Today should be “Medal Monday” for me. I should have run a half marathon last weekend, but, like most everything else in the world these days, the in-person event was canceled. Instead, the options were to either run a virtual race or defer to next year’s live event. I chose to defer to 2021. I’ve got enough virtual reality these days. But speaking of virtual races, I was so excited that so many people participated in our Run for Glass VE 5K that we organized earlier this month as part of the GlassCon Global VE-Glass Expo VE virtual event. It was so much fun seeing the pictures from everyone who sent them in to us. Even better, the race/run also supported St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, so again, a big thank you to everyone who participated.

But enough about running …

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on our best companies to work for feature. Historically, companies included in this feature were selected based primarily upon the benefits provided to employees. But with 2020 being what it is, and so many people simply grateful to still have a job, it was hard to think about asking someone to rank, for example, the importance of dental vs. no dental.

So we had to re-think how we would present the industry’s best companies to work for. We decided to review and evaluate nominated companies based on how they not only handled operations, but what they did for employees over the past nearly seven months. We asked them to tell us about a few key details:

• How they communicated with employees;
• How they maintained a sense of community within the company—even while remote;
• How they changed policies and procedures to ensure safety and health;
• How they ensured the comfort and well-being of employees; and
• How the organization gave back in support of its community.

We know there are certain standard practices, if you will, that most everyone has done. For example, ramping up cleaning and sanitizing, social distancing and requiring masks/face coverings when employees must work in close proximity. But in determining the best companies, we needed to go beyond the status quo, if you will. And let me just say, I was truly impressed with what I read.

You will have to wait a little bit longer to find out which companies were selected, but I will tell you this. One of the overriding themes that stood out for us was the importance of communication. Companies stressed how critical it was that they stay in touch with their employees—letting them know about the changes that were rapidly taking place and how they were adapting. And they didn’t just tell them once. There was a constant stream of information going out to all employees—emails, text messages, video reports, virtual meetings, etc. Good communication is important to any company, even when the world isn’t in crisis. But it’s during these tough times, that it becomes even more critical.

Our best companies to work for feature will be published in the upcoming October 2020 issue of USGlass magazine. I hope you’re looking forward to reading it.