What Our Work Family Means at PAJCO

The holiday hustle has ended.?Christmas was here along with all the joy and excitement leading up to the big day.?New Years Eve has come and gone, and now 2023 is underway.?There just isn’t much excitement to look forward to in January with the sun setting early and the cold settling in. We are entering the longest stretch of winter days, and everyone tends to hit a lull from now until March.

With this all on our heels, I was asked, “What does ‘work family’ mean at PAJCO?”?First of all, I have never been asked this question in any of my prior professional journeys.?I honestly get a warm, fuzzy feeling just typing it.?Our work family, whether here at PAJCO, Rhodes Convenience Stores, Rally’s, IMO’s or Jersey Mike’s, is something truly special.?This topic is definitely a matter of perspective for most people.?At the end of the day, most people believe their work family is special.?Though, here at PAJCO, let me tell you, it is something unique and unduplicated anywhere else I’ve worked.

What does work family mean to us??It is deep.?It isn’t your typical “we are family now that we work together” phrase.?It carries meaning because to us it is real.?We say it because you are now a part of our wonderfully awesome, sometimes weird, and loving family.?Sure, it starts with the typical phrase of, “welcome to our family,” but it’s what happens afterwards and throughout the time spent inside of our family that is so special.?

I could write 100 pages of stories alone that showcase our deep family values.?The number of times I have thought, WOW, this truly is my family, is astounding.?For the sake of time, I will only share a couple of stories that are great examples of WHO this family is.

Recently, we had a fellow team member that had fallen on some hard times which caused a complete reset of life.?This meant finding a new place to live for them and their kids with not much more than the clothes on their back.?This person shared the situation with their district manager.?The district manager, like a true family member would, immediately went into action and found a bed for one of the team member’s kids and even delivered it.?At the apartment, he noticed that many more things were needed.?He reached out to one person at the office.?Within a week’s timeframe, the PAJCO family came together and had everything the team member needed donated and delivered to the apartment.?In addition, the team member was also able to have Christmas gifts under the tree for the kiddos.

I mean, what a story of a family coming together for a family member that was down on their luck.?In this story and getting back to what our work family means to us; it’s about helping someone out who needs us.?Family will always be there regardless of any outlying circumstances.?Hearing this story at first, I was really impressed because the district manager who told me the story, even knew the kids’ ages and names.?To me, this instance proves that we are deeply rooted with family values.

Here's another story.?Several years ago, a married couple who works at PAJCO decided to adopt four siblings.?The day the adoption was finalized, to their surprise, several PAJCO team members who witnessed their journey from foster parents to adopted parents joined them in the courtroom as the judge officially announced them as a family.?Just like a biological family takes photos together to mark special milestones, the PAJCO family and newly joined family joined together for photos on the courthouse lawn.

The last story I will share is something that we do on a quarterly basis at our learning summits.?We choose a team member that will be attending the summit and ask them to share the story of their life.?This is our favorite session during the learning summit.?It has nothing to do with our business, nothing to do about leadership or product sales.?It is raw, it is real, and we get to know a member of our family at a deeper level.?Let me tell you that these stories stick with us.?We are vulnerable together and usually see a family member of ours sharing their life with us.?A majority of the time there are tears in the room, whether happy or sad tears, they are tears that break down barriers between us all.?We know their story, where they came from and what has made them who they are today.?It makes us hug them a little more and understand them deeper as a member of our family.

I could keep writing stories about our family, but I will wrap this up for all of our readers.?What does our work family mean to us??I hope the article painted a clear picture of the answer to this question, but if not.?Here it is:

What Our Work Family Is to Us

1. We know personal things about the people we work with.
2. We are vulnerable and share our past with each other, whether it's a happy story or a sad story.
3. We have each other's back in times of need.
4. We eat together.
5. We laugh together,
6. We cry together.
7. We are huggers.
8. We are honest with each other. Sometimes brutally honest.
9. We get mad at each other.
10. We laugh at each other.
11. We are welcoming to new family members.
12. We. Are. FAMILY.