b'COVERI didnt really mind working from home somuch, except for the part that youre never really away from work.- Dean Olsen, Pace SolutionsNow, we just have their wages being paid. She said the increasedHowever, there were some challenges. I didnt really mind understanding of remote networking also helped on the sales side ofworking from home so much, except for the part that youre never the business. It made us more technically savvy in connecting withreally away from work, said Olsen. I could find myself working our potential clients.well past the time I would normally work at the office. Because Dean Olsen is a water management consultant with Pace Solutionsmuch of his work is done off-site, there were additional challenges out of Saskatoon. Pace Solutions is a chemical manufacturing facilityfor Olsen. Pace Solutions put out a policy guideline for all the and blending facility. Their focus is water systems for heating andemployees about how they should conduct themselves in their cooling. They mainly deal with industrial and commercial applications.own offices as well as at off-site visits. Because all the sites they were visiting had their own regulations, there was some duplica-Olsen represents affiliate members (generally, suppliers to the regulartion that tended to reduce productivity. In some cases, it was fairly members) on the board of MCAS. His role at Pace focuses on analyz- substantial, said Olsen. Were not talking just a couple of minutes.ing the water systems to be sure that all efficiencies are met, whetherIf you end up losing an hour to go through this stuff, that can its in the water solution or in the application.impact the days production.Olsen says COVID-19 had a small but significant impact on his opera- Despite the dire situation that precipitated these changes, Olsen tion. In Olsens Saskatoon office, there were only two people working,says it was encouraging to see how effectively the plan came to so social distancing wasnt an issue for the most part. They alsobe. The experience was kind of enlightening as to how our group worked from home whenever possible. Their precautions pretty muchcould pull it together, he said. They had to develop a policy, they reiterated those seen around the province. They accepted visitors byhad to do their legal research, and they had to implement that appointment only in their office. Visitors were required to wear maskspolicy and get everybody to buy into it. In that regard, yes, it was and fill out a questionnaire asking about symptoms, and they had avery good to see. sanitizing station at their front door. Whenever possible, they limitedThe official policy at Pace is to carry on with the current policies off-site visits by collecting samples and doing the testing off-site. Ifwith the caveat that employees defer to local guidelines. Olsen an off-site visit couldnt be avoided, they would try to gain accessis cautiously optimistic that we are rounding the corner on this through the mechanical room door to avoid unnecessary contacts.pandemic, but hes concerned that some people are letting their The companys Saskatchewan offices only had one scare. One employ- guard down. Theres quite a few people who dont seem to be as ee in Regina had to be isolated for two weeks when they were flaggedconcerned as they were, he said. For his part, Olsen has main-through contact tracing. So, from that perspective, their policiestained the by appointment only policy at the office, as well as the were effective. requirement for face coverings.SASKATOON|PRINCE ALBERT|YORKTON|REGINA| SWIFT CURRENT|BAROBINSON.COM14 MCASwww.mca-sask.com'