At a recent employee meeting, I stood in front of your cooperative employees and thought, “Wow—we are bringing in a lot of new faces.” We typically have around 53 full-time employees working at Cherryland Electric Cooperative. Due to retirements, new assignments, a few departures and some reorganization, the names and faces have changed dramatically over the last couple of years—if not the last couple of months.

Like many businesses across the country, our offices, line trucks and shops have been dominated by baby boomers who are stepping away from the workforce. This has caused us to “reload” our employee base. In the past, this was done rather easily. Over the last 12-18 months however, it has become much harder as the competition for workers has gone up and the number of qualified candidates in our local area has gone down.

In just over three years, we have added 15 new employees. All areas of the cooperative have been affected—operations, administration, locating, member services, metering and engineering. In this group of 15, 11 new employees have been added in the last 16 months. More than half of those 11 employees have joined Cherryland in the last eight months.

In some cases, we have added employees to increase our depth to handle the demands of a growing economy. In other cases, we have added new faces to prepare for future retirements. Obviously, we have some critical systems to keep up and going in order to provide the service all of our members deserve. This requires a keen eye on the future and good communication with current employees.

As we watch great employees depart, we also know it offers an opportunity for the organization to grow and improve. Each new hire is scrutinized and strategized as to their talents and what they can bring to the table that will make us a better organization.

In some cases, we are hiring “green” talent, knowing full well that we will have to train them. In a few cases, we have been fortunate to acquire some experience, but not without some time spent “selling” them on our business model and culture. We have definitely seen a market shift in favor of the job seeker.

As I write this, we are actively searching for an accounting employee to take the place of one seeking retirement, as well as a new mechanic to absorb the knowledge that has kept our fleet rolling. So, the transition to our new generation is not over and likely won’t be for some years to come.

What is the result of all these changing faces? I am happy to report that our members are in the hands of new employees eager to serve and even happier to report we are also in well-qualified hands. Your HR department has done a great job of reloading your workforce with potential, intelligence, talent and positive attitudes.

While there will be more change and more hiring in the years to come, I believe we have a great new foundation that will grow into the next generation of cooperative employees dedicated to upholding the quality of service all members deserve.

Tony Anderson