PEORIA MAGAZINE March 2022

M ARCH 2020: COVID arrives and employees across the region and state find themselves in unfamiliar, sometimes confusing territory, unable to go into the office and having to create work spaces in their homes. MARCH 2022: Many employees have concluded that commuting to the family room couch or dining room table for work has its advantages, at least a few days a week. Many employers are making it happen. From Pearl Companies in Peoria Heights to OSF HealthCare, CEFCU and CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in Peoria, many central Illinois employers now offer a remote work option. What started as a temporary measure to contend with COVID now looks as if it may be here to stay, as employers try to remain competitive for talent, a portion of which wants that come-and-go flexibility. About 75 percent of Pearl’s 400workers across the country – two-thirds of them at its headquarters in Peoria Heights, where it’s the largest employer – are working from afar, said CEO Gary Pearl. The insurance, marketing and technology services firm had plans to invest up to $10 million in expanding/ renovating its Heights headquarters, but has shelved those blueprints, for now, in the wake of COVID, he said. OSF did go ahead with its Ministry headquarters, as it was well into renovation and constructionwhenCOVID hit. The facility originally intended to house upwards of 700 workers now has 500 permanent residents, with some 175 on a hybrid schedule between home and office. Again, the pandemic compelled the rethinking of longstanding workplace philosophies, said executives there. Working remotely also is a popular option for the 100 employees at the Peoria office of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA), a professional services firm. Roughly 10 percent of employees prefer to distance themselves full-time, said Mark Dalbey, CLA Managing Principal for Central Illinois. Meanwhile, “a greater percentage of employees said they need flexibility, yet don’t want to work from home every day,” he said. “We can make that work.” Employees with young children now have the freedom to pick them up from school, or those with elderly parents to take them to a doctor’s appointment.

Office/Space Peoria is coming off COVID with empty offices and remote work expectations. Has the local workplace been changed forever?

BY SALLY MCKEE PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON JOHNSON

18 MARCH 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE