Page 42 - BusinessWest March 31, 2021

Office could before.
ing employees cope with everything from feelings of isolation to simply filling their days with work, even though they were home.
“We were too accessible when we were home, so there were no breaks for our people,” he explained. “We started having big conversations and hiring pro- fessionals to come in to coach us to make sure we took breaks and that there was separation between home and work.”
What will things look like several months from now, especially if the pandemic continues to ease? Marini isn’t exactly sure, but he acknowledged that he spends a lot of time thinking about it and working with corporate to prepare for that day.
He does know that more business will be handled virtually in the future, and there will be little, if any,
“
they think they’re more efficient that way, and they can ask questions of each other faster and stay on track better because they’re all together. It’s not something we told them they had to do; they’ve chosen to do it.
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I’ve been in
do; they’ve chosen to do it.”
Dávila agreed, although he noted that he has some
employees who are quite happy working at home, and are “working on it” when it comes to returning to the office. By that, he meant he’s offering some flex- ibility on this matter and not rushing anyone back who doesn’t want to rush back.
“I think it’s partly generational — people who have been in the field for 15 or 20 years or more and are used to those in-person interactions, they’re used to having that time by the water cooler when they’re getting a cup of coffee. I consider those valuable interactions that help with morale,” he told Business- West. “But we also have younger staff who are very comfortable with technology and embrace the idea of working remotely.”
places where we would talk about technology and teleconferencing
and telehealth, and people would balk at it. And now, we’ve been forced to take another look, and we’ve embraced it.”
Looking ahead, he said that, while most people look forward to the day when they can gather and attend conferences and meetings in person, they know there are options — there’s that word again — and they won’t be hesitant to take full advantage of them if the circumstances permit.
Caution Signs
As he walked with BusinessWest through HUB’s headquarters facility on Shaker
Road in East Longmeadow, Marini
pointed to a number of unoccu-
pied workstations, some of them marked off with the yellow ‘caution’ tape usually associated with crime scenes and construction sites. Such tape can be seen throughout the suite of offices, he said, noting that the space — which was occupied by just over 50 employees prior
They just want to be in the same space —
But, ultimately, they will come back, probably by the end of the calendar year. “I don’t want to
say absolutely not,” he said when asked about hybrid arrangements that offer a mix of remote and in- office work. “But my preference is that we get people back to a sched- ule where they can see each other and interact.”
Lee Bank’s Susie Brown agreed. “When it comes to Lee Bank,
I think everyone enjoys being together,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of people who are unwilling
to the pandemic — has hosted
around seven a day on average,
with a high of 14, by his count.
Sectioning off such areas
became part of life during COVID, he noted, adding that there are myriad ways the pandemic changed the landscape for the company. Overall, there’s been a huge shift; a place once teeming with employees and visiting customers now sees very few of either.
And that has brought challenges — and some opportunities, mostly in the form of learning how to do things remotely and without reams of paper. As he talked about these opportunities, Marini gave a nod — sort of, anyway — to an organization his business works closely with, obviously: the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
“Even the Registry of Motor Vehicles here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has become more digitized, more automated, and more flexible, and that’s something I never thought I’d see after 33 or
34 years of doing this,” he told BusinessWest, adding that, in some ways, his company has been inspired by the RMV, as it automates and digitizes many process- es that once involved paper and in-person sessions.
As for the challenges, they came in waves, Marini explained, from equipping everyone to work at home, which was expensive and difficult logistically, to help-
”
Tourism
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Warren said visitors will want to feel safe before the sector really opens up. “There are still some people who are nervous, but we’re able to show them what we can do — what plans the res- taurants and attractions have in place to keep them safe when they come — and that’s making them feel very com- fortable and ready to visit.”
Amaral cited research showing that people are more comfortable and apt to travel when adequate protocols are in place.
“Being knowledgeable about what to expect ahead of time puts them at ease,” she added. “And, of course, so many people being vaccinated is help- ing as well. The apprehension, even from six months ago, is much different
than it is now.
go — with caution, but nonetheless, they’re saying, ‘let’s go.’”
Wydra agreed. “There’s definitely some optimism as we move forward with the vaccines. We’re always hearing about new ones being introduced, and the government keeps making people eligible for it — that’s great news.”
Butler tempered that optimism with the other side of pandemic real- ity — which is, we’re not out of it yet, and people shouldn’t just abandon the common-sense behaviors that keep case counts down.
“Any increase in business needs to be done with public health and safety as the foremost consideration,” he said. “But all of the larger-picture conditions that have fueled growing visitor and
economic activity throughout the past two decades are aligning well.”
Warren has been in the hospitality field long enough to ride a few eco- nomic cycles, but she’s never witnessed anything like last year — “and I never want to see it again,” she said. “I’ve never had to cancel so many groups and lose literally millions of dollars
in revenue. So I’m looking forward to coming back strong this year and help everyone to bounce back.”
She’s heard from tour operators that they do, indeed, want to come back. But they’ll be returning to a changed tourist economy, and change isn’t always a bad thing, Amaral said.
“This has been a wake-up call to most businesses to think differently, which is exciting to me. Let’s not wait
for a pandemic or tragedy to happen to think about a different way to do busi- ness or attract a target market or a dif- ferent product line. If there’s anything we can take from this, it’s don’t get into the same rut. Think about different ways to improve your business.”
Amid the changes, of course, some normalcy is more than welcome.
“Who would have thought, a year ago, that we couldn’t go into a bar and have a drink?” Wydra said. “I want to meet friends after work for drinks. And I’m excited, because I think we’ve got some positive stuff happening in the future.” u
Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]
SARA ROSE STACK
need for those printed insurance bibles.
As for employees, like others we spoke with, he
expected that they will come back, because the com- pany wants them back, but also because they want to be back in that office setting.
Such sentiments were echoed by many of
those we spoke with. They noted that it seem logi- cal that, after getting a taste of working at home, many employees would prefer that option, but what employers are generally seeing is the opposite reaction.
“People are sick of remote everything,” said Stack, noting that Meyers Brothers Kalicka has a younger team within the audit department that could do
its work from home, but instead it has reserved the firm’s huge boardroom for the past six weeks so the members can work together, but safely and well spread out.
“They have music playing on Spotify every time you walk in there,” she said. “They just want to be in the same space — they think they’re more efficient that way, and they can ask questions of each other faster and stay on track better because they’re all together. It’s not something we told them they had to
to come back; those that are unwilling are those that have other challenges at home with their children.”
Bottom Line
COVID is far from over, and there are certainly more lessons to be learned as companies large and small continue to cope with an unprecedented challenge.
But it’s already evident that this battle has prompt- ed changes that will live on long after the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror. As they were forced to do things differently, companies learned that, in many cases, these different ways are better than the old ways.
Like the insurance bible. Clients, at least some
of them, will still need one. But they won’t need to thumb through 700 pages of printed material to find an answer.
COVID has changed all that — and it keeps on changing the landscape. u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
People are just ready to
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