by Ryan Dunn, Chief Operations Officer | Jan 28, 2021

Working Through Challenges to Keep You Working

It’s been nearly a year since COVID-19 changed the world forcing us to learn new ways to work, shop, communicate, teach our children, and just about everything else. You, our clients, have had to adapt, too. Many stores had to find a way to make sales while their doors were shuttered. Those stores deemed essential have been lucky enough to remain open but have had to adapt to new ways of serving customers. 

We’ve had to adapt as well. Oregon – our development and customer service office is in Bend – has some of the most stringent safety measures in the country. Through a lot of diligence, we’ve been able to adapt our workflows, reconfigure our offices, and institute new policies that have allowed us to remain operational while still meeting our high standards for support. It’s been an incredibly tough challenge, but we’re working every day to make sure your stores are running efficiently. 

Just like you, we want to keep providing service and support while making sure our employees, our vendors, and our clients are safe. The easiest and most obvious adjustments were requiring masks or shields and keeping our workplace clean. 

Social distancing dozens of people in our Bend office was the most difficult logistical challenge. We had to reconfigure our workspaces to achieve the 6-foot social distancing standard and safety barriers recommended for the coronavirus. 

We communicate through Microsoft Teams technology to avoid as much face-to-face contact as possible. This helps us reduce contact while still being able to collaborate and conduct meetings. 

We staggered our work schedules, but have maintained our regular support hours to provide assistance from when stores open on the east coast until they close in the west. As always, we are also available 24/7 for emergencies and in 2020 our communities experienced many of them.  

We also installed safety measures at our front door that check the temperature of our employees and guests and require a COVID-19 questionnaire to be completed before they can enter. We have done all this while remaining open and able to assist you through these uncertain times. 

For over 40 years, the Paladin team has been dedicated to helping independent businesses like yours thrive because we believe you are the foundation of healthy communities. We work every day to develop new ways to simplify retail and make sure your stores run efficiently. We wish you, your families and your businesses a safe, healthy and prosperous 2021 and want you to know that we are always here to help you in any way we can. 

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