There’s been a lot of discussion about what the workplace would look like after COVID. Would employees ever return 100% to the office? How might office configurations need to change? Will office amenities like on-site gyms still exist?
Like many companies, we’ve made it a priority to understand what our clients and employees are thinking and feeling as we talk more about returning to the office. We’ve also reflected on overall productivity of our employees while we were all working from home. We’ve talked to clients about their experience over the last 16 months, and we’ve assessed how our business fared overall.
Surveys about what employees want going forward are pretty clear.
Hybrid work structures that allow for employees to mix work from home with work from the office are the most popular.
There are clearly upsides to both. People are no-doubt suffering from Zoom fatigue (yes, that’s a real thing). And in many instances they miss the personal interactions with colleagues. Studies show that employees that are married or have small children at home are more likely to want to go back to the office at least part time.
That said, many people have used the last year and a half to find ways to better themselves. One study from Harvard Business Review Online highlights that more time for career development and healthy habits were two important benefits of working from home.
At Heritage, we’ll be reopening our offices officially on Monday, August 2nd.
And we will be reopening with a new hybrid work policy for our employees.
Speaking on behalf of our full Management Team, I can tell you that we are all comfortable moving in this direction. We know that it will benefit our employees as well as the future growth of the firm. And we are confident it will continue to meet the needs of our clients.
The fact is, we couldn’t be prouder of how our staff met the challenges of an unexpected pandemic. They did whatever was necessary to continue servicing our clients and growing our firm. Productivity was never compromised.
The well-being of our employees is important to us. Because without happy, productive employees, we can’t deliver for our clients. And we know that shifting with the times is important if we want to continue to attract high quality talent going forward.
We can’t wait to welcome employees, clients, partners, and friends of the firm back to our Westwood, MA and Woburn, MA offices in early August. If you are a client of ours, we are anxious for the day we see you in person again! That said, we are still able to accommodate virtual meetings if that is your personal preference. You can see the full detail of our reopening protocols here.
And lastly, some exciting employee news
As a testament to our continued growth during the pandemic, I’m excited to share news of three recent hires and our two latest employee shareholders. Please click through to learn more about each of them.
New Hires
New Employee Shareholders
Karen Keefe, Director of Operations
Paul Higgins, Senior Wealth Manager
I hope you’ll join me in welcoming our new employees and congratulating our new employee shareholders!
