Heyward Donigan, CEO of Rite Aid, announced that the company is allowing 2,800 employees at the Rite Aid headquarters in the Camp Hill area and those who work in operations in other states to continue working from home. Additionally, the company’s headquarters will relocate to Philadelphia’s Navy Yard for employees, executives, and others to meet and collaborate in a more relaxed environment.
Enabling remote work benefits employees to work in their own environment, increase productivity, and have a better work-life balance. It also helps company’s to redesign their workspaces to increase collaboration and improve their company’s culture. Companies in different parts of the world are choosing hybrid models and are redesigning their office space. Additionally, remote work often helps companies to lower their costs.
Rite Aid’s Employees Can Work From Home
The pandemic strongly impacted drugstore chains as consumers limited their shopping o one store to minimize exposure and often chose to go to supermarkets where they could get everything. In Rite Aid’s case, the stock lowered nearly 50% going from $25 to $14 a share.
As a consequence, Heyward Donigan plans to transform Rite Aid into a hyperlocal chain and cut costs. Therefore she recently announced that 2,800 employees would be able to work from home.
“I was inclined to never go back to the office, you know, and I was inclined to never have our corporate associates go back to these offices that really weren’t reflective of our brand.” Heyward Donigan
In the company’s internal surveys, 80% of employees say they never wanted to return to the office, while 16% said they are open to returning to the office but won’t want to do it every day. Only 4% said they wanted to return to the pre-pandemic office structure.
Rite Aid’s CEO also mentioned that this new arrangement would allow them to create and redesign a different workspace that encourages collaboration and a different way for employees to interact. Additionally, enabling remote work will save them millions of dollars in real estate.