Page 25 - BusinessWest August 4, 2021

Best of Both Worlds
Hybrid Work Schedules Are Fast Becoming the New Norm
By Joseph Bednar
Looking over the past year and a half, Lisa Verville isn’t surprised the O’Connell Companies operated smoothly with the
vast majority of its team working from home. “People have stepped up, they did what they
needed to do, and work got done,” said Verville, director of Human Resources for the large fam- ily of businesses that includes Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, O’Connell Development Group, Appleton Corp., and New England Fertilizer Corp.
“Now, the technical piece of it — if this hap- pened 20 years ago, I can’t imagine
it would have worked as well as it did. We didn’t have Zoom back then,” she added. “But we have a very dedicated team. I’m not sur- prised it worked well.”
Which is why remote work will continue at O’Connell — to a point. Starting last month, employees were required to work on site at least three days a week, and more if they want to.
“We miss everybody,” Verville said. “We have a great culture, and we don’t want to lose that culture. If people are 100% remote, I think there’s a risk of losing that — do people feel connected to their organization if they’re not here,
cooperating and collaborating with their team?”
At the same time, “we know we have to balance that with what’s
going on with our workers. We want our employ- ees to be happy and feeling as though there’s a balance. That’s our goal.”
Welcome to the new, hybrid workplace, which looks to be a dominant model for employers across myriad industries, at least for the near future.
“People tell us they can do both,” Verville said. “I think it works, and allows for that work-life balance. I think people appreciate the flexibility.”
Big Y has been operating on a hybrid model for its support-center workers since early in the pandemic, said Michael Galat, vice president of Employee Services. And that will continue.
“Obviously, our stores are open nights and weekends, and our goal, as always, is to make sure we’re taking care of our store employees and our customers at all times,” he said. “Business needs may be different for different positions. It’s finding the right balance — making sure we’re taking care of customers but also allowing our people the autonomy to work from home.”
That’s the thinking at MassMutual as well, said Sue Cicco, head of Human Resources and Employee Experience. The company’s return-to- office approach will balance flexibility with in- person collaboration, with most employees tran- sitioning to a hybrid model, working some days in the office and some days remotely.
Michael Galat says Big Y is scheduling employees in a way that balances the company’s needs with their own.
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