March 2020 is a strange time, to put it mildly. In any other year, we would be in a season of spring break travels, beginning of patio season, and for the construction industry, the familiar “ramping up” of work pace as winter is left behind, and spring is in full force.
Covid-19 has changed all of this. During this time of Social Distancing, we’re all forced to significantly alter how we’re living our lives to help Flatten The Curve of infections and spread.
Here at Kenorah, we’ve made significant changes to how we do business in order to adapt to the ever-changing realities of what this Pandemic brings, and to keep everyone safe.
What We’re Doing
First of all, our office staff are working from home during this time. Our office is only accessed by staff on an essential, as-needed basis for a few select tasks. While we continue to carry about the tasks related to our business, we have our team set up to work efficiently from home. In order to stay connected, our teams use different software platforms to stay connected. From Video Chat via Microsoft Teams to WhatsApp for group chats, or Basecamp for our project Management, we’re thankful we’ve spent years investing in learning and implementing a set of digital tools that allows us to get work done from wherever we have a computer and a connection. Our team has all been working remotely prior to this, but now it’s not an option, it’s a requirement.
We’ve continued to have sales meetings with potential clients, except that rather than meeting face-to-face, we’re meeting via FaceTime for the time being. It doesn’t replace “real life” connection, but for now, it is the best option.
Our construction team has had to adapt to the rapidly changing realities at our job sites. Here are a few of the many changes we’ve made in the past 2 weeks:
- Limiting the amount of people on site. Due to the nature of our projects, we are nowhere near the 50 person limit (we’re targeting 1-5). We have ample space, and are ensuring we keep that number as low as absolutely possible.
- Maintaining 2M of space between on people on site.
- Full cleaning of all “common” surfaces (including tool contact points) 4x per day.
- Designated hand wash stations, with clear hand washing practices outlined, mandatory for all people entering or exiting the job site.
- Constant communication with staff and trades to ensure that any person who is showing any symptoms in line with COVID19, or have come in contact with someone who is sick, must not be on our job site, and follow government mandated isolation practices and timelines.
- Regularly briefing all trades and staff on our most up-to-date practices, wash locations and expectations.
- Monitoring and complying with government recommendations and requirements, as they’re becoming available.
What We’re Learning
There’s no way around it, this is tough. Together as humanity, we’re battling an invisible enemy. This isn’t fun, and it isn’t easy. To beat this, we must work together, practice social distancing, and change how we live for a period of time, flattening the curve and providing the heroes in our medical industry the chance to do their all-important work, saving lives and developing immunizations. We’re all making sacrifices, and we must all be a part of bringing an end to this Covid-19 story.
We have a set of core values here at Kenorah. One of them is “Constantly Learning, Humbly Teaching“. This has never been more important to us. As our amazing medical community (as well as our national and municipal health authorities) work tirelessly to provide guidance, insight and directives on how to live and act during these times, as a company, it is our mandate to be leaders in the implementation and vigilant adhereance to the most up-to-date information, and to work with our subtrades and suppliers to ensure each and every person is aligned. We are complying with every government issued requirement.
Our second Core Value is “Win as a team”. We know we do our best work when we collaborate. Social isolation and distancing is tough, but we’re using this opportunity to work together, even if it’s not face-to-face as much, to beat this virus, and to maintain the important social connection we all needed, while abiding by the social distancing requirements. We’re learning each day to trust our team, to collaborate, and to communicate.
We’re learning challenging, but very valuable lessons right now. As we all spend a bit more time at home, we’re learning to cherish this time with those we’re sharing a home with. This season will pass, and we’ll be busy and back to “normal” again. But for now, we’re striving to be thankful for the slower pace, and the people we’re “isolating” with.
We cannot wait for this season of uncertainty to be behind us, but we’re using even the most challenging of times as an opportunity to learn, and to be thankful. In the meantime, here’s a glimpse of a few of our “work from home” setups 🙂
