THINKING Ahead With Chelsea Brown and Natalie Heacock
Looking inward before looking outward IDon how companies do business, and Portland-based Patrick Lumber was certainly no exception. The company’s forward-thinking mindset, however, is credited with helping it to meet the challenges of the pandemic head-on and priming it for a future beyond the pandemic. Here is some perspective from two of the company’s insiders:
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A Controller’s Take: Natalie Heacock One of the biggest advantages of constantly keeping an ear to the ground is that it helps flag what employees want. All signs were pointing to a trend in the general labor force for more flexible schedules, including work-from-home options. Despite some level of pushback—not everyone adjusts easily to change— we initiated a gradual transition from desktops to laptops among support staff two years before the pandemic even appeared on the horizon. By the time the threat arrived on our doorstep and the decision was made to shut down the office, virtually all employees were already set up for telework… the very same day. Patrick Lumber had gone to great lengths to ensure that people working at home felt as though they were actually docked in at the office. he company supplied everyone with dual monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, and a printer/scanner. As the pandemic deepened over the ensuing months, additional needs became evident; and in January 2021, Patrick Lumber took the unique step of extending a
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$500 stipend to each employee to purchase desks, chairs or whatever else they might need to finish outfitting their home-based workspace. Experiences early on in the crisis also identified uality home internet as an area for improvement; therefore, another stipend was targeted specifically at boosting capacity. he money allowed employees to optimize their connection—especially in busy households where multiple users share access. In essence, we wanted to give our employees every single tool to succeed; and so far, it has worked. The fact that all of this was able to take place in the turbulent time that it did is a fortunate coincidence. But it was Patrick Lumber’s foresight and desire for improvement that drove the project in the first place. The company was also already in the middle of downsi ing its office space, with the expectation that most employees would come into the office some
Building Products Digest August 2021
days each week but perform their jobs remotely on others. The pandemic merely fast-forwarded that initiative. More than a year later, concern about resistance from employees to remote work has dissipated. More than likely, any pushback would come instead from a re uirement for in-office hours now that the country has opened back up. We’ll never know, though, because Patrick Lumber isn’t requiring anyone to have mandatory office time; and we won’t require that going forward. What will happen is continued effort to keep the lines of communication open and the focus on our people. As Patrick Lumber trader Chelsea Brown likes to say, “You have to look inward before you look outward.” Taking time out of each day to call individual employees for light and easy conversation about what’s happening in their world and what kind of needs or wants they have keeps me and the company in
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