Tell Us Your Stories about Working (or Not) During the Crisis

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The Tyee has gone all in on coverage of the COVID-19 crisis.

Being reader-supported and independent gives us the freedom to dig deep into the issues that matter. And right now nothing matters more than this pandemic.

Just in the last seven days, we’ve published some 30 stories reporting in-depth on topics like COVID-19 and Indigenous communities, the disproportionate impact on women, and ways to help neighbours.

Now we’re looking for your help.

This crisis is so big and moving so quickly that we all need to share our stories, experiences and solutions. Together, as a Tyee community, we can learn from and support each other.

Right now, we want to hear your stories about the impact on your work life.

Have you lost your job, or faced a cut in hours? Are you working in the gig economy, and dealing with incredible uncertainty? Are you a business owner, trying to keep things going?

Tell us your stories about what’s happened and how you’re responding. We’d like to hear about what great employers are doing to cushion the blows — and what bad ones aren’t doing. Stories about how you plan to deal with lost income, or working at home. Whether you’re getting the support you need to stay safe if you’re still on the job. What help you wish governments would provide. How you’re feeling.

Really, anything and everything related to COVID-19’s impact on your work life.

Here’s what we’d like. An email message to [email protected], ideally not more than 350 words long, sharing your experiences. We don’t need to use your name, and probably won’t use the names of businesses. (Though we will likely make an exception for stories of businesses responding in an ethical, community-minded way. Many readers might like to choose to support them.)

We won’t run them all, and we’ll likely do light editing, but promise to ensure the content reflects your thoughts and words. Make sure you include the most pertinent contact info so we can find you.

We’ll pull the results together into a story and aim to publish it Thursday.

At The Tyee, we don’t think of readers as consumers, clients, an audience, or a market. We’re all part of a community, brought together by a commitment to being informed, active citizens. We can learn from each other, and together we’re stronger.

Meanwhile, our reporters and contributors will continue providing reporting and analysis on every aspect of the crisis that matters to you. The Tyee is fortunate in having two contributing editors — Andrew Nikiforuk and Crawford Kilian — who have spent years developing expertise on epidemics. (Nikiforuk has written two bestselling books on epidemics; Kilian’s blog has tracked epidemics for more than two decades and has had almost two million visits.)

As the crisis escalated this week, Moira Wyton joined The Tyee as a full-time health reporter thanks to support from the Local Journalism Initiative.

And we have a staff of exceptional reporters and roster of contributors able to tackle complex issues.

The Tyee has another advantage in responding to this crisis. Builders — people who make monthly contributions or other donations to support our journalism — provide a large proportion of the money we need to do our work. (If you want to join them, there’s information here.)

We have lost some advertising revenue as coming events were cancelled. But because of your support, we’re stepping up our coverage while B.C. publications that rely on advertising are already laying off reporters. (If you want to keep up with that coverage, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletters here.)

This crisis is not going to end quickly. And the need for accurate, up-to-date information is only going to increase.

We’ll be there. And we hope you’ll help us by sharing your work stories.