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50 working space is and the hours you'll be working; locking your machine at all times when not in use; and leveraging technology and tools to eliminate manual printing of documents. SECURITY CONCERNS Office environments tend to have the latest security precautions. Servicers are working with sensitive financial and personally identifiable information, meaning there are severe potential fines, as well as other business and reputational risks, for any potential security breaches. For the most part, servicers had workers take home their desktops or laptops from the office, so those already had company-installed security precautions. Home Point Financial Services Corp. and other services also added virtual private network capabilities for staff—another of NMSA's recommendations designed to provide an extra level of security. While most had access to laptops or desktops, there were some at Home Point Financial that needed to get new machines. In those instances, company IT worked with employees to ensure that the devices had all of the necessary security protocols, Coon said. Security is also a regular part of training for many servicers—many of whom emphasized that they stepped up training once the pandemic hit. NMSA also recommends establishing and implementing well-defined security awareness training programs, with programs and security awareness notifications delivered to employees on an ongoing basis, regardless of where employees are working. Other NMSA security precautions for employees working from home include implementing a secure mail protocol such as Mimecast; using a third-party managed detection security vendor so that a security operation center monitors all network entry points, internal and external facing, for threats, viruses, malicious network intrusion, and unusual activities around the clock; and implementing a third-party identity provider such as BitGlass to increase control and authentication, and to prevent data leakage from mobile devices such as iOS and Android cell phones and tablets. BALANCING WORK AND PLAY Without the need to commute and without the need to drive children to practices, school, etc., and similar time- consuming tasks, servicing workers can spend more time on the job without losing time for personal activities. is can be both a blessing and a curse, according to those we spoke with. NMSA recommends maintaining regular working hours, including planned breaks— planning working hours and penciling in suitable breaks allows employees to focus on what needs to be done and when. Carrington has advised its employees to stay focused within their scheduled time periods so that work doesn't bleed over into personal time, Isley said. "We want to make sure people aren't overworking themselves." Some servicers pointed to the need for more flexible schedules, particularly since many employees now had children home from school. "ere have been a few instances of burnout," Yowell said. "We've reached out to people to make sure that they manage their PTO properly. Once they have a certain amount, they can't accrue any more." Daniel said that many team members have been able to spend more time on the job because they no longer need to waste time commuting—a sentiment others expressed as well. He added that it's easier for remote staff to take a quick break while working from home than from the office. e latter requires taking an elevator each way and going through security to re-enter the building. "ere's more flexibility when you're remote." However, without managers being able to oversee staff as closely as they can when in the office, AHP asked employees to fill out reports on what they worked on each day. Daniel, Coon, and others said being more flexible with schedules has helped as well. Coon added that his company recognized that many workers had delayed or forgone planned vacations since travel and lodging options had become limited. In April, however, the company insisted that workers take at least one day off to balance life/work and completely away from anything work related. "We meet with our teams daily and have an all-hands meeting with our chairman every week. We have huddle sessions the first thing in the morning. We're trying to bring the office to the staff." —Patrick Coon, Senior Managing Director, Servicing for Home Point Financial Corp. Cover Story By: Phil Britt

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