MANCHESTER -- It’s an engineering and environmental consulting firm with more than 90 years of history.
Fuss & O’Neill, based in Manchester, has helped to design environmental projects like the Beehive Bridge in New Britain, Evergreen Walk in South Windsor and levees in Hartford. It’s a company filled with more than 330 employees.
“For us, because we’ve been in business for so long, and because of how we’ve been run, we’re as much a family-based organization as we are a formal corporation, so our employees aren’t just people who get paychecks. Our employees are people who take those paychecks home to their families, so our families really become a part of who we are,” said Kevin Grigg, CEO of Fuss & O’Neill.
That’s why Fuss & O’Neill knew it had to become more progressive in the benefits it offers to employees. The changes went into effect January first.
“We have started offering paid leave up to six weeks at 100 percent of an employee’s salary to care for a spouse, a child, to bond with a new addition to the family,” said Maggie Snape, Director of Human Resources for Fuss & O’Neill.
There’s also a schedule transition program.
“So an employee, who’s returning from leave, can start to work part-time, transition into full-time work, but not lose any of the benefits associated with full-time work,” said Snape.
Fuss & O’Neill says it’s already received good feedback from both men and women.
“The majority of us are working caregivers, not just parents, but we have a lot of employees who are caring for their spouses who have chronic illnesses, caring for parents, and we all have a job to do,” said Snape.
These benefits allow employees to do both and have what Fuss & O’Neill calls a good work-life fit.
“I think it’s just really a matter of caring for our people. They’re not just numbers. They’re all individual people. They all have stories. They all have backgrounds. They’re all unique, and we value them, and we want them to stay, and we want to attract more people like them,” said Grigg.