As we head into week 7 of shelter in place, I find my spirits stronger from a weekend of sunshine and opportunities to get outside and enjoy some great spring weather. This is of course relative to those in Arizona who saw enough sunshine to get near 100 degrees--summer is coming. Either way, I hope you had a good weekend and were able to recharge for the marathon that we find ourselves in.
I work hard to start each day with gratitude and give thanks for all God’s gifts that we have received. And I am grateful that TD is blessed with a clear Mission. We are Committed to providing outstanding Career opportunities by exceeding our Customers expectations through Continuous aggressive improvement. These 4 C’s are underpinned by our Core Values that we use to guide our expectations, behavior and decisions for all of us.
Each day I continue to be inspired by calls to our front-line Partners and Supervisors, and the stories that they share of Partners helping Partners through this stressful time. Your pictures and videos on our Facebook group are very uplifting. Encouraging and supporting each other enables all of us to better handle our long list of worries. We can boost this support even more by replacing worry with prayer.
Additionally, I am starting to feel a renewed sense of hope when looking at national trends as well as seeing many states begin to loosen restrictions. I understand that these trends can change from day to day and adhering to the preventative protocol is still critical, but it feels like we are starting hear as much good news as bad news which is a welcome relief.
A quick update on the hard data: we have only 3 confirmed positive cases and none have been severe. The number of Partners in self-quarantine is declining now due to new CDC guidelines and mandatory face covers at all our work sites and offices. I know this is a hassle and distracting, but it is our new normal for the foreseeable future. Thank you for continuing to adapt to keep us working safely.
We have begun the analysis of when we can begin to return to our office environments. This includes what needs to be done to each office to prepare, and what new protocols are needed for working safely in a dense office environment. We have proven our ability to work remotely, so we will be very deliberate in how we approach reentry. This will take some time to do it well without increased risk of infection.
I regret that we cannot gather for our Quarterly All Partner meetings this month to celebrate, learn from each other and have fellowship. We will be sharing lots of info by email and video, and some smaller groups will be experimenting with virtual All Partner meetings. Please continue to check the Pipeline daily for the latest news and updates, so you can be knowledgeable and able to share with your Partners.
The work that we do is important. Our work underpins and enables the restart of the U.S. economy. We have the honor of protecting our nation’s water supply and health in the built environment. We engineer, construct, operate and maintain the hospitals that save lives, as well as the data centers that provide infrastructure for the cloud. We help build the schools that educate our youth, the labs that will find a vaccine, as well as the office environments that enable great work! We are vital and essential.
All of you are in my daily prayers for safety and good health. We will get through this test---by the strength of our collective Partnership and support of each other. Please continue to "Live by Faith and n Not by Fear." Thank you for all that you do to support each other and our Mission. Let’s all make it a great day for someone else!
Sincerely,
Harold
