The trucking company has about 285 employees in North America working in such areas as logistics, customs and dispatch, as well as about 160 remote employees, mainly drivers.
Once the remote workforce was set up, communication and keeping in touch became top priorities.
“We had a series of virtual town halls which was new for us, given how we’ve traditionally operated; [they] were hosted by [owner] Dave Cox. All of our employees across North America had invites and time slots and then prior to the town hall, we surveyed our employees to see how they were doing and to see what concerns they had. Essentially, we did a pulse check.”
They survey asked employees how they were coping with the new pandemic reality and Polaris received a 95 per cent response rate.
“Our employees working from home, a lot of them loved it, some not so much, but there were a number that were enjoying working from home and felt more productive, which was interesting. Feelings of isolation was a really important one, and then general concern over the pandemic,” she says. “Hopefully we’re doing well, that feedback was pretty positive.”
