For our company, 2021 was a year of constant change, adapting to both success and challenge. It was a year of pivoting as we faced COVID, inflation, turnover, and even growth.
This was the first year in our history that we had over 15% turnover in our team, and that impacted us in several different ways. Some good, some challenging. We continued to deal with COVID and illness within our staff. There were a couple times in 2021 where our entire call center was working from home, which brought a whole new set of challenges as we continued to strive for a high-level of service to our clients.
Just like everyone else, we dealt with supply chain issues. For example, our water treatment units have anywhere from a 10 to 14-week lead time. We’ve also seen the effects of inflation, with four different increases on water heaters, two increases in water treatment, and even fixed expense increases within our organization. So, we had to adapt and overcome as we faced those changes.
We have 35 new team members that onboarded in 2021, and we moved from an onsite 1,200 sq. ft. warehouse to an offsite 7,500 sq. ft warehouse. In many ways, all of that has been great, but it does come with some challenge in figuring our processes and procedures.
In 2021, recognized that we need to do a better job of servicing our Diamond Club members. Currently, we don’t have the staff we need for plumbing service calls, with lead times a month out. And a lack of available skilled HVAC techs continues to be an uphill battle. We know now that the way out of that bind is train our way out of it. As a result, we are constantly training our staff to increase competency levels.
The amazing thing is, even with all the above, our organization was able to profitably grow 28% in 2021. So, though it feels like an entire year of adapting and challenge, it was also a tremendous accomplishment. We see 2021 as a success, but we will always remember the learning experiences it presented as well.
If you have any plumbing or HVAC issues in your home, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing & Air by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.
