'I feel like we are a farm family in the city': The unexpected upside of working from home in Saskatoon

How will work change? Watch: CTV Saskatoon’s Carla Shynkaruk with a look at how COVID-19 could change work permanently.

SASKATOON — It’s been almost two months since many started working from home to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Saskatoon's Tammy Zdunich says she's gotten into a groove despite the initial panic to get her three kids set up at home and her business online.

Zdunich runs The Well Collaborative which helps women in business and says, when she was faced with working from home, she had a lot to think about.

"Turning the business virtual and then trying to figure out how to run a full-time business that has employees was tough," Zdunich told CTV News.

Now, weeks later, she sees this as a reset for the better.

"I'm not going to go back to the way things were. It was very hectic and very busy. There’s going to be a new way.”

University of Regina Professor of Educational Technology and Media, Alec Couros says, the big question now with so many people working from home is “What is the point to being face to face in the first place?”

He teaches most of his classes online and has been doing it for years so he knows that working and learning virtually can be effective, but he says, as humans we value the face to face at least during specific times to establish relationship elements. For some of his classes, he does find it necessary to have some in-person contact.

“We’d meet at the beginning of the semester and then again at the end of the semester and the first meeting was about establishing trust and getting to know each other,” Couros told CTV News.

Trust is a key human need and Couros says that can be developed online over time, but his research has shown that a mix is best.

“The deeper bonds in communities are when you have a hybrid. It’s not necessarily just online courses that are best, but to make things feel good, you have to have some face to face.”

Couros says, the newfound ability to work from home, will change the workplace moving forward. He says, some industries will change how they do business significantly, but others like essential services will not.

That is in line with what Zdunich is finding. She says, she’s been able to reach more women for her business outside of our community now that she’s online and that has been a big improvement that’s come out of working remotely.

She also says, her family has adjusted and benefited from everyone being at home.

“I feel like we are a farm family in the city. We can have lunch together, we can go walk the dog midday. My husband and I grew up in small towns and on farms so for us it’s been really sweet.”

Zdunich hopes others find the upside to the new normal and look at doing their business differently when the pandemic is over.