{"id":71130,"date":"2021-03-12T10:47:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T15:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=71130"},"modified":"2021-03-12T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T20:12:14","slug":"how-brock-employees-made-the-switch-from-meeting-room-to-dining-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/03\/how-brock-employees-made-the-switch-from-meeting-room-to-dining-room\/","title":{"rendered":"How Brock employees made the switch from meeting room to dining room"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOTE: This is one in a series of articles published by\u00a0The Brock News\u00a0to mark the one-year anniversary\u00a0of Brock University suspending in-person, on-campus classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To read all of the articles in the series,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a span of less than 24 hours, Brock University employees transitioned from working on a bustling campus among hundreds of colleagues and tens of thousands of students to working remotely from their homes.<\/p>\n

On March 16, 2020, five days after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic, Brock University announced that beginning March 17 it would transition to a modified operational model that required a significant number of employees work from remote locations.<\/p>\n

The afternoon of the announcement, employees packed up what they could carry with them and headed out across campus, passing by digital screens lit up in red that warned them of the virus and talked of the importance of washing their hands. They passed through eerily empty hallways; students no longer on campus because in-person classes were suspended three days earlier.<\/p>\n

Many left campus that day thinking they would return shortly. They bid farewell to their colleagues, unaware they wouldn\u2019t see each other in person again for more than a year.<\/p>\n

The following days were spent setting up makeshift offices on kitchen tables and in basements. Many employees were joined by new, young colleagues \u2014 their children, who were now learning from home. Parents balanced caring for their children and supporting them in online classes while also learning how to do their own jobs remotely, in both cases often having to navigate unfamiliar virtual collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and Lifesize. Others found themselves alone and isolated from their families or needing to care for aging parents or immunocompromised loved ones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pivoting to remote work<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the significant challenges Brock employees faced at the onset of the pandemic, it was amazing how quickly they all pivoted to working from home, said Jennifer Guarasci, Associate Vice-President, Human Resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no greater evidence of the Brock spirit in my mind than what we saw over the months of March and April of last year,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have an amazing community of faculty and staff who just pulled together and said, \u2018how do we get this done?\u2019 I think this is something to be really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Cullum, Associate Vice-President, Information Technology Services (ITS), was impressed by how quickly employees adopted to working online and using virtual collaboration technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe increase in numbers on Teams and Lifesize went right through the roof. It was incredible. Expected, but the adoption for all of this overall went very smoothly in my opinion and my team\u2019s opinion, even though there were some bumps along the way,\u201d Cullum said.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the Brock community live streamed 394 events via Lifesize and used 7,474,893 virtual meeting minutes. That\u2019s 5,194 days or 14 years worth of calls within one year. Microsoft Teams has nearly 25,000 active users who have engaged in 35,956,894 minutes worth of meetings over the past 90 days. In other words, roughly 750,000 minutes are spent in Teams per weekday. Additionally, users sent an estimated 40,000 chat messages per workday.<\/p>\n

In addition to supporting the University community with virtual collaboration tools, ITS assisted employees in their transition to remote work by:<\/p>\n