Hartford Business Journal

16 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 14, 2021 Return to Work Greater Hartford employers test the waters of a post- COVID work environment By Matt Pilon and Sean Teehan mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com A fter more than a year of remote work by several hundred of its Connecticut employees, KeyBank starts its pandemic pivot this month. Many non-branch employees, such as those based in KeyBank's corporate offices at 100 Pearl St. in Hartford, and in New Haven and elsewhere, will start reporting more frequently to those locations for the first time in over 15 months. The Ohio-based lender, which has more than a dozen Hartford County branches and about 500 Connecticut employees, is going to have fewer dedicated desks, and over time, less real estate in general, said James Barger, KeyBank's market president for Connecticut and Massachusetts. "If you're an employee at Key, you might have an assigned office like me, you might be 'mobile'... and come in but not have an assigned space, or you might be working from home pretty much every day and maybe come in a few times a year," Barger said. The policy, communicated to workers about two months ago, is based heavily on job duties and managerial oversight. A large number of branch employees won't have a choice to work remotely, but those in roles that support large geographies or multiple locations likely will. Employees deemed "mobile" may work from a combination of locations. "It doesn't necessarily mean work from home, it means you can work from multiple locations and on a given day, home might be one of them," Barger said. "We truly want to meet the needs and wishes of employees." One month after Gov. Ned Lamont lifted the vast majority of Connecticut's remaining COVID-19 restrictions, an increasing number of Hartford-area employers are starting to call their workers back to the office. Besides KeyBank, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) and Hartford-based Freeman Cos. will be among the earlier round of employers testing what the next phase of office work life looks like, as vaccinations continue to push coronavirus infection rates and deaths to their lowest points since the virus first emerged over a year ago. In bringing back workers, those companies are in sync with Lamont, who ordered state workers back to the office in June. Many other employers, however, continue to hold off, not perceiving much incentive to issue return-to-work edicts until school starts up again in the late summer. Polls have made it clear that many employees want to work remotely some of the time. According to a recent online poll conducted by PwC and the Hartford Business Journal, 80% of respondents want to work from home at least one day a week, assuming COVID-19 is no longer a concern. National surveying by PwC has found a majority prefer either one or two remote work days a week, and also that there is a split between workers and management on how quickly a return should occur. The results indicate that employers may feel compelled to accept a hybrid work environment moving forward for those whose roles allow for it, in order to retain and attract talent. "One of the most significant trends is clearly employees want to return to the office at a slower pace than employers want to happen," said Keith Hubert, PwC's Hartford office managing partner. "Employees want more flexibility to not be in the office five days a week, which may be a little different than some employers hope, so I think there's a disconnect there." KeyBank is not alone in adopting a hybrid model. So far, it appears many employers — though not all — plan to accommodate workers' desires for flexibility because they don't want to risk alienating employees, particularly top talent. "What's at stake is your workforce and the quality of your workforce," Hubert said. "I don't think that disconnect can be ignored if you want to continue to attract and retain the top talent." CBIA aims to set example At CBIA, CEO Chris DiPentima is allowing the majority of his 100-person staff to work out of the office a day or two a week as responsibilities allow. DiPentima called workers back to CBIA's downtown office on Church Street June 1. He weighed the potential pros and cons of that decision in advance, but decided it was worth it to return to a more normal work life. "No one got mad and left," DiPentima said. "I am seeing a lot of smiles and seeing some folks for the first time in person since I started here [in Aug. 2020]." DiPentima said many of CBIA's employer members want to meet worker needs while also encouraging and creating a workplace culture. "Innovation is how we compete," he said. "There's some of that virtually but when you're around a conference room you get a stronger level of collaboration." His decision also factored in the economic ripple effects of having Chris DiPentima James Barger Keith Hubert Rohan Freeman, CEO of Hartford-based civil engineering firm The Freeman Cos., said he ordered most of his 50 employees back to the office on June 1. HBJ FILE PHOTO

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