Propelling student success

Firefi ghting replaced the day-to-day

“Our employees For MCPc, fi refi ghting have been going has taken the form of going onsite to help above and beyond” health care clients prepare for the potential surge in patients. “Our employees have been going above and beyond by working onsite at health care system hot zones,” said Shannon. “This is a core element of MCPc’s service culture.”

Shelly Westbrook (BA ’01), the foundation director at Spectrum Health Foundation, who was also asked to provide leadership coverage for the Environmental Services Team in Greenville and Lakeview amidst the pandemic, reported that she “We are all in characterizes the feel of the last few months as “we are all in this together.” this together.”

“We demonstrated our value to our communities and each other in everything we have done,” she said. Spectrum Health’s methods included redeploying a large number of employees to assist with COVID-19 planning and care, increasing communication between departments and reducing red tape — all of which increased their ability to move quickly. She credits Spectrum’s teams, which have been “amazingly creative in developing new processes and procedures.” The “new normal” is a moving target, and everyone is adapting as they go. MCPc’s Shannon thinks that the new normal for its customers will include increasing agility and giving employees more flexibility on where they work. “Many customers are revisiting their cloud, mobility and security strategies,” he said. “As more organizations lean into fl exible work location policies, the need for proper endpoint security is paramount.” MCPc has already been consulting with customers on maintaining security for their now-remote employee devices.

Westbrook reports that Spectrum’s new normal is caring for COVID-19 patients, along with all the other people they have always treated — those with non-COVID health problems like diabetes, asthma or cancer. Preventive care also remains a priority.

David Madiol, manager of Amway’s corporate social responsibility, sees the company moving toward providing more online opportunities. “The pandemic opened up many more ways to create supplemental income through e-commerce, and we expect this to continue to grow. We are an entrepreneurial business, and going forward, we need to provide the skills and tools that make it easy for budding entrepreneurs to create their own journeys.”

Employees become “unsung heroes”

Hardship often results in people rising to the occasion, and that has been true during the pandemic. Shannon, Fortier, Hart and Westbrook all report that their employees have come through in the crisis. “Joe Hicks (BAS ’12), one of our technical project managers, has eff ectively been on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for many of our clients,” said Shannon. “In one instance, he responded to a customer call at 11 p.m. on a Sunday, was in our offi ces by 3 a.m. and helped resolve the customer’s dilemma by 5 a.m. that same morning.”

Fortier refers to Jeff Lumpp (MBA ’13), Hylant’s local president, as a “rock star,” for the way he encourages everyone through stories about how other employees are stepping up. And Westbrook said Spectrum’s “unsung hero” is the entire Environmental Services Team, which is responsible for cleaning patient rooms and the rest of the hospital, and for handling biohazard materials. Because of their work, she said, “I’m confident our patients, community and staff members are safe.”

“People were raising Madiol has been amazed by the initiatives his their hands with great ideas and co-workers have taken to help the community. “People were raising their hands with great ideas and everyone was pitching in to help,” he said. everyone was “We mass produced and delivered hand sanitizer pitching in to help.” to local health care communities, loaned out our 3D printers to people making face shields and supplied Kent County’s homeless with nearly 1,000 hygiene kits. It’s a proud moment during times like these when I see Amway’s values and beliefs personifi ed by its employees.”