A Message from the CEO | Prioritizing Culture

As I write this, we seem to find ourselves once again working in a “hybrid” environment. With Covid-19 cases on the rise in our communities once again, we’ve scaled back on interoffice activities. Obviously, many of us had assumed that we had seen the worst of this illusive and potentially lethal virus, however Delta has changed the game once again.

What is a hybrid work environment? The hybrid working model enables employees to blend working from different locations: home, on the go, or the office.

What are the benefits of hybrid working? It lowers social isolation and increases work and life balance, allows for less commuting, and can reduce overhead.

For a small to mid-sized company like United Tax Services, the logistics are simple. It’s very clear that working remotely, for the most part, is the logical answer for now.  The health and wellbeing of our team overwhelmingly takes precedence over any traditional workplace expectations. Thankfully, our team has only been minimally impacted up to this point.

And so here we are again, balancing our home lives and work lives from the same workspace. The good news is that we were able to thrive in 2020-21 during the pandemic by keeping our team connected to a meaningful purpose, an inspiration. While the optimal methodology to build success is through human interfacing and personal collaboration, our staff has done an excellent job at keeping our blossoming culture at the forefront.

What does this mean for team culture? Whether in the office or at home, employees want to feel connected to their colleagues. We have continued to keep our team engaged, at home or in-office through effective communication from the top down. We have also tried to keep in mind that this pandemic not only affects the workplace, but also directly affects the household for many. School closures directly placed pressure on many with childcare limitations. NPR reports that women are leaving the workforce at four times the rate as men. The burden of parenting and running a household, while also working a job during the pandemic, has created an almost impossible environment, and women are bearing the brunt of it. It’s our privilege and responsibility to provide grace to our employees in these situations.