GWENDOLYN HORN  |  Manager |  Harrison

 One challenge in working at home has been how to maintain relationships with colleagues and clients. Weekly virtual meetings with my team members seemed contrived at first, but I now look forward to seeing these familiar faces and engaging in thoughtful conversation and light banter with them. My colleagues are so much more than just people I work with. We also develop personal relationships that can be quite deep. Transparency in expressing these emotions has helped bridge the physical distance.

 I have been relating to clients in ways I have not done previously. As a CPA in public practice, our focus is always on how we can help the client. Several of my clients have turned the tables and actually helped sustain me through this crisis. One client practices Buddhism and recommended a focus on breathing as a relaxation technique. Another of my clients is a clergy member; he encouraged me to remain hopeful that our scientists use their God-given talents to come up with a vaccine. An elderly client helped me to find a little levity in my day with his predictable but endearing corny humor.  As the physical separation of social distancing undoubtedly continues, I feel fortunate that I have caring colleagues and clients to be “by my side."

GHorn@pkfod.com

JOHN W. HERMUS  |  Manager |  Brightwaters

 A major challenge was just how quickly everything changed and how rapidly we were forced to adapt to this new environment. We were forced to instantly learn how to work from home effectively, and while I’ve actually grown pretty used to doing it now, the speed of the transition was initially abrupt. The timing of it, right in the middle of our extended tax season, didn’t help much either. Overall, though, I have been impressed with how easily we were able to evolve in this new situation, which has shown us that the profession is flexible and resilient.

That said, it has been tough losing the in-person interactions we’ve had with both staff and clients, whether just a quick training question or on-the-spot help and guidance, especially for younger staff.  But we’ve been able to at least partially overcome this through apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and a lot of our groups have weekly conferences to go over the workload and just catch up with each other.

jhermus@sheehancpa.com