In March, COVID-19 changed the lives of everyone in a day, HEPCO kept on moving forward. The staff moved to telecommuting, but the office stayed open as we kept on staffing the IT, Telecom, and Transportation industry.
With the world changing every day, HEPCO has experienced some of its own changes as well. Christopher Kasker, senior vice president, was promoted to chief operating officer. We also welcomed Kristian Garcia as a human resource manager and partnered with Haley Marketing Group to redesign our website.
Operating as a remote workforce has challenged HEPCO in upholding our commitment to being timely, cost-efficient, and professional. The move from working in-person to online has been made easier with new ways of communication.
One way was with the end of the day emails that ChrisKaskersent out to the internal HEPCO team. These emails recapped the day’s effort, provided office and industry updates, and a shared sense of community to replicate the office culture.
Online Meetings, which were hosted weekly to go over the staffing report, allowed for HEPCO to recreate the conference room into a Microsoft Teams Video Chat. These team meetings also provided in-depth updates about the company’s changes and our effort to improve our online presence.
A few minutes before each meeting began, employees could catch up and talk about their lives, as they could not see each other face to face every day.
HEPCO has been using Microsoft Teams as a way to communicate quickly and efficiently. Teams have made it easy for everyone to share files, chat, manage their calendars, and schedule meetings. With the ability to create folders and share them safely, HEPCO can keep private information secure.
Teams became the virtual office, as it was used as a home base for being able to communicate and was a vital source of information.
The change to an at home workforce has moved HEPCO into a new period of its 47-year history. Employees have learned to become more self-sufficient as they no longer had their coworkers available across the room to ask a question.
Although these changes have not been easy and have taken time to implement, the HEPCO team has stayed positive and worked hard throughout the crisis.
COVID-19 has not been without its challenges, but it has made HEPCO more resilient and ready to face any future tests ahead.