Dear CEO Staff,
As we approach Halloween, a popular tradition for many individuals and families, I’d like to wish everyone a safe weekend and share some recommended guidelines from New York State regarding safe and creative ways to celebrate Halloween in the midst of this pandemic. Please review this link: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2020/10/13244_covid_halloweenguidance_102020-2.pdf
I’d also like to remind everyone that next Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day and we will be closing all programming at 12pm to allow CEO staff the opportunity to vote. I urge everyone to exercise their rights and let your voices be heard, particularly this year. As we continue to battle the impacts of COVID-19, we have further decided to conduct an agency-wide Remote Work Drill Day from 8am-12pm on Tuesday, 11/3. The purpose of this exercise is to prepare and practice for any possible emergency site closures that may occur in the coming months. On Tuesday, each staff member will work with their supervisor to determine expectations for work to be completed during the morning. This is a purposeful exercise that will help identify any continued challenges in communication, technology or assignments within your programs. The goal is to be best prepared for any unexpected programmatic interruptions; this could include inclement weather, building closures or possibly a second wave of the pandemic, etc.
Unfortunately, these types of program continuity preparation efforts have made it difficult for us to remain solely focused on the results of employee feedback survey completed by staff earlier this year prior to the pandemic. While we do believe that many of the current priorities are aligned with your feedback, focusing on your safety while preserving programming must remain the highest priority and requires our full attention at this time. We hope to be able to provide you with an overview of the information received from those surveys and focus groups in the near future. As a starting point, we are revisiting CEO’s Values to ensure they remain relevant and can guide our 3-year Strategic Plan in 2021. As such, your feedback will definitely be a part of our new Strategic Plan.
Your continued dedication to providing needed services to our community continues to be an inspiration to me and the Senior Administrative Team. We sincerely thank you!
Stay safe, stay healthy,
Katherine