Change can be difficult. In this past year alone, there have been dramatic changes in our lives, work, politics, and society. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have faced new challenges, including the absence of face-to-face interaction. Keeping a company culture alive through a computer screen is no easy task, and each business, big or small, has had to adapt, keeping company morale, employee engagement, and overall motivation in mind.
Change and Challenges
Our team has been known for our ability to embrace the challenges that come our way and be flexible in the fast-paced environment that comes with the government contracting industry. However, when the pandemic hit, we, along with many other small businesses, were struck with change. We worked through supply chain issues, manufacturers shutting down, long lead times, price changes, and the unavailability of products and materials.
But that didn’t get us down. We rolled with the punches, maintained our entire supply chain, and kept up with our exceptional on-time delivery rate.
Through times of crisis, our team has been able to bend but not break. We adapted to challenges and made a conscious effort to provide extra support to our employees. This included:
- Increased check-ins. Because face-to-face interactions are limited, our employees have been more intentional to check-in on each other and lend a helping hand. During the transition to working from home, employees did weekly team meetings to make sure everyone was on the same page and had the ability to ask questions to company leadership.
- An increased effort in communication. Our President, Sue Tellier, kept an open line of communication in consistent employee news emails. These emails would highlight action items such as encouraging employees to get some fresh air or nominate other employees for excellent performance.
- Employee wellness challenges. When the lockdown order was in place, our leadership team recognized the importance of employees getting outside for fresh air and exercise. Because of this, they developed a team wellness challenge: a competition to encourage employees to drink water, exercise, and practice gratitude during the lockdown. Along with this wellness challenge, JetCo formed an Employee Action Committee, dedicated to uncovering valuable employee feedback, keeping a pulse on morale, and implementing activities that increase employee retention and engagement.
- Virtual get-togethers. Each year, JetCo holds a holiday party for its employees. Because we were unable to hold it in-person this holiday season, we hosted a virtual holiday happy hour, which included hand-delivered holiday gifts to employees. Our inability to celebrate the holidays in-person only strengthened our drive to keep the company culture alive and well.
Overall, COVID brought many changes, but our team quickly adapted, implementing virtual events, communicating clearly about changes, and putting the well-being of employees first. Our ability to embrace change has allowed us to work through the challenges COVID-19 brought.
What is our team doing now? We’re still rolling with the punches and will continue to work through any challenges thrown our way.