of work involved.
The LA office Partner/Executive, early on, had stated publicly that he believed COVID was a hoax. The spineless director of my unit went along with this delusion, wanting staff to go into the office even though there could be deadly consequences. This was one of my team’s main concerns in the initial months of the pandemic; that they were going to be forced to work out of the office, possibly exposing them to the virus. Two clueless managers and the denying director from our department wanted to keep the office open, even though our corporate headquarters in New York had closed all offices and reassured us that none of us would be obligated to come in. I kept emphasizing to my staff that the firm’s top leadership back East was not…
