Mixed Messages, by Baxter Group Inc.

News, emails, texts, family, friends, . . . messages about the Coronavirus coming from sources across the board.  Some are accurate, some are far from accurate.  As business owners we are fighting through the multiple  changes to the SBA disaster loan program website, the Governors’ orders, constant changes in our project plans. Who is there to help our employees through the fear, chaos, and uncertainty of these times?

After the first phone call from an employee sharing their multitude of concerns, I knew we needed to take immediate action to keep our team together.  Like a parent to their children, our employees are looking to us for calmness, for sanity, for direction.  Under normal circumstances, they spend as much time, if not more, at work than anywhere else.  The BEST thing Baxter Group, Inc. could do right NOW for our employees is to be there for them with a clear line of COMMUNICATION. 

Our Management Team started meeting several times a week online via “Google Meet” sharing our concerns, the status of our projects, and the status of the health and well-being of our families.  Members of the management team started making calls to our workforce, sharing concerns, expectations, and plans for the future victory of Baxter Group, Inc. over the virus and the potential downturn of the economy.  Has it made a difference?  We will never know.  What we do know is that we have to be here for each other.

Our plan is to speak to our employees regularly with a message that is accurate, transparent, consistent, and from the heart.  The CEO and the Management Team will be accessible to our workforce at all times.  We are in this together.  Every employee is going through similar challenges and unique challenges and need our empathy.  Some of them will not be getting empathy from anywhere else, so it is our responsibility. 

This is a time when our employees will be re-evaluating their work lives and private lives.  When we come out on the other side of this coronavirus, our businesses will look different.  They will need a clear and concise picture of our goals and direction.  If we expect to come out a much better company with a much better future for our teams, they need to be able to visualize that.

Baxter Group, Inc. is committed to the families that have been committed to us over the years.  The crucial ingredient to a businesses success are its people.  The crucial ingredient to remaining connected is COMMUNICATION. 

Special thanks to Baxter Group Inc. CEO Jocelyne Melton for contributing this article! If you have information you feel would be helpful to our business community during this time, please contact Lark Kennedy at lkennedy@chambersburg.org for the opportunity to be featured.

Disclaimer: Please remember the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce and Baxter Group Inc. are not health or government officials. Our goal is to share helpful information in a timely manner. This is a platform for businesses to share their individual experiences; please seek additional information from other reputable sources.