🔒Following downtown Hartford relocation, Sun Life U.S. embraces city, flexible work model

Dan Fishbein is a believer in a flexible work model. He’s also a backer of downtown Hartford.

Both factors were major drivers of Sun Life U.S.’ recent relocation from Windsor to the Capital City.

Fishbein is the president of Sun Life U.S., a major insurer in Canada that recently debuted its new Connecticut office in downtown’s Gold Building. It’s one of seven U.S. locations for the company, which provides group life, disability, absence management, dental, vision and voluntary benefits, and medical stop-loss coverage.

Sun Life, with $1.3 trillion in assets under management, has shifted more of its U.S. focus in recent years to providing health benefits. It employs 50,000 people globally, including about 5,500 in the U.S. More than 400 employees report to the Hartford office.

Sun Life represents both the opportunities and challenges facing the city.

The company’s downtown move reinforces Hartford’s attraction to insurance and financial services companies. Sun Life is one of three insurers that recently announced Hartford moves or expansions. International life insurer Talcott Financial Group announced in January plans to relocate from Windsor to downtown’s iconic Boat Building, while Global Atlantic is expanding its presence in the Gold Building to support 100 new employees.

However, insurers have also embraced hybrid and remote work models, which means some employees report to a physical office far less than they did pre-pandemic.

For example, Sun Life doesn’t require employees to come to its new Hartford office, Fishbein said. In most of the company’s U.S. locations, in-person attendance is between 10% to 15% weekly, meaning the vast majority of employees are working virtually.

Fishbein said he’s hoping to change that, but the company also has no plans for an office mandate. He views offering a flexible work environment as a competitive advantage in recruiting talent.

“Our flexible approach has been really incredible in helping to retain and recruit employees,” Fishbein said. “We are hiring people from companies that are forcing their employees back to the office. We are hiring some really amazing people in Connecticut and around the country who are leaving companies that are making them come into the office against their will four or five days a week.”

That flexibility also allowed the insurer to significantly reduce its office footprint from about 101,000 square feet in Windsor to 47,000 square feet in the Gold Building.

Fishbein was the keynote speaker at Hartford Business Journal’s recent “Future of Downtown Hartford” event, which took place March 14 at the Society Room. The event, sponsored by Shipman & Goodwin, was sold out and had a waiting list of more than 50 people. Despite the threat of a Nor’easter, more than 120 people attended.

Before becoming president of Sun Life U.S., Fishbein spent more than 16 years at Hartford health insurer Aetna.

Here’s what else Fishbein had to say. The Q&A was edited for length and clarity.

Why did Sun Life relocate from Windsor to Hartford? What was the attraction?

A. Sun Life in the U.S. now has seven offices. One had been in Windsor for more than 15 years, with just over 400 employees.

Even before the pandemic, we were going through a transition for all of our offices to make them hubs and magnets. We already had people working remotely and we wanted to reduce the office footprint while making the office much more appealing to our employees.

We cut the square footage down to 47,000 square feet with the same number of employees.

It was natural for us to leave a very dated facility in Windsor for the draw of office space in downtown Hartford. We did it for a few reasons. One, it’s easier to get to. Hartford has all the major highways and is centrally located.

Hartford also continues to be a top market for insurance and technology talent, particularly in health and employee benefits, which has become a much larger focus of our business. Bringing our team to downtown Hartford makes us a strong home for industry talent.

In addition, access to public transportation was key to our search. Hartford is also experiencing regrowth in business and entertainment, and we’re excited to offer our employees access to great restaurants, museums and more when they come into the office.

The Gold Building is also relatively easy to get to and has parking. We were able to offer free parking to all staff.

Has it been a challenge trying to get workers to return to the office?

A. In all of our offices across North America we are hybrid. That’s our official policy. We have no office mandates but we are encouraging people to use the office for collaboration.

Our offices have been fully reopened for about a year but people are not coming in, in big numbers. We are trying to change that. We just introduced ‘Together Tuesdays’ to try to get more people into the office at least on Tuesdays and have as many meetings as possible on those days.

We are going to provide food and other draws to bring people in. But we are not planning any office mandates.

In most of our offices attendance is between 10% to 15% spread throughout the week. Tuesday through Thursday tends to be higher in-person attendance and Monday and Friday lower.

How is your office space designed to accommodate your flexible work model?

A. We created spaces where people want to work.

When employees do utilize an office, they get a comfortable, modern workspace equipped with the newest communication and conferencing technology, and some of the comforts of home we all became used to during the pandemic, such as a fully equipped kitchen, meditation and relaxation rooms, and comfortable furniture in meeting spaces.

The office is wide open, has large windows with great views of the city and has neighborhoods. An area called the ‘library’ is where people go for quiet, heads-down work.

But the majority of the space, about two-thirds, is designed for people to get together and collaborate, whether casually in the cafe or kitchen, or more formally for team meetings or bigger events.

The office is primarily being used for events, team meetings or training so it’s set up to support those kinds of activities.

We have also removed the headquarters label from our office outside Boston, and instead we refer to each of our offices as business hubs. It helps put employees on equal footing, no matter where they are located, including virtually, and fosters a more inclusive work environment.

For employees who are coming into the office, what are the driving factors?

A. The primary reason people come in is because they want to see other people. When we have meetings, events and project teams getting together, we get good participation.

What people don’t want to do is come to the office to just do heads-down work.

A big barrier for people coming into the office is the commute, but we haven’t had any trouble getting people to travel for business. In fact, there is a lot of enthusiasm for it. They just don’t see the value of commuting to do head-down work.

Will your work model change?

A. No, we are committed to hybrid, which means no office mandates.

Productivity is up, turnover is down, employee engagement is up, business renewals are up. So, what problem are we trying to solve?

The world has changed permanently and we have to adapt to that.

What does Hartford need to do to recruit more companies like Sun Life?

A. There are a lot of global companies with a midsize presence in the U.S., and of course the labor market in Hartford is very attractive, so that presents a good opportunity.

Talking to global insurers and selling them on the insurance expertise in Hartford would be a great thing to do to get more companies like ours to put an office in Hartford.

I think Hartford is already doing what it needs to do. We’re seeing more entertainment, culture, and restaurant options in the city, in addition to more options for modern city residences.

Supporting cultural destinations like the Amistad Center, which we’ve partnered with, is important to making the city a desirable place to live and work.

Now that Sun Life has a brand-new office in Hartford, we’re looking forward to hosting more events here and showing our employees from all over New England and other parts of the country what this city has to offer.