The office technology space is much more than the sum of its equipment and supplies, managed print and IT, document workflow, and all the other elements than enable a business to hum along smoothly. The role that people play in our business and personal lives has always been apparent, but the experiences of the past year have underscored the value of in-person collaboration.
As we watch the smoke from the pandemic continue to gradually dissipate, we take stock in how the experience has changed us and the people with whom we collaborate on a periodic basis. We turned to our friends at Toshiba to gain first impressions of how the pandemic has touched them and those in their immediate circles personally. We’d like to thank Johanna Fischer, major account manager; Mina Lee, senior product line manager, label and receipt printer solutions; and Ledena Cayetano, program manager, for providing their personal thoughts on how the pandemic has shaped their experiences and daily lives.
With mask mandates lifting everywhere, what’s the atmosphere and attitude been like around the offices of Toshiba?
Fischer: I’m based in Florida, and there’s a stark difference between Florida and California (Toshiba’s U.S. headquarters). I’m in the northern part of Florida, which is a little more similar to California. I’ve seen a city-wide support of masks throughout the pandemic. I live and work in Jacksonville, where the entire community has been tremendous in supporting the mask mandates; maybe 90-95% of people are wearing masks while out and about. I’ve been very fortunate throughout the pandemic to do a lot of business with health care organizations, and the hospitals and medical centers have been extremely busy, as have a number of logistics companies I’ve met with. They’ve all been wearing masks, and the handshake has been replaced with a wave and a nod. It’s been a positive experience, and everyone’s kind of adapted to it.
We all came together, dug our heels in and tried to work together as a company. I think the organization prioritized ensuring that the employees were taken care of, and that was a huge benefit. That’s something that I personally valued.
– Johanna Fischer
Lee: While meticulously adhering to CDC guidelines since the beginning of the pandemic for the safety and well-being of our employees, our corporate office is carefully reviewing the face-covering policy, considering a large percentage of our local population is now vaccinated. Therefore, I feel very safe coming back to work. We’re seeing more people returning to the office, so it’s great to once again visit with my teammates in person. We‘re like a big family here at Toshiba and there’s nothing like being with family. We’re looking forward to getting back to normal and everyone is just happy that we can see each other’s smiling faces again.
We‘re like a big family here at Toshiba and there’s nothing like being with family. We’re looking forward to getting back to normal and everyone is just happy that we can see each other’s smiling faces again.
– Mina Lee
Are we getting back closer to where we were?
Fischer: Absolutely, and there’s much more hope in terms of conversations with coworkers and customers, or even people in the community. There’s the sense that we’re going back to normal. One of my customers out of Miami does the vast majority of its business with cruise ships. Imagine what their business looked like. We just signed a contract to do a lot of software with them and help them convert their business processes from paper-based to electronic. The client is at the point in which they’re starting to reinvest and be more optimistic about the future, and this was one of the hardest-hit industries. There’s definitely more positivity around it.
The last 15-18 months have been frustrating for a lot of people from a business and personal side. What’s been the secret to maintaining an upbeat and positive frame of mind?
Cayetano: This is a fundamentally different way of working. We’re not just working from home; we’re working through a worldwide crisis. I’m proud of how Toshiba has shown empathy and compassion during this stressful period. It feels like we’re all in this together, throughout the entire company. Daily check-ins and words of encouragement have been invaluable. Finding new ways to collaborate with team members helped inspire communication and creativity. Working from home has also allowed me to spend more time with my kids. Add in the lack of a commute and I have extra time to exercise or cook a wholesome dinner. I’m also grateful for athleisure wear—I can wear stretchy pants every day! Focusing on the positive and having incredible support has been key to maintaining a positive attitude at work and in my personal life.
Lee: Toshiba’s Vice President, Solutions and Outbound Marketing, KerstinWoods, wrote a brilliant blog post on our website to discuss five useful tips on how to prevent COVID burnout. It’s all about planning our days with to-do lists and prioritizing tasks to stay organized, focused and positive. Be sure to check out this blog for these tips. They helped me out a lot.
