By Jessika Fulton, Staff Reporter
Despite nonessential businesses across the nation opening back up again, many companies are still relying on remote working to get things done.
Jennifer Fulton, former Amarillo College student, is an operations manager for American International Group Inc., AIG.
Fulton says working from home has benefited both her and her family greatly.
“I am finally able to get off of work and eat dinner with family in a timely manner, something I am not usually able to do,” Fulton said.
Hope Demery, a psychology major, is a call representative at ATMOS energy. She says at first it felt strange, but now she likes staying at home.
“It was pretty weird at first but now I like it because I can just roll out of bed,” Demery said.
While it seems more relaxing and easier, remote work can be hard to manage when combined with college classes.
You lose the personal interaction and emotion. Emails don’t have the emotion, making the context to be taken differently.
Jennifer Fulton, operations manager for American International Group Inc.
“It’s a bit harder only because I’ve taken on more hours since school started online,” Demery said.
Trang Doan, a biology major and AC tutor, says it can be hard for her to fully focus on school while working and learning remotely.
“I usually do my homework at school with minimal distractions. At home, there are parents, siblings, food, chips, TV, chores and many other distractions,” Doan said.
Certain professions require more daily human interaction and, in these cases, working from home can be challenging.
“You lose the personal interaction and emotion. Emails don’t have the emotion, making the context to be taken differently,” Fulton said.
Tracy Barnett, an AC photography instructor, said she is still adapting to the new remote teaching environment.
“I’m still learning, but every other Zoom meeting has been at the studio. I’ve been showing examples of work,” Barnett said.
Working from home can also lead to diminished motivation.
“It’s weird not being in a work setting. It makes me less motivated to work with background distractions,” Demery said.
Doan said working remotely has made it difficult to show her tutees certain aspects or demonstrations of a subject.
“For A&P students, I sometimes rely heavily on models. Since I don’t have access to the models, it’s not as easy to show the students what the structures look like and how they work,” Doan said.
Working from home is not the ideal situation for everyone, but experts say it can provide greater safety and decrease the spread of the coronavirus.
“I think that more companies should implement working from home for the safety and comfort of their employees,” Demery said.
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