By Amanda Stott
NJ Governor Phil Murphy initial executive order in Mid-March for the closure of NJ nonessential businesses and offices; LandMark Excavation & Site Work sprang into action. LandMark proactively handled this new reality and served clients by finishing ongoing projects without delay.
On March 18,2020, all LandMark office personnel were instructed to work from home until further notice. This posed a very challenging situation. Most of our employees are parents and we handle a large amount of physical paperwork daily. When schools and daycares were shut down, parents had to overcome the challenge of creating a workable home office. Our employees now had to tend to clients all while caring for their children. We worked to find a balance between caretaking at home so our employees were comfortable, all while making sure our customers would not be left in the dark.
Our first order of business was digitizing and remotely upgrading our internal workflows. Computer systems were optimized to allow for employees to log in from home and still have access to all files, billing and emails. This allowed us to seamlessly switch over our workflows. The LandMark team could continue our work and push forward on current projects with minimal delays.
Communication is Key
Communication with our customers is key to our business. This resulted in the rerouting of office phones to our mobile phones to ensure customer service was being upheld to our high standard and no there were no lapses in response time. Other methods of communication also became key. We started using video calling and conference technology such as ZOOM and Google Meet that allowed our team to communicate as well as with clients.
Our concerns extended beyond our office and to our field workers and laborers. During the lockdown our truck drivers were still able to work given they had their own work space that enabled them to remain the CDC recommended 6 feet of social distance from others. Laborers and operators were still able to continue on job sites. We made sure they were outside in an open area and in a small group. We made sure they could remain distant while still completing their individual tasks.
When quarantine began, the LandMark team was working on a large-scale Whole Foods site project in Wayne, NJ. The area was considered a hot spot at the time. We did have several employees that did not feel comfortable traveling to the site. We were able to reroute them to closer, safer locations that they felt more comfortable with. It is very important to be open with all of our employees as well as clients during these changing circumstances. Our goal is to make sure our employees felt safe and our clients’ needs were being met.
The lockdown was lifted and we were able to go back to the office, we put new restrictions in place. This meant no visitors without appointments, employees & visitors must wear masks in presence of one another. We also created the concept of a porch mailbox for people coming by just for pickups and drop-offs.
Thankful to Our Workers and Clients
We are thankful that we have been able to maintain our workforce and expand our team. We hired new employees that had been laid off by their previous employers. Our project pipeline remains robust and we have actually seen an increase in container rentals and smaller scale projects. This has been driven by the increasing number of people working from home.
Our vendors and clients have been extremely understanding and compliant with the restrictions in place. This has made our work lives easier to navigate during this difficult time. As of July 2020 none of our employees have contracted the virus due to the guidelines we have followed. We now have a keen focus on keeping our team healthy and safe while continuing to put our customers’ satisfaction first.