Page 86 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
seeking them out. For all its challenges, however, the move was, and continues to be, a unique learning experience that has changed the way I think about my professional life.
In August of 2020, I joined Kemper’s Birmingham, Alabama-based Claims Coverage Counsel team. When the Phoenix-based position within that team was first posted, the plan was for the new hire to fly out to Birmingham several times over the first few months to meet the team and get acclimated, and for the managing attorney to spend time in Phoenix shortly thereafter. Instead, I was shipped a laptop, a monitor, a phone, and was “up and running” from my living room/office within a few days. To this day, I have not met any of my colleagues in person. In fact, I’ve only seen Kemper’s Phoenix office once, when I went in to pick up mail.
The fact that I was able to get set up so quickly is a testament to Kemper’s commitment to keeping its employees safe. Last I checked, over 90% of its country-wide workforce remains working from home. But for all the impressive efforts made to streamline the hiring process by embracing technology and remote working, there are real differences between working with one’s colleagues face to face and working “with” them from one’s living room. More importantly, it is one thing to lose the personal interactions with those with whom you have already developed a rapport. It is quite another to develop that rapport over the phone.
The observation that corporate and firm cultures differ significantly is not groundbreaking. However, the difficulty of navigating a new environment while under the stresses of 2020 is unique, and it has caused me to grow a new appreciation for the significance of workplace culture generally.
My firm prided itself on its “open door” policy, even investing in workspace designed to foster collaboration. In pre-COVID days I spent the majority of my time working in “common” (i.e. more comfortable) areas, returning to my desk only for calls or meetings. If I needed to discuss an issue (or my colleagues wanted to discuss one with me), I was within earshot of at least four highly competent attorneys. The relationships I developed in that time made the transition to working from home in early 2020 much easier.
My work at Kemper also involves healthy collaboration with colleagues, but it is very different from the informal environment to which I had grown accustomed. When assisting a coworker with a legal issue in a company as large as Kemper, sometimes something as simple as whether to call a co-worker directly, as opposed to getting a call scheduled (the more polite approach) can require a bit of thought.
On more complex or significant matters, I may need to expand a discussion to include others. Knowing when that is necessary can be complicated, requiring detailed knowledge of corporate structure and the responsibilities of different departments,
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