How meaningful for you is having a workplace culture that expects empathy and respect for all?

I am thankful for each of you, and I am thankful for the collective performance we are delivering in these challenging times. Last week we had over 2900 employees working over 140,000 hours on over 200 sites across North America and beyond, and we are executing that work with minimal disruption despite the COVID challenges. Even more, we continue to see improvement in our culture, in our safety and quality outcomes, in the experiences we are delivering for our employees and customers. We do essential work – we keep the lights on – and we are doing it well. Thank you!

We have another potential challenge that I want to address – the upcoming election in the United States. This election season has shown historical levels of political division. I understand the deep-rooted beliefs and values that are leading to passionate advocacy on both sides. I expect you to have beliefs and values. I expect you to live with integrity, in accordance with those beliefs and values. I encourage you to engage in the election process; I encourage you to vote and express your voice.

And I also expect you to be mindful of your personal biases and use empathy to understand others, even when you disagree. How do you show empathy in these moments? I encourage you to be open (versus closed), listen to learn (versus to respond), and seek to connect with your brothers and sisters (versus to win the debate).

Takeaway: Division and Passion are Real and Relatable …Value People First

You have a right to your independent and unique perspective, and a right to vote in support of the party and candidates that align to your beliefs and values. However, I expect that you leave all potential political tension out of our APM work environment. How you choose to engage during your personal time is your right, but the time we spend together should be in furtherance of serving the collective APM mission. I expect that when you are engaged in APM work, you focus on what unites us to deliver a job well done.

Takeaway: You have a Personal Right and Team Expectation … Save Political Discussion for Your Personal Time

We have an important duty as members of this team to serve the APM Family and our customers, delivering 100% safety, quality, and integrity on every job. We must be aligned on that front, and we must make this our priority while on the job. Countless people are relying on us to help deliver power, and countless families are awaiting our safe return after the job. This morning I was reminded of how important our work is to so many when our customer Entergy sent a note of thanks for the work we are doing in Louisiana. Our team’s prompt responsiveness and quality performance is helping them recover from the recent hurricanes that have hit Louisiana. This is living our purpose – our teams powering life for communities greatly impacted by these storms.

Takeaway: We Must Unite on Fulfillment … Keep our APM Mission First on the Job

In summary, I encourage you to exercise your voting rights and respectfully display your support for your candidates over the next few weeks. Please keep in mind that your comments, even away from work, concerning political or current social events may negatively impact the work environment (https://my.ge.com/card/ge-news/6108189). At all times, I expect you will remain professional and honor your duty to serve our APM team, ensuring we send our brothers and sisters home safe and deliver for our customers and communities.

Takeaway: Maintain Empathy, Respect, and Honor

As the leader of this team, I thank you for your continued personal leadership and loyalty to our APM Family.

–Jake