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O P I N I O N
A newwork environment
It’s important to examine how your company can maintain culture and continue strategic growth in a newwork environment.
A s companies transition back to the office (both physical and virtual) and adjust to a new normal, it’s important to examine the ways they can maintain culture and continue strategic growth in a newwork environment.
At our firm, Modjeski and Masters, we decided it was critical to go back to the office while still providing employees the flexibility to work from home. Once we came to that decision, we knewwe had to expand the office space at our Pennsylvania headquarters to accommodate a growing staff and address the changing workplace landscape. Firms considering going back in person will find a favorable commercial market with opportunities to negotiate improvements to office space. As our lease renewed, we expanded our headquarters by 10 percent and reconfigured 20 percent of the existing space to enhance collaboration. Throughout the pandemic, I held virtual town halls with employees across the country, providing them with a chance to voice their opinions and have a clear stake in the business. As an employee-owned firm, Modjeski and Masters takes ownership seriously and emphasizes giving people at all levels the ability to provide input and suggest direction.
We found that there were many benefits to working from home. Employees reported more flexibility, savings on gas, and a much better work-life balance. And in some ways, the pandemic caused our team to communicate more frequently and effectively. On the other hand, employees missed face-to-face interaction and found the lack of socialization with co- workers to be a serious challenge. Overall, the hybrid work environment has changed how teams collaborate. Companies had to re- evaluate their methods of communication, and many – ourselves included – invested in technology to better support remote work. Technology like Microsoft Teams or Zoom has made inter-office communication faster than ever. However, the goal should not be to communicate more, but to communicate better. As part of our office expansion and renovation efforts, we created conference rooms to take advantage of this technology and accommodate hybrid in-person
Michael Britt
See MICHAEL BRITT, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 31, 2022, ISSUE 1426
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