Lettershop staff make sure mailings and postage stay on track.

It has been about 2 months since Covid-19 hit and the resulting pandemic disrupted our lives and businesses. We would like to share how Johnson & Quin and our employees are doing now that business as normal won’t be back to normal for quite some time. First J&Q continues to produce our clients’ direct mail programs on schedule and with the same attention to quality and security as always.

Office staff are working remote with occasional trips to the plant as needed. Although some of our teams were already set up to work remote, our IT staff has been phenomenal in setting up everyone to work efficiently and securely from home. Employees in all departments have come up with some great ideas to work more efficiently and provide the plant with the instructions they need to accurately produce and mail programs. And everyone loves Zoom and Skype meetings where we can actually see each other to connect.

Our plant employees continue to come in to keep the presses and equipment running. To ensure their safety, we continue to enforce social distancing, hand washing and proper hygiene, as well as enhanced cleaning of workspaces and equipment. Full time staff on each shift focus on cleaning all touch points throughout the day. Where social distancing is not as easy on some processes, screens have been added between equipment to minimize contact. A half hour break between each shift ensures that staff on each shift do not interact with each other and to allow extra cleaning. Our cleaning company is in the plant each day doing additional sanitizing and is available at a moment’s notice if needed.

Screens provide extra protection between employees on bindery equipment.

Regarding postal mail delivery, J&Q has not seen any significant delays. In fact, we are seeing quicker delivery times than pre-pandemic for Marketing Mail from the time it arrives at the SCF to in-home delivery due to the lower overall mail volume. Other mailers have reported delays in Detroit and New Jersey (with New Jersey seeing improvements), but we have not experienced those delays. Most mail sent from J&Q is shipped directly to the SCF’s which limits USPS handling and possible delays.

How are our employees coping with all the recent changes? First, there has been a lot of positives in the midst of dealing with a pandemic. The most mentioned positive is spending more time with family – playing games, watching movies, walking outside, cooking and baking. A member of the production planning team mentioned “we’ve actually been in communication more than we have in years. With people growing up and moving states away, you tend to lose touch. With video calls it doesn’t matter.” Zoom, Facebook and video chats with family and friends, in addition to business meetings, are everyday occurrences.

J&Q’s VP of IT and Security, Manish Haria, also marveled at how quickly new users adopted to remote work technology, and how the entire J&Q team rose to the occasion and supported each other. Because we already had strong security architecture and processes in place, moving everyone to remote was not as massive as it could have been.

When asked about tips to keep motivated and productive when our usual routine has been turned upside down, many mentioned staying with your normal schedule is important to staying focused, especially in the morning. Most miss the in-person interaction of working in the office, so video meetings with time for personal interaction help everyone stay connected. And employees in all departments are thankful for working, and at a company that is taking so many safety precautions to keep them safe.

J&Q is able to provide our clients with uninterrupted, quality service and production during this time. And we continue to make the safety of our employees our first priority, and provide the tools to make everyone effective in whatever role they play at J&Q. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Andrew Henkel (312.420.8539 / ahenkel@j-quin.com) or Bob Arkema (224.548.9831 / barkema@j-quin.com).

Stay safe and healthy!