Fischer: Part of what I believe makes someone successful is falling back on your routines. Although we’re working from home, trying to stay within your routine and day-to-day tasks is important. If you had to wake up at 6 a.m. when you were going into the office, or if your routine included exercising in the morning, having coffee or whatever, the key was to maintain those routines at home. Set up an environment in your home where you can be productive. Also, we’ve seen everyone going through Lowe’s and Home Depot, so do some home improvement projects. Get involved more with your local community, your neighbors, your friends, and try to do some outdoor activities. That’s helped me and my family tremendously.
What has this experience taught you about the company, its employees and yourself?
Fischer: I’ve been with Toshiba a long time and always felt like they’ve been very supportive, and that hasn’t changed throughout the pandemic. We all came together, dug our heels in and tried to work together as a company. I think the organization prioritized ensuring that the employees were taken care of, and that was a huge benefit. That’s something that I personally valued.
Lee: This entire pandemic experience shows how much Toshiba cares about its employees. From our corporate headquarters to offices across the United States, Mexico and Central and South America, our company took extra measures to follow social distancing and sanitization while caring for employees’ well-being. Our management always checks in with us to see how we’re doing. It just goes to show that Toshiba places its people first while valuing them as their most important asset via definitive actions. An employee such as myself needs to know that I work for a company that truly cares for me so I can come to work every day feeling safe, healthy and motivated.
We’ve all had our share of challenges during this time. Do you have any lighthearted moments you can share?
Lee: At the very beginning of the pandemic, masks were hard to come by, so I got a sewing machine to learn how to sew masks. It was hard in the beginning because the machine always jammed. It took me an entire weekend to learn the ins and outs of it. The good news is, I ended up sewing more than 30 masks for family and friends. So, I am now happy to say that I know how to sew, thanks to the pandemic.
Fischer: It became a lot more personal for me. Purely from a business perspective, my business almost maintained normal levels because I had a lot of customer organizations such as health care that were servicing the community. I was able to share more of my own personal life, and also learned more about what clients’ personal lives were like. As we’re in Teams meetings, I’d see someone’s dog, cat or child running past the screen. So it became much more personal and intimate. My husband and I decided to add to our family and had a baby; I’m still on maternity leave now. He was born April 16, so to be able to share that intimate and positive experience with some of my customers has been really great.
Though we all have tried, Zoom and Teams virtual meetings don’t compare to engaging with people face to face. Can you relate an example of past in-person encounters that really bring to light that value of interaction?
Fischer: Right as our part of the state was beginning to close down, we did a walk-through of the largest mental health organization in central Florida. It was critical that we were able to walk through their facilities and take a complete inventory to understand what their business processes look like, what their challenges were and what they were currently doing compared to what they wanted to do. We reviewed the floor plan with the customer and noted where every one of their output devices was situated. We gathered all the information and put together a compelling proposal and reason for why the customer should move forward with what we thought would be the best solution. That’s something we would never have been able to do if we didn’t have the opportunity to meet with them face to face and tour their facility. There’s no comparison in doing that in person versus trying to understand or grasp that remotely. When we sat with them after Orlando closed down, they were able to look at floor plans of the complete organization—about 30 different locations—and virtually go through something we had done in-person. That was priceless.
Lee: Customers want to touch and feel Toshiba’s products to fully understand the value of our offerings. It’s hard to accomplish this via Zoom and Teams. During the pandemic, I had the privilege of visiting a customer lab for a printer integration project while enjoying a nice, relaxing lunch with them—all the while maintaining safety protocols. There was so much joy. We simply talked about how good it was to finally be able to enjoy a meal with each other. It was special.
Was working from home everything you thought it would be? Sharing a space with spouses and children, not to mention pets (and barking dogs) while trying to work…that must’ve been the source of a few gray hairs.
