Q: Over the past year, what extra actions have you taken to strengthen your company’s culture and keep employees engaged, motivated and happy at work?

William Clay, President, Walker-Clay, Inc.

“2020 was a unique year. We started 2020 as a promotional products distributor with a great first two months, became primarily a PPE distributor, and ended as a kitting specialist. It was a whirlwind and very busy.

“When COVID hit, 85 percent of our company had to switch to working from home. We had a rotating manager on duty in the front office and socially-distant staff in production and shipping. Luckily, because we are a cloud‐based company, this transition was pretty smooth. During this time, we started using Zoom for the first time for weekly updates—this was exciting at first. At one point we had a parking lot meeting just so we could see everyone in person. Since kitting was our new forte, we sent a lunch kit with a variety of products to all employees. We normally have a holiday bonus in December, but last year decided people may need funds at a different time so we celebrated Christmas in July with bonuses.

“When we could, we had people come back on a staggered basis working two days at the office and three days at home. Even now, we are still on a hybrid method with a number of our staff. Everyone in our company stepped up to face the challenges of 2020/2021. I am so proud of every one of them.”