Photo By Scott Sturkol | This graphic illustration made April 14, 2020, highlights Department of the Army...... read more read more
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When the Department of Defense, Army, and Fort McCoy response to the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, the possibility of people having to telework from home became evident. By the third week of March, that possibility became the reality.
Hundreds of Fort McCoy employees from garrison and tenant organizations are now teleworking — some for the first time — to keep the mission going.
“Since I have never teleworked, it was difficult to get used to,” said Administrative Services Division Chief Trudy Ward with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Human Resources. “I don’t have an ‘office’ where I can set up my laptop and monitors so I have resorted to setting my work station at my kitchen table.
“By week three of teleworking, it was a lot better, too, since a routine has been established,” Ward said. “Not being able to talk face to face with my supervisor, employees, and co-workers was also challenging to get used to. If more teleworking is in my future, I will most definitely buy a desk and set up my workstation in my spare bedroom and convert it into an office.”
Other Fort McCoy workers are happy to be able to operate from a safe location.
“I’m grateful to be able to telework in these trying and stressful times,” said Deana Caswell, senior technician with the U.S. Army Reserve Pay Center at Fort McCoy. “It is a welcomed challenge. I’m very happy that my organization has, first, has the capabilities to telework and, secondly, has authorized teleworking from home to do our part to be safe and keep others safe due to the stay-at-home order put in place. It allows us to carry out the very important mission to pay America’s Soldiers.”
Jancee Doemel, customer relations specialist with Strategic Data Services of Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Information Operations at Fort McCoy, said telework has been a regular part of her job before the pandemic, but only part time.
“My position with DLA changed to a nonproduction environment, which allowed me the ability to telework during my regular schedule,” Doemel said. “Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, I teleworked every Monday. I was also allowed to telework during bad weather or between appointments. I live way out in the country, so the option to telework at times has been very helpful. I also enjoy it because I can get a lot of administrative work done without the interruption of customers walking in.
“But with the good, there are always some bad,” Doemel said. “At times, the network can be very slow … painfully slow. I also randomly get dropped off the network, and videoconferencing via Skype has a delay. I also don’t have the luxury of my large dual screens that I have at the office. But, all in all, the ability to telework during this crisis has allowed me the capability of keeping in contact with my customers and ensuring operations will continue for those in need of DLA services.”
For Jobi Spolum, management and program analyst with the Fort McCoy Plans, Analysis and Integration Office, her first week of telework was challenging, but as time went on, operations worked out better.
“The first week was a bit interesting just getting used to … logging in with the Virtual Private Network (VPN) from home,” Spolum said. “Both of my kids are home using the Wi-Fi also, so between a slow Wi-Fi and getting kicked out of VPN at times, it made for a long week. At times, I would just download a file on my computer and then turn off the internet connection to try and work faster.
“By week two, it was much better,” Spolum said. “Not sure why, but my connections seemed better, and (I) was able to work more efficiently. We have daily staff calls, so that helped us stay connected on the status of our projects. Honestly, I would much rather be at the office — we do so much collaboration on our programs that it did make it harder.”
Effective communication is key to successful telework, said Christopher Hanson, public affairs specialist with 88th Readiness Division Public Affairs.
“The 88th Readiness Division has really stepped up its game with community engagements throughout our 19-state region this year, so we have been traveling extensively over the past six months,” Hanson said. “During these engagements, we are basically operating in a similar capacity as we would from home — laptop, camera, posting to social media, stories and photos uploaded, and more. Mobile work is similar to telework in the sense that one of your biggest concerns is connectivity. Having a reliable Wi-Fi signal is crucial to our success.
“One major downside is missing out on that face-to-face interaction of working closely with people,” Hanson said. “Fortunately, many of us can utilize FaceTime or other video communications to come as close to that interaction as possible.”
At Regional Training Site (RTS)-Maintenance at Fort McCoy, instructor Sgt. 1st Class Charles Abert said his organization has adjusted operations through telework, as well.
“All the administrative support is being conducted by teleworking,” Abert said. “We continue to reach out to students that have been, or are going to be, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have called, emailed, and changed our school page to put out (detailed) information.”
Directorate of Public Works (DPW) Operations and Maintenance Division Chief Nate Sobojinski completes work for DPW by telework three days a week. The other two days of the week, he goes into post to work.
“I can't do my job entirely from home,” Sobojinski said. “I cannot respond to issues that are ‘hands on’ from home. I found it best to limit my exposure by coming back to McCoy on a routine schedule for the time being. This allows me to stay on top of issues on post, while allowing me to catch up on administrative work and participate in (teleconferences) on the three days I am teleworking.”
Sobojinski said that during his weeks of teleworking, the toughest adjustment — like it has been for most people on post — is working through VPN and dealing with connectivity issues. But like everyone else, he said he adjusted and maintained an efficient schedule getting work done.
“On the positive side, I find that the time away from the office allows me to be more productive when I am on a computer task,” Sobojinski said. “It gives me time to review, adjust as needed, and fully complete a task.
However each employee teleworking has been finishing tasks through telework, many said they’ll emerge from this effort with a stronger plan for efficiency in regular operations, and they will possibly be better prepared for similar responses in the future.
“On a positive note, it sounds like a lot of people had the same initial teleworking growing pains to begin with like me,” Spolum said. “And I also have a very nice view from my dining room. I am glad that we were given this opportunity.”
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.14.2020 15:43 |
| Story ID: | 367375 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 91 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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