Return to local offices may be gradual
Hartford companies say they plan to open facilities for workers in fall, but not all will be back full time
As COVID-19 retreats, some of Greater Hartford’s largest companies say they will wait until the fall before bringing employees back to the office.
Aetna, Travelers, The Hartford Financial Services Group and Bank of America are all planning a gradual reopening of offices starting in late summer. In some cases companies, such as Stanley Black & Decker, are planning to allow some workers to remain at home.
Gov. Ned Lamont, who ordered most of the state’s 30,000 employees last year to work from home to help contain the spread of the virus, recently directed state employees to return to their offices July 1. Those who serve customers are expected back by June 1.
“I’m glad he did that,” said Scott Livingston, president and chief executive officer of Horst Engineering, an East Hartford aerospace manufacturer. “We need the momentum.”
The company’s eight finance and human resources staffers returned to their offices May 12.
“We’re happy they’re back because of the camaraderie,” said Michelle Lane, vice president of finance and administration.
David Cadden, professor emeritus of entrepreneurship and strategy at Quinnipiac University, said the transition won’t be easy for companies “not knowing exactly what to do.”
“It’s going to be rough on people who’ve become used to staying at home, while other people are climbing the walls and want to get back to work,” he said.
An executive order issued by Lamont last year directed all employees except essential workers — manufacturers, supermarket employees and others — to work from home. The executive order, one of scores the governor signed to steer state public health policy, has expired.
Working at home may be here to stay
Around the country, the return to normal will be a slow process, CEOs say. At least some workers will be back in the office by this fall, according to a survey of 350 senior corporate executives by Chicago-based staffing firm LaSalle Network. Nearly three-fourths said the transition will be incremental, with a gradual reopening of the traditional office.
More than three-quarters of the executives surveyed by LaSalle said they expected in a year — based on current information — that their companies would have a “hybrid” model, with some employees working from home, at least part of the time.
“Now discretion falls to the employer,” said Diane Mokriski, human resources counsel at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. “You can require employees to come back to work.”
An exception would be if an employee claims a disability, reviewed by the employer and a physician, under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, she said.
Greg Reilly, a professor who heads the department of management at the University of Connecticut School of Business, said it is unrealistic to believe the workplace will return to the way it was. The prospect of a new work world gives employers an “incentive to rethink,” presenting opportunities to make jobs more flexible, to work at home and in the office.
“You’re in the change situation anyway,” he said. “Don’t expend the effort and just go back to what you had before.”
An evolving workplace
CVS Health Corp., which owns Hartford-based health insurer Aetna, said it plans to begin bringing workers back to the office in September in a “gradual, carefully staggered way.” Aetna employs about 5,000 in Connecticut, with most in the Hartford area.
Spokesman Joseph Goode said the coronavirus pandemic has shown CVS employees can work well together and “deliver results outside of the traditional office environment.” CVS will combine in-office and virtual employee arrangements in response to the needs of employees and customers, he said.
“We fully expect our approach will evolve over time as we learn what is working well and where we need to adjust,” Goode said.
At Bank of America, Connecticut’s largest bank and among the biggest lenders in the country, employees are expected to begin returning to their offices in late summer.
“The marker is Labor Day, but you may see some layering in prior to that,” said Joseph Gianni, president of Bank of America of Greater Hartford. “Our hope and expectation is generally after Labor Day that we will be moving back to normal.”
Gianni noted that branches have been open during much of the pandemic. The return to workspaces would affect those whose offices are in commercial buildings, he said.
Bank employees “thrive on in-person interaction, whether that in-person interaction is with our clients or that’s in-person interaction with our teammates,” Gianni said.
The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., which employs 6,100 in Connecticut and thousands in Hartford, said it expects to “meaningfully increase the number of employees coming into offices starting in the summer and early fall.”
At property-casualty insurer Travelers Cos., which employs 7,000 workers in the Hartford area, a significant presence in the capital city’s downtown and offices across the country, a broad return to the office is expected after Labor Day, spokesman Matt S. Bordonaro said.
“While we’re still working through those details, it will likely include a higher degree of flexibility as compared with our pre-pandemic model,” he said.
Most employees are now still working remotely, but those who prefer to be in the office may do so on a voluntarily basis, Bordonaro said.
A hybrid work model
Jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has “no immediate plans to return to the office,” spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said.
The subsidiary of Massachusetts-based Raytheon Technologies Corp. will require “certain levels of community transmission to be reached and sustained for a number of weeks” before its East Hartford campus opens, she said.
Manufacturing in Connecticut was considered essential and, with distancing between workers, frequent testing and other measures, remained open during the public health crisis.
Otis Worldwide Co. said its Connecticut facilities remain open for essential workers and employees who want to work from the office, “with protocols consistent with the recommendations of public health officials.”
“While timing of formal reopening will vary based on local conditions and public health guidance, we continue to evaluate plans that allow for flexibility,” the Farmington-based manufacturer said.
Stanley Black & Decker Inc., the New Britain manufacturer of tools and storage systems, will move to a “hybrid work model” for office workers, spokeswoman Shannon Lapierre said. About one-third of workers will return to their offices later this year, one-third will split their time evenly between their offices and a virtual office presence and the remainder will be “fully virtual,” but occasionally attend meetings on site, she said.
“We are planning to welcome back smaller number of employees to the offices beginning July 1, but no one will be required to return until Sept. 15 to accommodate challenges employees are experiencing with some continued disruptions for family and child care and other challenges,” Lapierre said.