Metro Atlanta Companies Look For Incentives To Keep Employees Around
As the pandemic continues to change the way we think about work, Atlanta companies are implementing changes like shorter work weeks and hybrid workspaces to accommodate remote employees.
Tracey DeFine says she’s been a proponent of a four-day workweek for more than a decade. Now, a global health pandemic and shifting attitudes about work are giving the company she helps lead a chance to implement that plan.
“The pandemic, COVID, the remote work, it taught employers a lot about their respective businesses,” said DeFine. “And for us, it taught us a lot about our employees.”
DeFine is vice president of corporate operations with Galt Pharmaceuticals in Marietta. She says they learned their workers could be counted on to be productive, even when they weren’t behind a desk in an office full time
A survey from Microsoft shows 40% of workers are considering quitting their jobs in the next year and metro Atlanta companies – large and small, are taking varied approaches to keep employees happy.
DeFine says the prospect of losing a sizeable portion of their workforce prompted the company to give workers an extra reason to stay. She says making Friday a permanent day off and scaling back to a 36-hour workweek will actually help productivity.
“It takes a lot of time to let go and just relax so that you are refreshed and recharged when you get back at it on Monday,” said DeFine.
Galt has 24 employees that work at the company’s headquarters.
“It was just natural for our culture that already believes in making sure that you take care of yourself,” said Barry Patel, CEO and co-founder of Galt. “We truly appreciate Tracey doing the background analytics and understanding how it would potentially, actually improve productivity, and that is something obviously you look at as a business.”
The four-day workweek is just one of several ways metro Atlanta companies are trying to meet the needs of workers.
Randstad, the international staffing and consulting company based in Atlanta says its renovated headquarters will be a hybrid workspace. This means more audio-visual capabilities to interact with remote workers. And for those who do come in, there will be more space for collaboration.
“Workers have been telling their employers all year that the pandemic changed the way they think about work and that they expect continued flexibility and perks in the years ahead,” Randstad North America’s CEO Karen Fichuk, said in a statement announcing the changes. “Our new and improved headquarters will ensure our own employees have their needs met.”
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