Ryan Wichman never imagined he would give the seven-day weather forecast from a closet at his home, but that will be his new normal for the foreseeable future.
Coronavirus continues to cause havoc around the world and in the United States, with millions of people now working from home. The WTOL-TV Channel 11 meteorologist is one of many trying to figure out the best way to manage it on air.
“Every day has been a little bit of a balancing act and it’s been a little chaotic,” Mr. Wichman said. “We have a 3-year-old son, and we’re trying to balance that now that he’s home from daycare. And then you have your professional life. Separating those two things under the same roof is doable, but it’s still very much a work in progress.”
Mr. Wichman and WTOL reporters are working remotely and practicing social distancing. He set up a pair of lights in a hallway closet this week and is using Skype for audio and video during his live shots.
Mr. Wichman calls in to the station and a director patches him through to the airwaves.
“We’re blessed with technology where we have remote access to our main computers, where we would typically build our graphics and other elements,” he said. “Things are a little slower through the Internet, but we can still see everything with our remote desktop.
“I will say that I miss my green screen. I wish I would have said goodbye before I left.”
WTVG-TV Channel 13 is making similar adjustments. News director Mel Watson said reporters and photographers are editing from home and not driving together to assignments.
Reporters were issued laptops with the station’s editing software. Ms. Watson said there have been challenges — but nothing compared to last fall when a computer virus crashed the station’s entire editing system.
“Everything is shot in the field, then dumped into a laptop, and everything gets edited on that laptop,” Ms. Watson said. “Then we have to get it back into the building to load into the computer to play it on air. We’re hitting a snag on that feedback. When we dump that amount of video and multiply it by seven reporters, it creates a logjam.”
Ms. Watson said staff are using Microsoft Teams to conduct meetings and remain in communication. Viewers may notice on-air changes, including single anchor newscasts.
She said covering this health crisis also means monitoring the stress level of employees and ensuring everyone gets enough rest.
“I’ve been in the business 30 years, and I never thought I would see anything like 9/11 again,” Ms. Watson said. “This is affecting every single person in this country. As journalists, this is what we do. It’s our responsibility as the local media to serve the communities in which we broadcast from.”
Thrive at Work, a Cleveland-based workplace consultant, offers support and strategy for employers and announced this week it is offering multiple free tools as more people transition to working from their living rooms.
The free toolkit includes a virtual community for leaders to share ideas and resources, and ask questions. There are also daily 30-minute leadership coaching sessions available for workers who lead a team of employees and are trying to optimize practices.
Partner Jack Ricchiuto said it’s an important time for leaders in the workplace.
“The leader should get the team together at least once a day for virtual huddles,” Mr. Ricchiuto said. “In a huddle, you’re doing it over the phone, via video conferencing, or even through text on something like Slack. It’s basically what are people working on, how are they spending their time, and then ask if they need help and offer help.”
Mr. Ricchiuto said it’s important to treat the workday like any other as much as possible.
“Think about what your morning looks like, what your afternoon looks like,” he said. “Usually when we’re at home, we’re not usually putting a schedule together, so transferring that skill is important.”
The lack of structure when working remotely can be a challenge, something Toledo Lucas County Public Library executive director Jason Kucsma is still navigating.
The library was one of the first major systems in the country to close, and Mr. Kucsma has been working from home all week. He said his leadership team began preparing for this new normal about two weeks prior.
He said his new “office” is wherever he can take his laptop.
“This morning I was working in our unfinished basement as my 5-year-old twins jumped on a trampoline,” Mr. Kucsma said. “I’ve been taking conference calls in the living room or wherever I can find a quiet spot.”
Mr. Kucsma said conference calls, emails, and a shared Dropbox folder are the most common methods he’s using to remain in touch with his staff. He said adjusting to the changes is tough, but there are some silver linings. He’s not taking the extra time with his family for granted.
“At the same time, it’s also difficult to keep the little ones entertained and educated during this process,” he said. “My wife is doing an incredible job keeping them on a schedule doing different lessons throughout the day, and there’s plenty of playtime too. But you have so many distractions. I have to ration my Twitter and social media consumption, otherwise I could spend all day scrolling through.”
Erin Wiley owns the Willow Center, a mental health counseling facility on Airport Highway. Many counselors, including Mrs. Wiley, are setting up in their homes to meet with clients via video conferencing.
She said it’s challenging but feels grateful to her employees that she can keep the business running.
“I have 25 people who are therapists and staff and they all use this job to feed their families,” Mrs. Wiley said. “I saw the writing on the wall of where this was headed. To protect the practice and their paychecks, I really wanted to switch to tele-health. I’ve worked on educating clients how to use these services and educate our clinicians to do this virtually.”
Counselors are using a service called Simple Practice, which is HIPAA compliant and includes a video component. Some of the issues Mrs. Wiley has encountered are bad Internet connections and microphones, and barking dogs, but it’s worth it to continue to help people.
“It’s been the hardest week I’ve ever had professionally,” she said. “It’s been stressful, but I feel so grateful to still be able to provide our service to clients because we’re all worse than ever right now.
“If you’re looking for mental health tips, remember there are some big emotions people are facing, and we have to realize they’re happening and not deny them. We have to own them, speak them, share them, talk through them, and find ways to cope with them.”
Mrs. Wiley said it’s also healthy to limit exposure to social media and take a break from the news every once in a while.
First Published March 21, 2020, 10:21 p.m.
