A s more and more remote shelter in place order was lifted, many are hoping to retain the work-life balance that they had come to appreciate, post-pandemic. We spoke with three North Bay companies that are finding the sweet spot for attracting talent and keeping their employees happy. Emily Hodges Wallace is vice president and employee benefits advisor at Arrow Benefits Group, an insurance services company in Petaluma. We spoke with her about the work culture she sees client companies trying to create as well as the culture that Arrow maintains for its own employees. workers have returned to the office in the years after the In her work selling benefits packages Wallace says that every company has a different culture or goals for their By Janet Perry
employees. She says most of the companies she works with want their employees to have some work-life balance and to have joy in their job, whether that's at home or an office. Wallace says companies also want their employees to have peace of mind. “There's a lot of mental health stress on employees that I'm seeing across the board and they want them to come to work as a whole being that's not distracted,” she says. “A company may focus on helping employees get more steps in, more exercise,” Wallace says. “Some have exercise competitions, pay for gyms or have massage therapists come in. Some will do raffle prizes for Fitbits.” She says other companies want to help focus employees on eating healthily. “Like, if there's a large diabetes element in their company, they might want to talk about healthy foods and bring in only healthy foods instead of donuts or something,” she says. One company she works with has a really busy fourth quarter. If somebody has a baby prior to the fourth quarter the company gives them a year of diapers free to motivate them during that busy time. Some companies want to help their employees with financial wellness. “We have financial wellness as a component right now because if employees are worrying about paying the rent they're not going to come to work as a full employee,” Wallace says. Wallace says such benefits help ensure employees are happy to come to work, or to work from home. “I’m a big proponent of working from home.” Wallace understands the importance of work-life balance personally, as she took on the caregiving for her elderly parents and found that working from home allowed her to do it all. “I was able to balance a very aggressive career with living with my parents and caring for them to their end of life,” she says. “For me it was a blessing that I got that time and that my company was willing to allow me the flexibility to do my job in the hours and the time that I had available,” she says. Prior to the pandemic, Arrow employees all came into the office. “Everybody was on deck every single day,” Wallace says. “The pandemic shook everybody up a lot. We had to pivot very quickly
Arrow Benefits Group employees at their company Summer Celebration. The company allows employees to work remotely and events like this help build connection and positive work culture.
to even do our job—to being all remote, and putting into place technology and systems so that everybody could work from different areas.” Wallace says there was an immediate ramping up of technology. “It wasn’t just with Zoom for everybody, it was more like a client-management database that everybody could access from afar and enabling teams to communicate,” she says. They created a virtual culture committee so that people would feel connected, even in their homes. “Employees were suddenly at home and no longer getting that water cooler talk or even seeing anybody,” Wallace says. They hosted online marshmallow roasts and had virtual drinks together. They sent lunches out to people. They sent virtual birthday presents. They even did an online escape room together. Wallace says these things helped employees feel connected. “People still hunger for a relationship,” she says. “When people feel disconnected from something is when they're no longer an effective employee or prone to a lot of mental-health issues. All of these things helped create the feeling that even though we're far apart, we're not far apart.” Arrow is now committed to the option of working from home and is not considering a back-to-office mandate. They still have in-person days for trainings, face-to-face collaboration or to work on projects together and hear people’s ideas. But Wallace notes that these are special and fun. “Our employees are really happy,” she says. “We have a young dad and being at home meant that he could experience more of his child.” Wallace believes the biggest work-life balance improvement has been for women. “For me, it was a huge deal that I could balance caring for my parents and still work because I'm doing it right here in my living room and actually probably working more hours than I was before. But I also will get up and put laundry in the dryer—which
28 NorthBaybiz
November 2024
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