David R. Laughton
During the Coronavirus outbreak, the majority of workers have been told they have to work from home. This is a very big setback for some businesses, and could cost lots of people their jobs. Other people have had to change the way they work by doing it online. This is true of David Laughton, who usually works in foreign countries for the oil industry.
David Laughton was due to start a job in South America but then travel restrictions were put in place. His company has now assigned him to start working from home until the outbreak restrictions are lifted.
David has been working in the oil industry for 23 years. He has worked in many countries on ships and offshore. The pandemic has changed the way David has had to work.
David said: “It will be a new challenge. I can hopefully use the experience in the future and I am glad the company is keeping me fully employed at this time. There will be initial online training and conference calls regarding my new work. My new work will be conducting audits and inspection on TMSA (Tanker Management Self-Assessment) forms that will now be completed online.”
David thinks the biggest challenge will be having to change his mindset: “I have been used to working away, and when I am home, I am home.” He will have to set times to get up, start work, take breaks and finish work. Otherwise, he thinks that it will be difficult to achieve his workload for the day and ignore distractions.
Once the restrictions are lifted, he hopes to return to working overseas but he is glad he is home now with the pandemic still present. If he wanted to change his work in the future, this experience could be beneficial in securing him other rolls.
