As schools fully transition to online distance learning, we understand the hardships that come along with that. Someone now has to be home to supervise their children at all times, the WiFi connection could go in and out, there could be many distractions like a family pet or other siblings also distance learning, not to mention having to share a workspace with other adults in the household who are also working from home. With that, our team members with students may take on the responsibility of being a teacher, while also maintaining their full time positions. As a way to understand what our team members are going through and to fully understand their needs, we sent out a company wide survey to see how we could help. We asked if our team members had students distance learning, conflicting schedules, if they needed an extra Chromebook to help with distance learning, and other questions to gauge what may be needed. At Sequoia, we want our team members to be their best selves when they come to work, and if we can take some small stresses away, we are more than happy to do so. 

From our survey results, we found that the majority of our workforce with kids pre-k-8th grade are distance learning or have a blend of in person/distance learning. We also found that 75% of those team members work and school schedules are conflicting. Because of these conflicting schedules, we are continuing to work with our team members to ensure that they have the schedules they need to succeed both at home and at work. When it comes to supplies, all students now need a computer in order to distance learn. 40% of our team members that responded to our survey reported that they didn’t have an additional Chromebook or their children had to share. We reached out to these team members to offer to purchase a Chromebook to help ease this extra stress. Most of our team members only asked for one, but we decided to go the extra mile and provide extra if needed to ensure each student had the ability to learn from their own computer. The best part about this, is they don’t need to return them at the end of the year. It is theirs to keep. One team member commented saying that, “the Chromebook was going to help their child through the next few years.” It’s moments like this that warm our hearts and bring a smile to our faces. 

In addition to our team members, we are thinking of our residents who may also be facing hardships with distance learning. To help ease the stress of gathering school supplies, our team members at Sandpiper Village and Hidden Hills passed out back to school kits for their residents. These kits included supplies like notebooks, pens and pencils, and other necessities. There is nothing better than seeing our residents' faces light up. Our team at Shadow Ridge also did something special for their students and hosted a back to school picture day. They didn’t want their residents to miss out on such an important aspect of school, so they got a professional photographer to come out and take photos for those who wanted too. 

For Online Distance Learning Day, we wanted to showcase some of the ways we are continuing to #ElevateTheEveryday for both our team members and residents. As the school year progresses, we will continue to monitor the needs of our team members and their families.