Business climate change

It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a revolution in how workers and businesses think about where, when and how we work. And that change is fully reflected in the survey responses we received from the 100 companies selected for this year’s Virginia Best Places to Work cohort.

Seventy-one of those 100 businesses reported that the pandemic has resulted in major adjustments to their work schedules, ranging from increased telecommuting opportunities to a fully remote workforce. In this issue’s annual Best Places to Work report, freelance writer Sydney Lake examines how some of Virginia’s best employers are negotiating this shifting workplace landscape.

Surveyed about the ways the pandemic transformed their workplaces, 30 companies said they have expanded telecommuting opportunities, including allowing for a mix of employees working in-person, remote and hybrid schedules. Another 21 companies reported that their workforces have gone fully or mostly remote, with 85% or more of their employees working four or more days remotely each week. And 20 businesses have implemented a hybrid work model, allowing employees to work a mixed schedule of remote and in-office workdays.

Most of these businesses reported implementing new conferencing and project management tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Slack to better help staff keep up with one another.

Equally as important to Virginia’s best employers is maintaining work culture in this new environment.

“Our culture is HUGE to us,” said a representative from the Dutch cloud computing/web services company Leaseweb, which has its U.S. headquarters in Manassas and now employs a hybrid/remote workforce. Once a month, the company holds an in-person “Leasewebber Day,” gathering employees for fun team-building activities ranging from going out for happy hour to holding summer barbecues and cornhole tournaments to renting out a movie theater to watch the latest Marvel movie.

Mythics Inc., a Virginia Beach-based federal contractor that allows employees to work remotely or in the office as needed, reported that it has “hosted a variety of virtual and in-office activities and contests such as wellness bingo, employee cookbook, virtual yoga, happy hours and other engaging activities.” It also implemented a “buddy” program “to engage/connect our new hires with current team members to accelerate integration with teams.”

Responding to the 2023 Best Places to Work survey, some of this year’s cohort companies also discussed how implementing remote work has been advantageous in allowing them to hire employees from around the nation, enlarging their applicant pools amid a tight and competitive labor market for many industries.

“We have expanded our hiring practices to include remote candidates for nearly every position except the office administrator in our physical office,” responded Richmond-based marketing agency Workshop Digital, adding that 41% of the company’s employees are now working remotely from outside the region. Due to that shift, the agency is also downsizing its physical office space and reinvesting the savings in its workforce and training opportunities.

Remote work has given employees more freedom to work where and when they want to, while helping companies retain employees who need or want increased flexibility. Some companies, such as Reston-based tech company Resonate, report allowing employees to relocate to other states. Richmond-based RiverFront Investment Group, which has moved to a hybrid work model, responded that “some associates have worked remotely in the mountains, at the river or in other countries near family for weeks at a time, balancing that with time in the office later.” 

Overall, Virginia’s best employers report that moving to more flexible work models has been good not only for employee morale but also the bottom line.

“COVID was an opportunity to encourage the kind of working freedoms that transformed our day-to-day operations,” responded Alexandria-based Xsensus LLP, an intellectual property law firm. “Our people were champions during this time, as we grew our business 30% year-over-year since the beginning of COVID. Of course, we needed to hire more administrative staff, but they too are able to work remotely!

“The changes made to our existing workplace policies have been so successful, we do not foresee any reason to change this policy because most people would like to continue working remotely.”