New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Rush back to offices looks unlikely
The reopening plan announced Thursday by Gov. Ned Lamont gives the green light to a range of properties, including office buildings, to go back to full capacity on March 19.
But it is a development that is unlikely to significantly change the plans of many major employers. Even as the state makes progress with its COVID-19 vaccine distribution, companies are largely charting a slow return to office life — with a year of operating with work-from-home contingents underscoring their ability to function effectively in the meantime.
“We’re proud of our 10,000 employees globally for how they’ve adjusted, how they’ve been transparent and how we’ve communicated with them,” Paul Wolfe, senior vice president of human resources at job-search giant Indeed, said in an interview Thursday before the announcement of the re-opening plan. “They certainly all wouldn’t choose remote working, but we’ve learned that our employees can be equally productive working at home, and flexible work options give us a better quality of life.”
Indeed, which has more than 1,000 employees based in Stamford, became in March 2020 one of the first large companies in the state to temporarily close its offices and move all of its employees to remote setups in response to coronavirus’ spread.
While the state has allowed office buildings to operate at reduced capacity since last May, Indeed has maintained its workfrom-home system. It will not require any of its staff to return to its offices until September at the earliest. COVID-19 caseloads and vaccine distribution in the company’s respective locations are among the factors informing its decisions on office re-openings.
“We’re continuing to monitor a lot of things, to make sure that when we do say we’re coming back that it is safe for everybody,” Wolfe said.
As a result of the popularity of remote working, many office buildings are still thinly populated.
For Building and Land Technology — whose portfolio includes several office buildings in Stamford and Norwalk — the office occupancy rate has averaged around 25 percent in the past few months, “but it has not been evenly distributed,” said BLT Co-President Mike Handler. He is hopeful that the widespread distribution of vaccines will spur more re-openings.
“We are already seeing the impact with large corporate tenants preparing to return to their workspace in the coming weeks,” Handler said. “Tenants returning to the office will only continue to build as the rollout of vaccines gains momentum, which will overall have a positive impact for the city and its economy.”
Even when office reopenings accelerate, remote working will not evaporate. Stamford-based Synchrony, the country’s largest private-label credit card provider, announced last year a new policy that allows employees to permanently work from home.
“Our Synchrony team has proven we can make work at home work for our business,” Synchrony spokeswoman Lisa Lanspery said Friday. “We continue to take a slow, deliberate and datadriven approach to our return to office, with the safety of our teams in mind. At this time, we have no current plans for a full-capacity return in 2021. However, we are exploring potential pilots to bring small numbers of employees back to the office later this year.”
Consumer-goods multinational Henkel — whose brands include Dial, Loctite, Persil, Right Guard, Schwarzkopf and Persil — is still encouraging employees to work from home if they are able to do so. In Connecticut, it has locations in Stamford, Rocky Hill, Trumbull and Darien.
“Henkel is continuing to monitor the local situation very carefully,” the company said in a statement. “Employees at our offices are encouraged to work from home, until at least June 1.”
Shipping-and-mailing provider Pitney Bowes — which has maintained its operations through the pandemic through an essentialbusiness designation from the federal government — has kept its headquarters in Stamford and offices in Shelton open for “approved essential work.” But it has encouraged the vast majority of employees to work from home since March 2020.
“Based on the guidance of our health, safety and medical advisers, business considerations and direct feedback from employees, we are planning a phased return-to-office for these locations beginning in July,” said Pitney Bowes spokesman Bill Hughes. “The governor’s announcement helps pave the way for our planned return to office this summer.”