Recently, I was honored to join a group of newly-hired Jackson EMC employees for an orientation class. I know, I’ve been here a while – 18 months to be exact – but I still feel new enough to have wanted to experience orientation with them. It was important to spend that time with Josh, a lineman and an expectant father from Lawrenceville, Daniela, who answers your calls in the contact center, and everyone else who joins me on this journey. They are my new family.

We spent a couple of days learning the ins and outs of life at Jackson EMC. Our activities included spending time touring our district offices, learning about the history of our cooperative and hearing from some longtime employees. We all now know more about each other, our co-op and its history. But more importantly, the culture of this organization has been passed along to a new generation.

Next month we’ll hold our annual years of service recognition breakfast where we will celebrate 1,430 years of service among employees with milestone anniversaries ranging from five years to 40 years. This is a Jackson EMC tradition that lets us honor our employees’ service to our members. Many people who come to work at Jackson EMC stay for their entire career. Our two longest-serving employees at work today have been serving this cooperative for more than 43 years: Benny Bagwell, our Gainesville District Engineering & Operations Coordinator, and Dwight Frost, a Line Foreman for our corporate line crews. That speaks volumes about our employees’ dedication to their work and service to you.

At least once a year we hold a Jackson EMC family reunion where we gather together with our retired employees and share information about what’s going on in the cooperative. Mostly we just enjoy spending time together. In October, more than 100 retired employees and their guests joined us for lunch. They still feel the connection to the cooperative and its members. That’s a good indication of how strong our cooperative’s culture really is.

I’ll celebrate my own two-year anniversary in April. I like this new family and I want to make sure it keeps its traditions. Providing this kind of rewarding work environment for our employees ensures that we’ll continue to attract the kind of people right for our family: People dedicated to serving our members with reliable, courteous and personalized service. It’s what this family is all about.

Reach out to your CEO; send Chip an email at [email protected].