Lee: I had the privilege to be able to work from home part-time in the past with other Toshiba subsidiaries, so it was somewhat normal. We’re blessed that my husband, daughter and I all have our own rooms as workspaces. It’s always fun to show my lovely 5-year-old, 65-pound greyhound on the camera while also seeing other people’s pets. It’s also fun to see others’ homes. I’m getting more and more decorating tips.
Cayetano: One thing I’ve learned from the pandemic is there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to working at home with kids. I have four kids under 12 and I feel like I work more now than ever. The demands of being a mom, wife, full-time worker, daycare teacher and homeschool instructor have felt daunting on several occasions, but planning ahead helps a lot. My husband is also very busy at work, so we have to organize each day by our meeting schedules. Our leadership team has encouraged us to take time to focus on our mental health and take breaks as we work, which has been very helpful. I’ve also made an effort to block my calendar for lunch when possible so we enjoy a family lunch together. The flexibility and support I’ve received from our leadership team while balancing working from home with four kids during a global pandemic have been invaluable.
Our leadership team has encouraged us to take time to focus on our mental health and take breaks as we work, which has been very helpful. I’ve also made an effort to block my calendar for lunch when possible so we enjoy a family lunch together.
– Ledena Cayetano
Fischer: My husband and I were both fortunate not to be impacted by COVID in terms of losing a job. He thought it would be a good idea for us to share an office, so we gave it a try. After about half an hour, I went to our home’s HR director, which is me, and had him transferred out of my office. We have a two-story home, and my husband ended up moving upstairs to work out of one of the bedrooms. We still meet in the kitchen for coffee breaks.
The pandemic completely changed our family dynamic because not only now were we both working from home, we also had two older kids who were homeschooled, two big dogs that suddenly had people around them constantly and we had to hire a tutor so that the girls could still be effective in school while we were working full-time. It definitely changed our environment.
It was challenging to effectively communicate with customers in a new way. We’ve all been on conference calls before, obviously, but never to this extent in which all the communication is done through Zoom, Teams or phone calls. I had to remind the girls that if I have my headphones on and I’m in a meeting, unless there’s a life or death situation going on, they’re just going to have to wait. I did a lot of walking after work just to clear my head and get some peace.
How did you spend free time during the pandemic? Home repairs/renovations/redecorations? Did you take up a new hobby or spend more time doing an existing passion?
Fischer: We redid our pool and added an in-ground trampoline. We also took down an older playset and replaced it with a new one. Most everything we did was for the kids. Plus, we converted the one bedroom into a second office space. Again, having two people in one office was unreasonable.
Lee: I picked up scrapbooking as a new hobby since I was able to find tons of old photos from many years ago while cleaning our garage. It was simply fun to look at some of these photos, recall good times from the past while getting creative and placing them in attractive albums for our living room coffee table. It was a satisfying sense of accomplishment.
Cayetano: I actually re-visited an old passion of mine, surfing. I figured it was a safe, socially distanced activity. It was more like an emotional and physical safe haven from a deadly pandemic, not to mention the adrenaline that comes from the sport. And with our company headquartered in Southern California, we’re lucky to have access to a number of beaches. When the weekend hits or after a busy workday, I found the ability to get out in the water helped keep me stronger both in mind and body.
Knowing what you know now, if you had to do the pandemic all over again (and we shudder at the thought) what would you have done differently?
Lee: Definitely to make sure there are plenty of masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and especially toilet paper in the house at all times. The experience of running out of toilet paper and not able to buy it anywhere somehow was very stressful.
Fischer: I would’ve been a little more patient in understanding that this doesn’t just impact adults. Our kids haven’t been able to interact with children their own age for the better part of a year. I wish I’d been a little more patient and understanding of the impact on them. As I’m learning and growing, that’s something I’d like to take with me, to be more patient.
It’s been nice spending time at home; we appreciate having that safe place. And I didn’t kill my husband. That’s all positive! Seriously, though, you go from working on-site 40, 50, 60 hours a week and seeing each other in the evenings and on the weekends, to being around each other 24/7. That really makes me appreciate the relationship I have with my husband. I’m grateful for that and how we were able to get along as well as we did.
