2020 Year in Review: Jay Connolly, Connolly Brothers Inc.

What was the most difficult part of working during the pandemic of 2020? The biggest challenge of working during the pandemic has been adjusting to a partially remote workforce. While technology has allowed us to successfully work remotely during the beginning of the pandemic, it became obvious at a point that we were missing something. There is an unmeasurable dynamic of face-to-face interaction, collaboration and teamwork that happens in an office environment that we are missing. Our business is considered essential and therefore we have been mostly open but we still have a handful of employees who are remote and it adds another dynamic challenge to managing projects, teams and people.

What aspects of working from home have you enjoyed most? Being close to my family. Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with my kids. Seeing my son ride a bike for the first time – which I otherwise would not have been there for. For the relatively short period I was working from home it was really nice to be able to be so close to my family – only a few steps away as opposed to a commute away.