Independence means pitching in

By Stephanie Garcia | Billing Coordinator, Finance | Kansas City

The request to write about my perspective on independence came at a time when Finance was up to our ears in work. I just glanced at the email and said, OK, that goes to the bottom of the list. Then I went back to crunching numbers and taking names. And missing the deadline.

So the Independence Day team said, OK, we’ll write one for you. How’s this? And they sent me these paragraphs. And I thought: wow, self-referential much?

But you know what? This is what it means to work at an independent agency. At Barkley, we all know that each of us will have times when there’s just not a spare moment. And everybody pitches in to help. We’re all willing to put in that time for each other because this is OUR agency, not some holding company’s.

I know people at other places who lost their jobs in the past year. Compare those companies’ decisions to the ones our leadership team made. Their goal was no layoffs during what was sure to be a downturn—but what did that make possible? We not only didn’t lay anyone off—we’re hiring, because we won enough new business in 2020 to make up for the projected shortfall, and then some! How? Not just by pitching, but by pitching in.

Independence means I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine, and we’ve all got jobs in January, 2021. Gratitude goes here!

#ThisIsBarkley