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V O L . X X V I I I N O. V M A R C H 7 , 2 0 2 2 12 WO R K P L A C E T R A N S F O R M AT I O N While she visited the firm last summer in Portland, she's now used to seeing colleagues — and clients — on Zoom and wonders how the dynamic will change as work habits evolve. "A lot of my experience has been similar to that of my teammates even though they are more closely located geographically," she says. "When people are going into the office a little more, I think it will be even more important to maintain the social connections." Pluses and minuses Nationwide, employees who went remote during COVID are reluctant to give up the newfound flexibility. at's documented in a report released Feb. 16 by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center. It found that six out of 10 adults polled in late January with remote-capable jobs are working from home all or part of the time. e propor- tion is lower than in October 2020 but triple what it was for people who tele- worked frequently pre-COVID. One conclusion: While droves of professionals worked from home initially because of closed offices, today it's more of a choice, with close to half of teleworking newbies reporting greater productivity. On the flip side, six out of 10 people now working from home at least some of the time with minimal pre-pandemic tele- work experience now feel less connected to co-workers, which experts blame in part on fewer in-person interactions. "Human beings are social animals," says Dr. Amy Wood, a Portland-based psychologist and executive coach. "We don't just need conversation with our valued colleagues and friends, we need connection … You've got to be face-to- face for important conversations." Nancy Marshall, head of Augusta- based Marshall Communications, feels the same way as a self-described social butterfly who prefers in-person meet- ings, especially with new clients. "ere are chemicals that go back and forth between human beings when you're in person, and I think you get to know a person much better when you're literally face to face, not through a computer screen," she says. When phone calls are required and she needs an escape from the daily email crush, her car is her venue of choice: "When I'm driving, I can do some of my best phone work because I'm not check- ing my emails." As a publicist, Marshall says she's found it easier over the past two years to forge new relationships on Twitter, including Ryan Howe, direc- tor of operations for the Holy Donut. ough she's never met him, Marshall says she finds herself liking and com- menting on his tweets, adding: "I don't know if this would have happened pre- pandemic, but I suspect not." Similarly, Portland-based business communication coach Kymberly Dakin- Neal of Voice into Learning LLC has struck up new global connections during the pandemic, including through virtual writers' groups as she pens a book about listening modalities.. "I've made some really good friend- ships with people I've never met in person, and that's because of this tech- nology," she says. Dakin-Neal is a com- munication technology entrepreneur in her own right, as the developer of a web application called Nugget to bookmark, record and transcribe online meetings. ough she sold the app to Silicon Valley buyer Merry Solutions Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., Dakin-Neal still uses it in her practice. "So far it's working exactly the way we designed it," she says. New stresses and lingo e new hybrid working arrangements have created new stresses about schedul- ing (Zoom vs. Teams, phone vs. video, calendar-invite turf wars); they have also spawned a language of their own, with terms like "online onboarding" and "Zoom fatigue" becoming part of the vernacular. Many of the new phrases feature regularly in email and text mes- sages and even cheeky word-bingo games for virtual gatherings. "I said, 'Let's take it offline' the other day and wanted to slap myself,'" says Katie Shorey, part of a three-person Live + Work in Maine team splitting her time between a new office in Brunswick Kymberly Dakin-Neal is the founder and principal of Voice into Learning LLC in Portland and developer of Nugget, a web-based application for bookmarking, recording and transcribing online meetings. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY F O C U S » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E

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