Page 46 - BusinessWest August 4, 2021

Workforce
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Mollison tells a slightly different story. Before COVID, he said, Northeast IT was outgrowing its space in West- field, so he suggested that staff work remotely as a short-term solution. He was surprised when almost no one wanted to work from home.
“Nearly everyone wanted to work in the office,” he recalled. “We have a kind of think-tank environment where our staff enjoy working on problems together.”
However, the pandemic forced nearly everyone to work from home for the last 16 months, a situation Mol- lison called stressful because many felt less connected to their co-workers. He added that a change in venue is com- ing. “We purchased a building in West Springfield and will be moving in at the end of August. We’ll have plenty
of space to bring everyone back with social distancing; our people are really looking forward to returning.”
At Paragus, employees have been ramping up their return to the office by coming in one day a week in June, two days a week in July, and three days a week starting in August. Bean said he won’t require more than three days a week in the office, but felt that some time in the office was important.
“We have intentionally designed our office to promote collaboration,” he said. “We don’t have walls or offices, so people can listen to each other and overhear what’s going on. You can rep- licate some of that online, but it’s not the same as hearing what’s going on
Great Barrington
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County. Theory Wellness opened Janu- ary 2019 and is now one of four canna- bis establishments in town. Pruhenski said sales at all four stores have been strong, and they have returned some welcome revenue to the town.
“For fiscal year 2022, we were able to use $3.5 million in cannabis revenue to offset taxes,” he noted. “Capital bud- get items, like new police cruisers that we normally have to borrow for, were paid for in cash thanks to the cannabis revenues.”
The town also collects 3% from can- nabis stores to mitigate the negative effects of cannabis on the community. After awarding $185,000 in fiscal 2021, Pruhenski said the town will be award- ing $350,000 in fiscal 2022 to five social agencies in the form of community- impact grants.
Andrus agreed that cannabis has had an overall positive impact on Great Barrington.
“Despite all the traffic cannabis brings to town, I’m surprised at how unintrusive it has been,” she said. “For people with health issues, cannabis allows them to live with much less pain.”
around you.”
At Bloo Solutions, Beaudry has
allowed his four full-time and several part-time employees to stay remote except for occasional trips to the office or when visiting a client’s location. Col- laborative messaging tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams allow him and his staff to stay in touch with each other and stay on top of client concerns.
“We have channels dedicated to each client so any one of us can jump
of the time is to help with their profes- sional development and to identify when a staff member might need help. He worries that IT professionals who have chosen full-time remote work won’t have the same chance to grow or develop their careers.
“They will probably be fine doing the job they were hired for, but they will be relatively unengaged and poten- tially stagnant,” he said. “I don’t see how they can grow or develop much in
expert solve the problem who makes them feel bad about themselves,” he said.
Change Can Be Good
Another reason the demand for IT professionals is increasing has to do with the growing economy. Bean said the sales pipeline for new projects has never been fuller. “In terms of new business, we’re booking clients out
to October because we only book so much at a time.”
In addition to hiring tempo-
rary contract workers, he has found another way to make up worker short- ages: acquisitions. Paragus recently acquired one IT-support company in Worcester and is looking at two other acquisitions.
“In the past, the goal of an acquisi- tion was to acquire clients and mar- ket,” he said. “Now it’s about acquiring talent.”
Would Bean like to see less disrup- tion in the labor force? Sure. He also understands that this time of transition is part of the bigger picture.
“Everybody is moving around, so we’re on the receiving end of this as well,” he told BusinessWest. “The good news is we haven’t seen a shortage of any new résumés coming in.”
While it’s tempting to dwell on the employees leaving, however, Bean has gained some perspective.
“After some reflection,” he said, “we realized that a lot of the innovation and fresh approaches we get are driven by new people coming in with new ideas.” u
use their outdoor space, so it creates a lively downtown experience.”
Andrus said outdoor dining on Railroad Street was a huge effort that was well worth it. “It works great, and people love it. The restaurants want to see this keep going, so they are all tak- ing part.” The town also participates
in an effort called Berkshire Busk, in which a dozen entertainers perform at different spots around downtown Great Barrington during the outdoor dining season.
Andrus said the town’s response the to pandemic reminds her of the expres- sion, “don’t waste a good crisis.”
“Everyone was forced to jump out of their comfort zone, and I believe that made us all better for it,” she added. “Because we were all kind of stagnant before the pandemic, it made us try something different.”
Pruhenski would be the first to say that Great Barrington is moving in a positive direction as more people move in, and many are locating their busi- nesses here, too.
“School enrollments are increas- ing, and Main Street is busier than it’s ever been,” he said. “It’s a really exciting time for the town.” u
“I don’t see how they can grow or develop much in an environment where they never see their co-workers or be around other people.”
in and take care of any concerns,” he said. “Because we all have access to these messages, the same information is available to all of us without being next to each other.”
Whenever possible, Beaudry makes working from home an option for his staff.
“If you’re at home and take five minutes between tasks to turn around to pet your dog or do the dishes real quick, that time becomes meaning- ful and helpful in your life,” he said. “When you are in the office and not near anything you need to do, that same five minutes is wasted.”
Therefore, as long as his staff are productive, he doesn’t care if they work from home or at the office.
Another reason Bean cited for hav- ing people in the office at least some
an environment where they never see their co-workers or be around other people.”
Mollison credits his low staff turn- over to seeking out people who like variety in their work and have an interest in personal and professional growth.
“Because IT folks tend to be intro- verts, we try to help them grow person- ally so they can become more comfort- able working with clients and develop- ing relationships with them,” he said.
While finding people in Western Mass. with technical skills isn’t so tough, Beaudry makes his hiring deci- sions based on a candidate’s emotional intelligence.
“I’ve learned over time that clients would rather feel good about a conver- sation they had rather than having an
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Great Barrington’s painted crosswalks have been a hit and drawn inquiries from other communities.
Hit the Road
When Massachusetts launched the Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program in June 2020, it was imme- diately popular across the state. Pruhenski called the program a “silver lining” resulting from the dark cloud of COVID. Great Barrington used its Shared Streets grant to develop an
outdoor dining area on Railroad Street to support several restaurants located there. Every Friday and Saturday night in the summer, two-thirds of the street is dedicated to outdoor dining. Pruhen- ski enjoys seeing Railroad Street turn into a café each weekend.
“When we started this in 2020, vac- cines were not yet available, and the only way to dine out was to eat out- side,” he said. “Restaurants nearby also
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