Interview with Bryan White. “The Changes and Usage of Technology in The Business World” (Business, Covid-19, Global Pandemic, Pandemic, Technology, Working Father, Workplace). History 150 Spring 2022, conducted by Bridgette White, March 24, 2022.

Overview to Social Change Interview: For my Social change interview I focused on the changes and usage of technology in the business world throughout the past centuries. On March 24, I interviewed my father, Bryan White, mostly on how his job has changed since the pandemic. We discussed how my father adapting and the overall culture change in society during the pandemic. He talked about how as the world changed over the years, technology also changed with it. We discussed working from home during and after the pandemic as well as working in an office environment.

My father has worked as a salesman for over 20 years. The company my father works for specializes in building office spaces for other companies, including technological devices such as monitors. However, his company merged with another company making his job even more difficult to adjust to during the pandemic. My father has worked in an office environment for his whole life, although that changed in 2020. The pandemic changed my father’s routine, he now works from home. My father had to adjust to maintaining focus while being home. He found that working from home has been a lot easier. He gets to be closer to my mother and have the comfort of being home. Other business men and women all around the world can relate to my father’s situation. Before the pandemic, one in five workers stated that they have never or rarely worked from home. Although, now, 71% of those workers are teleworking from their own homes. It was also interesting to discover that mostly people with higher levels of education worked from home. Also households with higher levels of income worked from home. Overall, the pandemic made things rough for my father’s job at first, but [human nature] allows us to adjust to change.

Biography of Interviewee:

I interviewed my father, Bryan White. He is married and has three children. We discussed his job as a salesman before and during the worldwide pandemic. My father has worked for the same company for over 20 years, until recently when his company merged with a similar business. My father went to the college of East Carolina University where he earned his degree. He and his brother joined the business my grandfather once worked for. My father’s job was relatively consisted throughout the years. He worked nine to five everyday during the week days for as long as I could remember during my childhood. He also took various work trips around the nation. However, when the pandemic hit the world, things changed fast for the workforce. My father had to readjust his costumer skills since there was no more face to face interactions like there once were. He had to move his office into our house and talk to costumers through zoom calls. Now my father works from home and will most likely never return to working from an office.

Research: Before the pandemic one in five of workers say they rarely or never teleworked. Now 71% Of those workers are working from home. Three quarters of the workers say it has been relatively easy to adjust to the technology in order to work. Workers with higher education say they can work from home, but 23% of those without a four year college degree cannot. Also, more than one-third of Americans reported working more frequently from home since the pandemic. Households who teleworked reported higher levels of education and better health. Highest annual income households switched to teleworking. Lower earning households were less likely to switch to teleworking.This information was helpful for my interview because it was prevalent to the situation my father is experiencing now. It shows the social class dimensions of working from home and possibly how that impacts health; many people who got covid-19 were unable to work from home.

Transcription:

Bridgette White 0:09
Hi, I’m Bridgette White. For today, I’ll be interviewing my Father Bryan White. We’ll be discussing the advancement in technology over the years and also working during the worldwide pandemic. Bryan, would you like to introduce yourself?

Bryan White 0:26
Yeah, hi, I’m Bryan White. I am a father of three, with Bridgette and two others. I attended school went to East Carolina University. Been working in the business now for about 30 years. And so very interested to hear the questions you have.

Bridgette White 0:49
Okay, um, for the first question we have is, What would you say was the biggest problem you faced while working during the pandemic?

Bryan White 1:00
Yeah, so for me, I’m in sales. And so I’m meeting with people on a regular basis traveling, especially meeting my customers with their companies and being able to see their technology and what they’re looking to do. That was a big change. Because obviously, you could not meet face to face. So with meetings and such, we started taking place over video through zoom or teams, and we all had to adapt. So it was quite different. You know, a lot of the folks that I dealt with already have met before I knew them. So it wasn’t a true cold call, in the sense where I’m talking to somebody for the first time I at least knew them, they knew me. So that did help with the with the situation, but it was still a challenge. Definitely a difficult situation.

