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While some servicers had staff working remotely prior to COVID-19 the onset of shelter-in-place orders
for many municipalities and state governments, at the end of February, most servicers had the bulk of their staff
working in centralized offices. By the end of March, most of them had all but a few personnel working from
home, requiring a dramatic reevaluation of working arrangements, management techniques, and other facets of
day-to-day work.
Seeing reports of the emerging pandemic starting in late January,
Mr. Cooper Group executives began discussing remote working
strategies in late January. e company adjusted its teams to work from
home in only five days in the middle of March. Prior to the pandemic,
the company had less than 10% of its staff working from home, a figure
that grew to 97% by the start of the spring, according to Kelly Ann
Doherty, Chief People and Communications Officer for Mr. Cooper
Group.
What was experienced by Mr. Cooper, the third largest servicer in
the country, was typical of many in the industry.
"is is something no one ever envisioned," said Wes Iseley, Senior
Managing Director for Carrington Holding Company. "e industry
has rallied. e industry as a whole has done a wonderful job. We've all
worked together to share best practices on what is working."
While few within the industry had seriously anticipated a health
crisis of this scale, most of the executives DS News spoke with for this
piece said they were following the progress of the pandemic before
March and shifted their workforces to remote working even ahead of
any government shelter-in-place rules.
As with many other industries, there were numerous challenges
servicers had to address when moving from centralized offices to
remote work. For this piece, DS News spoke to representatives of
Cover Story By: Phil Britt
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