In our new world where many of us in manufacturing are considered essential and critical, how are you and your family making it work? Are your kids going back to school? What does that look like? Are they wearing masks, are they social distancing? If you have young children as I do, I think we can agree that very few understand social distancing. As my wife gets her classroom ready for 20 kindergartners (she’s doing God’s work), I can’t help but wonder what safety protocols will be instituted with such young children.

There are a ton of articles about work-life balance and how important it is to find this middle ground. With that, what does work/life balance look like during COVID-19 with so many people working from home with kids of all ages? My team and I are still at the shop every day but I know many friends and colleagues that are at home who may be experiencing a less than balanced life right now when work and family time collide in the same dwelling. In a world where we are supposed to be on and available all the time- how do we consistently try and separate the two?

To help combat some of these issues, my family and I have made it a point that our evenings will be spent together with little to no shop talk. My two daughters greet me at the door every evening with cheers and squealing, it’s my favorite time of day. The challenge for me is to be done with work at that point in time and focus on those two immediately and fully. They have so much to share about their day, what game they’re playing, or what new toy they got. I find it is extremely important to fully absorb into their world for some time and just be with them without any distractions. Quality over quantity is my motto for weekend time. As a business owner, the work will always be there, and being available sometimes means 24/7- especially over the last few weeks while we’ve been installing our new Doosan NHP 4000. With that said, I’ve found that I can make some great connections with my family if I put my phone away for an hour or so and have some clear and honest expectations that I have to be available at times I may not want to be.

With COVID still impacting our lives, we’d love to hear from our friends and customers on how you continue to deal with what we all probably thought would be over by now. Be well and stay healthy.

Justin Quinn, President