Travelers moving out of leased space downtown
With renovations complete, workforce to be consolidated on main campus
HARTFORD — Insurance giant Travelers Cos. is moving out of big blocks of leased space in downtown Hartford, as it relocates and consolidates a thousand employees to its main campus in the heart of the city after completing renovations that began in 2017.
Travelers wouldn’t comment Monday on how much leased space was being emptied by the insurer.
However, the property-casualty insurer is a major tenant in One Financial Plaza, the “Gold Building,” and State House Square, both on Main Street, and in One American Row, the “Boat Building.”
The property-casualty insurer said the consolidation was not touched off by COVID-19, but the completion of renovations on its main campus, which includes the historic Travelers Tower. However, it comes as a time when the pandemic has many employers taking a hard look at how much space they will need in a workplace where more employees are expected to be working at home permanently.
The Hartford Business Journal Monday reported that a total of 150,000 square feet — including 100,000 square feet at the Gold Building — was being vacated. Travelers Monday wouldn’t comment on that tally.
“We’re nearing the end of a multiyear plan to renovate our facilities to create an even more collaborative environment while making better use of our space,” Travelers spokesperson Kate S.
Thermansen said, in a statement. “As part of that, we’re simply consolidating the small number of floors we lease into the owned buildings of our main campus.”
The campus has two main structures: the tower and the nearby plaza building.
Travelers, which has delayed a return to the office because of the spread of the aggressive delta variant, has said employees are being offered the option to work from home up to two days a week.
“We’re nearing the end of a multiyear plan to renovate our facilities to create an even more collaborative environment while making better use of our space.”
— Kate S. Thermansen, Travelers Cos. spokesperson
“The state of Connecticut stepped up and provided funding that was adequate. Now it’s time for the agencies to do the same.’’ — Union president Rob Baril
The workforce is overwhelmingly female, mostly Black, Latina or working-class white, Baril said. “They toil in poverty,’’ he said.
Most unionized group home workers earn between $14 and $15 an hour. One of those employees, Alissa Taylor, says she earns $14.25 an hour after two years at a Whole Life group home. Her health insurance costs top $500 a month (the policy does not cover any dependents.)
Even once the money authorized by the state earlier this year is dispersed, wages won’t reach that $20 bench mark, Baril said. “The funding that we were able to achieve will make some progress in wages’‘’ he said. “But ultimately, we’re talking about the workforce tapping out at about $17.25 an hour next year,” or about $35,000 annually.
Approximately 334 workers are subject to the strike notice at 38 Whole Life group homes scattered throughout the state. About 300 members at about 30 group homes and day programs run by Network Inc. are also subject the strike.
The last time the union held a strike vote, in late May, Lamont’s two top advisers, top budget adviser Melissa Mccaw and Chief of Staff Paul Mounds, helped broker the funding agreement that resolved the impasse.