Bridgette White 1:56
Yeah, I bet that was a challenge. I know your job is based around selling certain technologies for offices and other businesses. Did the pandemic affect sales? And if so, why?

Bryan White 2:12
Yeah, so pandemic was tough. A lot of the products I sell and the services I put with those products revolve around people being in the office. So this has to do with being in a conference room meeting space, having the technology in front of you to be able to collaborate with somebody down the hall or across the country. And so certainly, with people not being in the office, it made a lot more challenging for people to have an interest and that type of stuff, when they’re going through a pandemic, where nobody’s actually in the space whatsoever. So it was different. Um, but I think a lot of people worked with the technology. And that was certainly important to us, because the technology that people use now at home and are comfortable with will then merge into what we use in the conference rooms. So the training aspects already done.

Bridgette White 3:12
Nice. Um, I understand your father, my grandfather, also worked in the same business prior to you. Um, how is the technology that your business sells changed over the years or advanced?

Bryan White 3:26
Yeah, so, um, certainly, technology changes happen a lot faster than some others. You know, the the concept of using technology to teach and to learn with 40 years ago is much different than the technology we’re accustomed to using now on our phones, mobile applications, video conferencing, and that type so of the the technology that was sold, that was cutting edge. during that timeframe, my dad was doing the selling versus what we’re doing now it’s night and day. It does open a lot of eyes to how you can learn and and still communicate with people when not being in the same room with them.

Bridgette White 4:13
That’s very interesting. I know you have a close bond with some of your customers. Have you found a change in developing connections with other customers while work while meeting on camera?

Bryan White 4:27
Yeah, so for me a lot of that again, a lot of my customers I know I’ve met and so anytime I’m interacting with them, it’s it’s different, but they still know me and they know my tendencies. They know who I am. And same with my customers. I know who they are. I know what they’re interested in. I know what they’re looking for. A lot of times and so whether we were meeting in person, or meeting on video, not a lot has changed in that aspect.

Bridgette White 4:58
That’s good to hear. How did you get used to persuading and talking to people through cameras rather than face to face? And did you have to develop new strategies?

Bryan White 5:11
Yeah, that’s that’s different, it did take a little bit of change, you start to learn some of the do’s and don’ts when you’re trying to conduct a meeting on video. versus in person. You know, the in person meeting, you’re there in front of somebody, they can see you, and hear everything. And at the end of the meeting, you shake hands and you walk off, whereas most of the meetings we’re in now, it’s it’s very remote. Although you can share content and PowerPoint presentations with folks. It’s still hard, it won’t replace being in person across the table and in a conference room at a at a meeting.

Bridgette White 5:53
Yeah, I feel like when you’re face to face, you form special connections that it’s more hard to reach through a camera.

Bryan White 6:01
Oh, definitely. Yeah.

Bridgette White 6:05
I understand your company merged with another company, during the pandemic? Did this decision decision affects your sales and your entire business as a whole? Or did it affect your job personally?

Bryan White 6:21
Well, it definitely affected me, you know, merging with a company that’s much larger. Now, our combined companies is one of the largest in the world, in our industry. So there’s a lot of benefits that come with that. You know, there’s certainly a lot more people a lot more access to training, company information, marketing materials, all of that, that really helps me do my job better. So certainly, having all those resources coming from a larger company, has has helped me a lot. You know, on the flip side to that, certainly more people means more processes, more red tape, things like that you’ve got to work through. But in the end, we’re still doing the same thing. We’re trying to work with customers and earn trust, so that you can continue the relationships for years to come, no matter what the technology might be.

Bridgette White 7:23
And it definitely will open more doors for more people to come in and help grow your company, because they have so many more training programs and such.

Bryan White 7:33
Yes, exactly.

Bridgette White 7:36
Also, how has your productivity been since working from home rather than an office environment? I know you used to always work in an office, how is that change? And do you feel different about it? Do you like it better, do you not?

