“My chair might look comfortable, but it really isn't. I can't sit for long periods like I can with my work chair, and it has a squeak that is driving me crazy every time I move.”
That was the response we received from our Web and Graphic Design Manager James Ross, when a company email thread shifted to a question about how everyone is adapting to working from home, and more specifically, the type of chair that people are using.
While BMA Media Group was discussing contingency plans and other necessary action to properly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the stay-at-home, or “shelter in place” directive from the Ohio governor accelerated our plans.
With little warning, the BMA Media Group creative team, who are used to working in an open, collaborative setting where they can bounce ideas or content off one another, were relegated to working from home.
“Bad backs don’t take breaks for pandemics,” responded Video Production Manager/Producer Lee Sechrist, while sharing a photo of his wooden chair with an extra pillow on the seat and a lumbar-supporting pad along the back.
And then within minutes, other staff chimed in with shots from their home-based workstations.
Hover over this picture to click through our staff's workstations.
Communications Associate Colleen Langham was working on a laptop while sitting on the floor, her faithful canine companion Lucy at her side. While Vice President of Operations/Events Elyssa Georgian admitted that in a matter of a few days she had already rejected a padded folding chair and is now trying out a folding, “camping chair.”
Other members of the BMA Team reported they were quite “comfy” in more complete home office work areas, and apparently, we are not allowed to ask questions about how Vice President of Special Events Ray Liptak “acquired” his chair from a friend’s studio back in 2002!
But what is important, is that a great deal of work was getting done – in some cases thanks to our at-home accommodations and in others despite our make-shift operation centers.
None of us are complaining. The email thread was full of bad puns and photos of pets to help brighten everyone’s spirits. We know that many people are going through much more difficult and troubling times.
We applaud and salute everyone working on the front lines of our nation’s fight against this global pandemic. A few Tylenol, and maybe an exchange of work from home stories will cure most of what ails us.
Through the recommended "shelter in place" social distancing, our BMA Media Group team is still working together, on all projects and with all of our current clients.
LaborTools powered by BMA Media Group is used to help strengthen our union client’s organizations. From working with unions from the local level to the international, with training funds and labor management partnerships, as well as other labor organizations, BMA has experience with organizations of all sizes. We are here to create and implement unique and customized marketing campaigns for our clients.
At BMA, we offer services in the following categories: union event services (from writing the history of your union to executing the logistics of an event,) video production, website design, union marketing campaigns, print and broadcast advertising, social media management, development of print materials, building trades industry education, labor public relations and crisis management, union merchandise, as well as strategic branding and marketing of union organizations.
BMA Media Group is a Union Building Trades Contractor, signatory with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 673 and International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 6 / Sign Display and Allied Trades Local 639. BMA Media Group is also signatory with AFTRA and an affiliate contractor of the Cleveland Chapter of NECA.
