Written by By: Stephanie Diana Eubank
For those who are new to my channel, I teach Business Administration and Operations Management at Stan State. However, for the past 20 years, I have worked in the mortgage compliance arena, specializing in Condo Mortgage Underwriting. Which is a whole TED talk of its own. I was lucky that one of my mentors took a shot at me when she was developing a department from scratch and was doing so remotely. She had disabilities, and remote work helped her make her work the focus instead of her disabilities. This is one of the wonders of remote work that I champion working from home, allowing the disabled community room to focus on their work and how remote work increases diversity and inclusion. Although this opportunity stems from the adage, “It is not what you know or who you know. It is about who knows you”.
I have been fortunate enough to be a millennial in the financial industry, which means I have been experiencing Myspace, LinkedIn, and Facebook in my formative years. This helped me learn an important lesson I try to teach my students. That lesson is the importance of networking.
In my doctoral research, I learned about the types of isolation common in remote work. Specifically, professional isolation is prevalent. I got to see firsthand how companies, especially during the reconstruction era after the financial crisis of 2008 how contractors were unceremoniously laid off with no notice. However, my research found that remote workers also have experienced the feeling of being treated as a number and being treated as expendable. This is because remote workers tend to be isolated from leadership it was easier for leadership to not become attached and lay off remote workers indiscriminately.
Fast forward to 2024, we see the onslaught of forced Return to Office, also called RTO. Which has an added insidious business practice. The practice of RTO attempts to force remote workers back to the office or to quit so that companies can have a layoff without following the WARN Act and steal workers’ insurance, like unemployment rights, from their workforce.
This is where networking becomes necessary for our remote workforce’s career health and growth.
Networking is a great way to help the workforce regardless of modality gain:
- Better mental health,
- Skills in self-advocacy and connecting with leadership to stave off professional isolation,
- Develop community,
- Help find jobs, cultivate references, and
- Stay up to date with changes in the industry.
I have been lucky to have so many friends and mentors (they all know who they are) in my field with whom I have stayed in touch remotely for over two decades. A couple I have not even met face to face outside of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Skype. Having my circle of friends in my field to talk about issues and successes has not only been good for my and their mental health but also helped us survive the now two economic downturns and changes that welcomed remote workers into the norm of the workforce. We have worked remotely for between five and twelve years each. We have all gotten to experience the benefits of remote work creating a work-life- balance. This has made many of us more connected to our families and friends and lowered stress. Not to mention that we have all helped each other with our job hunts and references. Community is an important part of developing work culture. Unfortunately, while business trends and laws adjust to this new norm in remote work, the workforce must learn to develop their community.
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Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org
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Dr. Stephanie Diana Eubank DBA Remote Team Research (AKA Dr. Bear) 