Where's Rena?

Rena Carlson worked in our Grand Marais office for nearly 30 years.  She was a great employee – knowledgeable, friendly and dedicated to our members.

Rena retired six years ago and shortly after, a member who worked with Rena for many years came to see her.  We explained that Rena was retired and that we would have her work with one of our other staff members.   

Well, the member became quite flustered and told me that “I always work with Rena – I have to work with Rena”. I was kind of stumped at that point.  Short of telling her that I didn’t think I had the authority to tell Rena she couldn’t retire, I didn’t have a good answer.  Everything worked out fine but it is a good example of how important these relationships are in our industry.

From an age perspective, our workforce is similar to society in general, with a strong contingent of baby boomers.  In other words, we have several employees who are coming into retirement age.  This, combined with our strong rate of growth, means there will be plenty of new faces showing up at your local branch.

This isn’t a bad thing - fresh blood and new ideas invigorate our operations.  It’s important to note, however, that we are preparing for this change in several ways.  Last year we created a full time training position – this person extensively trains our new and existing employees as well as creates precise documentation to ensure our work is of the highest quality.  We are really seeing the benefits of this idea as our new employees are performing at a very high level in a shorter amount of time.

We also have the luxury of hiring people in advance of when we absolutely need them.  This gives us more time for training and for them to gain experience in a supervised environment before they go out on their own.

So the next time you see a new face at your local branch, just consider them the “next” Rena.

Mark