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Powering Through the Pandemic: Front-line employees communicating in new ways

Meetings that were once face-to-face for OPPD’s front-line employees each morning are now meetings that take place all over the district.

For some, it is from the front seat of their work truck. For others, it is in a break room at a service center while doing morning calisthenics. The changes in these daily meetings were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many, it is a welcome change.

Much like their co-workers who work in office settings, technology like WebEx meetings have replaced what was once done in-person.

“These meetings are just part of our day now,” said Bill Wunderlich, field supervisor in Transmission & Distribution for OPPD. “This is something I think we will continue doing going forward. This beats talking about the same thing five different ways, and if any issues come up every one hears about it.”

The video below, by Goswen Visual Marketing, shows how OPPD’s front-line workers use the technology.

The Substation department uses another form of meetings using similar technology. OPPD’s Continuous Improvement team rolled out a “tiered huddle” pilot shortly before the pandemic.

“This is a method to effectively communicate and problem solve at the front-line level,” said Andrew Peacock, senior Continuous Improvement leader.