Powering Up New Electric Cooperative Employees
Electric cooperatives around the country need help to attract and retain new talent due to an increase in retirements, labor shortages, and the popularity of post-pandemic hybrid work schedules. Many co-op employees in Georgia retire with over 40 years of service, making this an unfamiliar and unsettling challenge within the industry. As turnover increases, the knowledge of the cooperative business model and Planters EMC’s rich history and mission has diminished. Admiring and acquiring ideas from other communicators in the state and collaborating with other departments, I plan to develop PowerUp. This orientation program educates new hires on our practices, policies, and purpose. The program will include information about the cooperative business model, historical highlights, industry partners/jargon, benefits, etc. I hope to collaborate with leadership and department heads to create an all-encompassing curriculum.
“The goal is to create, establish, and facilitate a new cooperative employee orientation in order to educate new hires about the cooperative’s rich history and purposeful mission and increase retention.”