Bryan White 7:53
I mean, there are pros and cons each way I will say when the pandemic started, and we started working from home, I did not like it, I was used to working in an office all day. Even though it’s 10 miles away from my house, it was going somewhere, being there doing work and coming home. And and now you’re always plugged in, you have your screen, you have your laptop, you can always walk upstairs and get on a call or email somebody. It’s hard to put things away. But yeah, it did change a lot when the pandemic happened, but I will say a lot of people adjust it, you know, you learn certain things to do and not do you look into the camera, when you’re speaking to someone you’re not staring off into space. While you’re looking at email. I’m just common courtesies like that to kind of pick up when you think you’re not really on camera, but actually you are with about 10 other people.

Bridgette White 8:49
Yeah, for my senior year, we also had to do school from home. So we did do zoom calls and stuff like that. And at the beginning, it was hard and it was hard to get used to, but I think I finally got used to it. And my productive mode, it helps me with my productivity for college as well, because I take some online classes now too. So you definitely helped me prepare.

Bryan White 9:16
You’re definitely used to it and knew what to expect.

Bridgette White 9:19
As the world gets used to the pandemic, or that the pandemic is ending, have sales changed in any way compared to the beginning of the pandemic or completely pre pandemic?

Bryan White 9:35
Yeah, I mean, it’s going to take a while to get back to where we were, I think, not only are we dealing with stuff from the pandemic, but we’re also dealing with a lot of problems related to supply chain, transportation, shipping manufacturing. And so, you know, we’ve kind of overcome what we had to do with selling, meeting face to face are not needing no video. But now once you, you do sell something, you sell a system, now you’ve got to deliver it. And that’s another whole set of parameters that have changed. And that allowed makes it much more difficult to get the products that you normally sell and give them to the customer install them, and have them be able to do what they wanted to do when they started talking to you. So that part of it is a little frustrating. Certainly.

Bridgette White 10:27
Yeah. Do you think your job will ever go back to how it was pre pandemic? Do you think you’ll ever find yourself working in an office environment again? Or do you think you’ll ever have your sales back to what it was?

Bryan White 10:48
Yeah, well, we all hope that sales will get back. Um, you know, I don’t see myself working from the office unless I really have to. Now, before the pandemic, I was totally opposite. I did not like to work at home. Um, but now that I have an office, and I have monitors, and I have all the comforts that I used to have in my office, you know, there’s not as much need to be in the office. And, a lot of times, meeting with that person at the coffee machine or going out to lunch with people was part of the social aspect, that I enjoyed with working in the office. But, as far as efficiency, I feel like I’m as efficient as how I was once was in the office.

Bridgette White 11:35
That’s good to hear. Um, so I think that concludes our interview. Thank you so much for letting me interview you.

Bryan White 11:44
Oh, you’re so welcome.

Bridgette White 11:46
It’s nice to talk to you.

Bryan White 11:48
Nice to talk to you too.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Overview of Interview Technology and Transcription Process: This interview was conducted on the computer using Zoom. I called my father a week prior to the interview to schedule a time. We met on March 24 and I hosted a Zoom meeting so the interview could take place. During the transcription process, I utilized the website called “Otter Al.” I let the website write out the transcription for me at first. However, I went back and adjust some parts I did not find necessary to type out. For example, I got rid of a lot of the “um” that were being said throughout the interview.

 

Bibliography: 

Marshall, John, Burd, Charlynn, and Burrows, Michael. March 31, 2021. “working from home during the pandemic; those who switched to telework have higher income, education, and better health.” “United States Census Bureau” https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/working-from-home-during-the-pandemic.html

Parker, Kim, Horowitz, Juliana Menace, and Minklin Rachel. December 9, 2020. “how the coronavirus outbreak has- and hasn’t- changed the way Americans work.” “Pew Research center.” https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/12/09/how-the-coronavirus-outbreak-has-and-hasnt-changed-the-way-americans-work/