(Editor’s note: This is the 13th installment in a series on how Cooley Group is managing the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspective of its CEO.
See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11 and part 12 here.)
My father-in-law was a U.S. Marine who fought his way through Saipan and Tinian on the Pacific front during World War II. While he was eager to retell some of the remarkable stories of his experience, he was protective of the horror stories, struggling with a lifetime of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Despite the challenges of PTSD, my father-in-law lived a long, full life by focusing diligently on what he believed mattered most: loving and supporting family and friends. I think of his unbelievable willpower and optimism often – more often in times such as this, when the world is faced with the daunting challenge of COVID-19.
A soldier’s PTSD experience is in a category all its own. At a lesser scale, organizations and individuals experience their own sort of PTSD when saddled with a difficult, near impossible work environment day in and day out. The years prior to my joining Cooley Group, the organization suffered extreme financial stress and a highly uncertain future that manifested in high levels of employee turnover, unproductive interoffice competition and a hyper-agitated work environment.
When I joined Cooley, I immediately set to work recalibrating Cooley’s financial stress and, more importantly, the emotional stress that comes along with sensing your job is constantly at risk. Even after we eliminated the cash stress from our financial statements, it took years for the employees to fully recover from the cultural stress of a precarious work environment. During operational problem-solving sessions, I persistently reminded employees not to limit their thinking to the cheapest solution but to feel free to think outside of the box. Recovering from workplace PTSD meant moving the organization’s culture from hoarding work to yourself and operating in a highly restricted financial framework to including teammates in projects and collaborating on innovative, potentially risky ideas.
COVID-19 has created the potential for another type of PTSD. How do we keep the justifiable fear and uncertainty associated with this fatal, highly contagious virus from infecting the workplace – both literally through safety precautions and culturally through ongoing collaboration and innovation?
First and foremost, we continue to ensure the health and safety of our employees. From acquiring more-comfortable, breathable masks to prevent overheating on the factory floor to supervisors conducting regular Safety Training Observation Program audits to ensure employees are cleaning their workstations, we emphasize the value Cooley places on our employees. Safety is matched by our commitment to employees’ financial well-being. As revenue slowed during a six-week period in April and May, Cooley guaranteed 40-hour pay weeks for all our employees. The financial peace of mind this provides our workers is critical in these uncertain times.
For our office staff, the ongoing work-from-home program has been extended through the end of August. Given the rising number of COVID-19 cases across the country, I would expect the program will extend through the end of the year.
Channeling the willpower and optimism of my father-in-law, I lead a team that looks beyond the crisis to focus attention on the ways Cooley can contribute despite the COVID-19-induced economic slowdown. Serving a diversity of markets, Cooley has reason for optimism. Previously shutdown for two months, recreational-vehicle manufacturers to whom Cooley supplies roofing membranes are now operating at 150% of capacity. This growth is being driven by the dramatic increase in demand for RVs, as a safe alternative for family vacation.
While June returned to normal levels of production, the stress remains with resurgence of the virus across large sections of our country. Cooley’s remedy for managing the PTSD introduced by COVID-19 will continue to be protecting our employees’ health and financial well-being, so that they can focus their energy on contributing to a collaborative and productive work environment.
Daniel Dwight is CEO and president of Pawtucket-based Cooley Group.
