Through the results of our first DEI survey and focus groups, we learned that our employees felt disconnected from company ownership and wanted to hear from them and have opportunities to engage with ownership.

One of our four DEI Action Teams, Culture of Belonging, developed the idea of a Community Connections video, where Ownership would answer questions gathered from our employees about our business. It was important to us that as we worked to improve our communication, our employees helped inform the solution.

Our DEI Director solicited questions from our employees and then worked directly with ownership to help them communicate effectively and personably with employees about our values, our current business and operation, and our plans for the future.

Each of our ten locations coordinated the showing of the video at department meetings so that everyone had the opportunity to watch the video as a team. Following the video, we shared a QR code with all employees so they could share their feedback and ask additional questions of ownership.

The video was a first step in increasing the visibility of ownership to all our employees. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Ownership is currently working on responding to all employee questions through one-on-one conversations and general communications. In addition to continuing the use of Community Connections videos, ownership is exploring additional ways to expand communication with all employees.