Page 15 - BusinessWest March 31, 2021
P. 15

     Timm Marini holds up an ‘insurance bible’ — the printed variety. Those at HUB have had to send digital documents during the pandemic, and that trend will continue into the future.
in the printed variety. Now, if a client wants one — and some of them don’t — a digital file is sent, in part because a client can’t pick one up, and HUB can’t drop one off.
And, by and large, things will stay this way, said Marini, noting that COVID has shown those at the company that they don’t need to kill trees and use up expensive toner to pro- vide a client with their insurance bible.
“Now, you can do it all electronically,” he explained. “And you probably could before COVID, but COVID made us do it more.”
This is just one of the many things com- panies large and small have learned during the pandemic, lessons that will carry over to the time when COVID is referred to in the past tense. Others involve everything from not having to scan documents for tax prepar- ers to not necessarily limiting a candidate search to those living in the 413, to not hav- ing people travel to a conference on the other side of the state if they can instead take it in via Zoom.
In a word, the pandemic has shown area businesses and nonprofits that they have more options than maybe they thought they had, when it comes to how and where people work and just how things are done.
For this issue and its focus on the modern office, we talked with a number of business owners and managers about what’s been learned over the past 12 months or so and how COVID has actually made companies more efficient and enabled them to reduce
costs in some areas. The observations were telling.
“The audit side of our practice generally
required teams of people here to go visit on
site at other locations,” said Sarah Rose Stack, Marketing & Recruitment manager at the Holy- oke-based CPA firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka. “Because of COVID, we learned we could do these remotely, which is something we’ve never done; this was a first-time experience not just for us, but for people in our industry. We’ve learned that it’s fine, it is efficient, and with some businesses, we’ll keep doing it this way moving forward.”
“It’s a mix, but many certainly want to come back. They’re lonely ... they actually want to work in more of a community setting.”
For Springfield-based Wellfleet, now with offices in Tower Square, the pandemic has pro- vided ample evidence that employees in many positions can work effectively and remotely, and this enables the company to expand its horizons when it comes to hiring.
“You can expand your pool when it comes to workforce; we can hire someone not from the Springfield area and have them be successful with the tools that we’ve developed,” said Drew DiGiorgio, the company’s CEO, adding that the company has already hired some people from other parts of the country. Meanwhile, it is work- ing on plans to have other employees work a hybrid schedule, with some days in the office and
  We
 Don’t
Care
 How
You
Stack
Up
Commercial Lending
Our lenders bring big bank resources and small bank attention to Pioneer Valley. Learn how we help businesses of all sizes, and owners of all backgrounds.
Jim Hickson
SVP, Regional President
413.523.7920
berkshirebank.com/Business
 Banking products are provided by Berkshire Bank: Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. Rev. 3/21
   MODERN OFFICE
MARCH 31, 2021 15
Staff Photo
BusinessWest



































































   13   14   15   16   17