Cubbison’s Kocjancic: Supporting Production Team at Work

John Kocjancic, chief operating officer of Cubbison Company, an Austintown-based maker of product identification materials and printed circuits, is hanging tough. You can read more about Cubbison at its website.

What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life?

I am fortunate to work for a company that services critical infrastructure on a local, state, and national level. And since we were able to stay in business, we’ve had to adopt many new policies to keep our employees safe. Physical spacing, splitting of shifts, new cleaning protocols and temperature checks were all instituted as soon as the CDC recommendations came out. We also have over 25 percent of our staff working from home now. The biggest difference is putting on the mask every day.

We also worked with one of our suppliers recently to product 20,000 face shields for the health care industry. (Read more here.)

How about your personal life?

My wife and I have always been homebodies, so the transition was easier for us than it has been for many people. Since I’m still going into the office, and our kids are not school-aged yet, the only difference has been the interactions with our extended family, and the occasions where we would go out to dinner. The most heartbreaking part of this was when my 2 ½-year-old daughter said, “I can’t wait until the big germ goes away and I can hug my cousins again.”

What steps are you taking to hang tough?

Since I’m one of the few people left in the office, I’ve been making sure to keep in contact with the staff that is working from home, and ensuring that the production staff that is here on site feels safe coming to work. It is stressful to worry constantly, so I’m trying to ensure that people worry as little as possible. My wife and I have also had a few FaceTime and Zoom chats with friends to break up the Netflix nights. Keeping in touch with family with “window visits” and trading baked goods has given us at least a little interaction with them. We’ve also been trying to support more of the local companies with curbside food pickups and deliveries.

What advice are you sharing with the people you love?

Keep going, knowing that it’s going to be tough. Pretend that everyone already has the disease. Pretend other people have it, and you don’t want to get it from them. Pretend that you have it, and you don’t want to give it to anyone else. Practice all of the recommendations of the CDC and the governor, even if you think they sound silly or ineffective. I’ve felt a lot more relaxed wearing masks and gloves knowing that I’m at very low risk of transmitting this disease to anyone.