After transitioning to all-virtual services for the past few years, PeopleReady has reopened a brick-and-mortar location in Springfield.
“We wanted to get back in front of the customers and our associates,” said branch manager Logan Peters of the company’s new space at 2804 Southwest Plaza Drive. The office is located in the freestanding building along Veterans Parkway that includes All About Eyes and The Vitamin Shoppe.
Peters joined PeopleReady a few months ago, but two other Springfield-based employees, Agnes Wood and Mary Johnson, have both been with the company for more than two decades. The business has operated in Springfield since the late 1990s and was originally known as Labor Ready. An office on Stevenson Drive closed in 2021 as part of a company-wide move toward more virtual services.
“We closed the office and went to a service center, online-only model,” said Peters. “But this west-side location will give us more visibility, plus the foot and car traffic.”
Johnson, who has been with PeopleReady since 2001 and now works as the account manager for Springfield and Decatur, said closing the brick-and-mortar location led many people to believe the company was out of business.
“We tried going completely virtual in the Illinois locations … people were under the misconception that we had closed completely,” she said. “We still do a huge portion of our business online, as many businesses do, but having the option for associates as well as customers to walk in and ask questions is essential, as far as I’m concerned.”
PeopleReady has offices in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Illinois locations include Fairview Heights, Peoria and multiple offices in the Chicago area. The company uses an app called JobStack that allows customers to place orders for workers and also allows people to apply for jobs, often with the opportunity to start work immediately.
“We’ll staff for anything that’s needed, but our claim to fame is our on-demand staffing,” said Peters. “We have a pool of a couple hundred workers right here in Springfield.”