It has been a while since I've posted anything new and I need to stay 'in touch' with everything in my design world and that might require a little more effort on my part.
But to fill in a bit of the backstory, my wife and I recently had our baby girl and although she is beautiful and doing really well, she has a congenital heart defect ( which we found out about from around the 18 week mark of the pregnancy) and as a result of that we have to be in Edmonton for not only the birth, but subsequent surgery she will need on her heart. So temporarily relocating from Calgary to Edmonton is not the most desirable thing to do, but necessity rules and in the moment ( I find myself acting and really living in the moment a lot these days ) you really do what you need to do to get by. My wife is on her maternity leave from work so on that front we are covered, but as far as my work goes it left a bit of a problem. Which leads me to the point of this particular entry.
Taking a chance on the unfamiliar.
What has impressed me most about my employers, Neon Contractors, is the level of support, encouragement, and the lengths they have gone to accommodate me in this time of need. Sure, I recognize probably every company ( except if your employer was Ebenezer Scrooge would give their employee the time off that they need in a situation like this as a personal leave or leave of absence ) it is the fact that they feel confident enough in me and support me in allowing me to tele-commute or work from my temporary home at the Ronald McDonald house in Edmonton. This means no drop in pay, I am continuing to make my same rate of pay working from Edmonton, giving me the freedom to spend as much time as I need with my family and continue to work at my own pace, on whatever time schedule works for me, from wherever I can when I have the time ( say the cafeteria at the hospital, the 'Healing Garden' or anywhere else I can find a quiet spot ).
I know a lot of companies do things like this all the time, but for the 'family' of employees that work at Neon something like this hasn't been done before. They are pretty old school; the founder Cliff Thomas Sr. founded the company in 1955, cheques are issued and signed by the current GM Craig Thomas ( Cliff Sr.'s son ) and physically handed out on payday ( what is this 'direct deposit' you speak of? ), and there are three people currently on staff with over 30 years with the company. So to take a big step out of their comfort zone and show me the level of trust and support that they have, I am going to take every opportunity to show them that they are putting their faith in the right place.
I am extremely grateful for this opportunity as my family and I are well out of our comfort zone by being in another city, staying in a shared living environment, living the 'No Routine' routine that is the hospital life on a daily basis, being new parents, but thankfully not having to stress about finances like so many in similar situations.
This is far from an easy situation requiring a great level of dedication and perseverance to push out designs in a timely manner, but the flip side of this is that it is still a creative outlet and can help take my mind off the stressful situation that my wife and I find ourselves navigating daily, as best we can. This is an opportunity to prove that I am a reliable employee and the faith that is invested in me now may provide greater opportunity for myself in the future with Neon in terms of the odd days of tele-commuting once we have our baby girl back at home in Calgary.
