Our team knows first-hand the challenges the pandemic has put upon our country’s workforce, from lockdowns and quarantines to now returning to the office. To mask? To keep plexiglass dividers? To mandate testing? These are questions nearly every employer faces right now. And the stress that can impact a company as a whole, and as individual human beings is not for the faint of heart.
Our team has dealt with tough situations. We design and help customers install active shooter detection technology, for starters. Even before the pandemic, we were face-to-face with tough, uncomfortable issues.
When Covid hit and work-from-home orders were put in place, our team remained in the field. Though buildings were empty, their security and temperature control systems still needed to function at their best, be serviced, be ready because we truly didn’t know when people would return to their offices.
So, we’ve been at the forefront of dealing with some tough choices. And after time, that can take a toll on anyone. We’ve seen it first-hand. As you can imagine, our team is mostly made up of men and as a species, we tend to shy away from talking about our feelings or putting focus on our mental or emotional health.
As CEO, one goal of mine this year is to work on changing that. No matter your gender or genetic makeup, discussing issues that cause stress and anxiety is healthy. Our team meetings can take 5 or 10 minutes away from our agenda to focus on our people. If there’s something going on in the industry, on our team, in our community, or in the world that is making it harder for our team members to do their job, then let’s put it out there, together. Let’s see if we can come up with solutions or at least make a plan of attack toward a solution.
We cannot take care of our customers without taking care of ourselves first. I hope other business leaders will join me.
