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In what could be a positive sign for downtown Hartford, The Hartford insurance company announced its workers will return to the office starting in December.
Senior executives will arrive Dec. 6, with “substantially more” workers back by Jan. 18, 2022.
“As we gradually return more employees to the office, we are embracing a new work model that fosters flexibility, innovation, inclusion and equity – whether a person is working remotely or in the office. We are taking the best of how we operated before the pandemic and combining it with what we’ve learned from our time working remotely. This new work model was created to drive improved productivity and performance, while maintaining our strong culture where cooperation thrives, equitable workplace experiences are realized, and the power of our diversity is fully leveraged,” the company said in a statement.
About half of the company’s employees will continue to work remotely full-time, as they did before the pandemic, The Hartford said. Many who worked in-person pre-COVID will move to a hybrid model that will involve “going to the office for purposeful activities that are better performed together and working remotely when focused time is needed to accomplish objectives and being in the office isn’t necessary,” the company said.
A recent analysis of 80 U.S. metro areas by the Urban Land Institute ranked Hartford dead last or nearly so in every category, from from commercial investment and development prospects to homebuilding outlook.
Hartford’s stagnant office market had a 20.1 percent vacancy rate at midyear, according to JLL research. The sublease rate was at a 10-year high of 525,000 square feet, or 2 percent of the overall market inventory and twice the availability rate after the 2008 financial crisis.
The downtown multifamily market, however, has seen more activity, with rents on the upswing as the pandemic abates and several developments proposed or underway in the neighborhood.
Prior reporting by staff writer Steve Adams was used in this report.
