diff --git a/sycl/include/CL/sycl/ONEAPI/atomic_ref.hpp b/sycl/include/CL/sycl/ONEAPI/atomic_ref.hpp
index 625a8902d9c86..c98c4f55857b8 100644
--- a/sycl/include/CL/sycl/ONEAPI/atomic_ref.hpp
+++ b/sycl/include/CL/sycl/ONEAPI/atomic_ref.hpp
@@ -454,9 +454,11 @@ class atomic_ref_impl<
   T fetch_add(T operand, memory_order order = default_read_modify_write_order,
               memory_scope scope = default_scope) const noexcept {
     auto load_order = detail::getLoadOrder(order);
-    T expected = load(load_order, scope);
+    T expected;
     T desired;
     do {
+      expected =
+          load(load_order, scope); // performs better with load in CAS loop.
       desired = expected + operand;
     } while (!compare_exchange_weak(expected, desired, order, scope));
     return expected;
@@ -563,9 +565,10 @@ class atomic_ref_impl<T *, DefaultOrder, DefaultScope, AddressSpace>
                memory_scope scope = default_scope) const noexcept {
     // TODO: Find a way to avoid compare_exchange here
     auto load_order = detail::getLoadOrder(order);
-    T *expected = load(load_order, scope);
+    T *expected;
     T *desired;
     do {
+      expected = load(load_order, scope);
       desired = expected + operand;
     } while (!compare_exchange_weak(expected, desired, order, scope));
     return expected;
diff --git a/sycl/include/CL/sycl/atomic.hpp b/sycl/include/CL/sycl/atomic.hpp
index c14529736dd39..34770fbdbb5ee 100644
--- a/sycl/include/CL/sycl/atomic.hpp
+++ b/sycl/include/CL/sycl/atomic.hpp
@@ -237,8 +237,7 @@ class atomic {
             Ptr);
     cl_int TmpVal = __spirv_AtomicLoad(
         TmpPtr, SpirvScope, detail::getSPIRVMemorySemanticsMask(Order));
-    cl_float ResVal;
-    detail::memcpy(&ResVal, &TmpVal, sizeof(TmpVal));
+    cl_float ResVal = detail::bit_cast<cl_float>(TmpVal);
     return ResVal;
   }
 #else