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As the pandemic eased, Zionsville-based financial services company Group 1001 wanted to make sure employees had “the best and most optimal work environment.” Victoria Lindamood, chief HR officer for Group 1001, and her team gathered ideas from across Group 1001 to launch an updated version of the company’s “Whole Employee Experience.”
“We’re always focused on the customer, and in HR, the employee is our customer,” Lindamood said. “Whether we’re thinking about wellness activities or benefits or even financial support through 401(k), it’s focused on wellness. It should be easy to be an employee at any level at our company, and if it’s not, we should look at those opportunities to make it easy.”
Among pieces of the plan:
- Starting with the onboarding experience, managers are instructed to make new employees’ first days and weeks memorable and fulfilling. The IT team ensures employees have everything they need to work remotely, before their first day, including a complete office set-up.
- A weekly hybrid work schedule was developed to accommodate professional and personal needs, including two to three days in the office and flexibility on what days employees choose to come in. Employees can also work full remote schedules, and hybrid employees have the option of six fully remote weeks per year with manager approval. “We all work to support ourselves or loved ones,” she said, “and that flexibility piece was going to be important.”
- The company built a 3,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art fitness center and wellness room that is available to employees at no cost. Employees can exercise when it best fits their schedules, with locker rooms and showers available. Professional trainers offer individual fitness plans, and classes are determined by employees. “Most people say it’s better than the gym that they go to,” Lindamood said, “and it is better than mine, which I pay for outside.”
- Benefits programs have been expanded, including extended maternity and paternity leave.
- Employees have access to commuter benefits, wellness and travel-assistance programs, family medical leave and three personal days a year to complement the holiday calendar.
Lindamood said an employee stopped her not long ago to say thank you for what HR has done. “You guys listen,” the employee said.
“And I think that makes all the difference,” she said. “We’re always looking for improvement. We’ll never be done. Anything we do is continuous, and we should always be focused that way. Things are constantly changing. That’s the mindset we have to have as we move forward.”•
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