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30 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | October 24, 2022 Workplace Employees at IAT Insurance Group's new Cheshire office enjoy amenities that include coffee stations and restaurant-style break areas, communal spaces with couches and TVs for a more homey feel. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Companies reinvent offices to entice employees back to work By Hanna Snyder Gambini hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com B ill Cunningham and his team at IAT Insurance Group recently unveiled a multimil- lion-dollar "investment in the work- force," with a completely renovated space in Cheshire that aims to foster a more comfortable and collaborative work- space as companies increasingly return to the office. The roughly 25 employees plus executives recently moved into a renovated 24,000-square-foot building at 1157 Highland Ave. It is one of several IAT offices nationwide, with the Cheshire and Raleigh, North Carolina hubs housing most of the company's top executives along with workers and training facilities. The $2 million building purchase plus several million dollars more invested for a complete renovation created a comfortable, inviting and collaborative space for IAT, making it "a place people want to be," said Cunningham, the company's CEO. It's a trend among companies in the post-pandemic era as they look to make the return to brick- and-mortar office life successful. It also comes at a time when Greater Hartford continues to contend with office vacancy rates not seen in three decades. IAT's goal was to bring employees back in after remote work became the norm during the pandemic. Many executives and industry professionals agree that when committing to a return to office, it's imperative to upgrade from the tradi- tional corporate model of sitting at a desk seven to eight hours a day. Commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE said in its real estate market outlook for 2022 that "the shift to hybrid work will prompt more occupiers to rede- sign their spaces to enhance collab- oration and employee well-being." Homey feel New Jersey-based commercial real estate firm Avison Young started on the new IAT space in February by gathering input from every employee on what they want to see in a new office. They created stand-up desks, amenities like coffee stations and restaurant-style break areas, communal spaces with couches and televisions for a more homey feel. Numerous collaboration spaces throughout the building were a key component to the redesign, giving staff more room to work together and maximize the benefits of being back in the office. Chris Ostop, managing director of JLL Connecticut commercial brokers, said "by and large most companies and most leaders want to see workers back in the office," while knowing "it's never going to be at pre-pandemic levels." CBRE calculates that the average U.S. office employee will spend 24% less time working in the office, and a survey showed that 87% of large companies plan to adopt a hybrid work approach, according to its outlook report. Companies are creating new work environments to encourage in-office work, while understanding that the current hybrid option is likely here to stay. Bill Cunningham Chris Ostop