RDO Equipment Co. Northwest Ag Stores Awarded Most Valuable COVID-19 Company Response

RDO Equipment Co.’s Northwest Ag teams were recognized for their pandemic response efforts, earning the Most Valuable Company Response award from the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The award is part of an effort by the Regional Chamber to celebrate organizations that stood out for their response to the pandemic. In particular, the Most Valuable Company Response award recognizes “a company that demonstrated an exemplary response to the pandemic by ensuring the well-being of its employees, customers, and community.”

The Regional Chamber sought nominations for this award, along with Most Valuable Government Response and Most Valuable Nonprofit Response, from businesses and community members.

RDO’s early response efforts included the formation of a committee dedicated to monitoring COVID-19 developments and designing and communicating new policies and procedures to protect team members and customers. These included barriers and social distancing, mask guidelines, team member temperature checks, and routine cleaning.

In addition to guidelines to support local teams, RDO provided extra paid leave for team members to care for sick family members or to quarantine or recover from their own exposure. 

In line with RDO culture, team members were empowered to identify needs in their communities and help as they saw fit. Seeing a severe shortage of mask supplies for local farmers and laborers, team members in the Tri-Cities region leveraged RDO resources to collect 3,000 cloth masks and distribute to farmers and Franklin County Emergency Management.

Tyler Saunders, Regional General Manager, highlighted the efforts of team members who supported one another while embracing new ways to work safely and effectively. Similarly, he expressed appreciation for customers who trusted RDO and its team members during the unexpected hurdles of 2020.

“This recognition is the result of adaptability, teamwork, and trust displayed by both our team members and our customers. And I absolutely have to thank those groups,” he said.

Acknowledging the continuing challenges posed by COVID-19, Tyler pointed to the support from RDO, and the trust and teamwork displayed by team members since the start of the pandemic, as the guideline for the future.

“There may be more challenges ahead, but we know we have support, locally and across our organization, to work through them and continue doing what we’ve always done – serving our customers.”

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RDO Equipment Co. embodies a stakeholder philosophy, serving all those who make our business what it is. See the ways our team members impact the communities in which they work and live.