The new face of Unity, working from home.
Responding to the coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for everyone, but fortunately at Unity we have strong leadership and a team that is dedicated, resourceful and creative. As COO Andrew Dey said recently of the Unity team, “If I’m going to be working through a pandemic, there’s no team I’d rather be working with!”
In addition to implementing stringent safety measures early-on, we’re taking this crisis as an opportunity to bolster our resilience as a company. One aspect of this is refining our ability to work from a distance.
Unity and Bensonwood were built on a foundation of remote work: crafting large, intricate components in the controlled conditions of our shops, and assembling them quickly and precisely on distant job sites. We’ve also typically conducted the bulk of the project design and planning work with clients who are located remotely. In response to the pandemic, we’re further improving our technology and skills in this arena, to the benefit of our clients and ourselves.
For the past two weeks, most of the Unity team has been working from home, and will continue to do so until the situation settles down. Although some of us have been using video conferencing regularly for years, we’ve now made virtual meetings the norm rather than the exception. Rather than having in-person meetings with clients, we’re getting together online via video conferencing and screen sharing. So far, the lack of in-person meetings hasn’t slowed down progress on our projects.
Until very recently, in-person gatherings were a cornerstone of Unity’s marketing efforts. Prospective clients have enjoyed the opportunity to see our shop in action, visit our show home and experience first-hand the quality of our completed homes. We’re now working on developing on-line alternatives to these in-person events. We anticipate being able to offer webinars that will provide some of the same information, if not the visceral experience. As our collective efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus turn the tide, we’ll begin scheduling future group events.
In the meantime, this video produced by Ask This Old House contains an informative overview of our wall panel production line.
We’re all learning as we go. These times call for unity, and those of us who work here are fortunate to be experiencing plenty of it. We’re grateful for our coworkers, and the diligence and care they bring to their work, for our professional partners who have been responsive and flexible, and for our clients who continue to demonstrate patience and understanding. Together (and apart!), we’ll get through this, and be stronger for it!
