Windsor business welcomes The Hartford's return

Austin Mirmina, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read

Oct. 25—WINDSOR — Insurance and investment company The Hartford announced plans Friday to bring more employees back to the office in early December, which comes as welcome news for at least one Windsor restaurant owner.

Savas Karagiannis' restaurant, La Notte Waterside Grille, which is located a half-mile from The Hartford's Windsor campus at 1 Griffin Road North, heavily relies on the business from employees who work at major surrounding companies like The Hartford.

La Notte Waterside Grille, which opened in September 2020, has about 8,000 office workers within walking distance, and only 10% of those workers have returned to in-person work, Karagiannis said.

"When we first came to this location, we were depending on the employees from all of the offices," Karagiannis said. "So there will be major changes for us."

With Connecticut's COVID-19 situation improving, The Hartford said it will use a phased approach to bring back some of its employees — starting with senior leaders on Dec. 6 — and expects substantially more employees to return starting Jan. 18, 2022.

Some employees who worked full time in the office before the pandemic will switch to a hybrid model of in-person and remote work, The Hartford said. About half of employees will continue working remotely, as they did before the pandemic.

The Hartford employs about 6,100 people in Connecticut. Spokesperson Suzanne Barlyn said the company doesn't provide employee numbers by campus.

Karagiannis said similar action by large companies would significantly help small businesses in Windsor that depend on the traffic from industrial areas.

Business "is very difficult right now because we're in an industrial area and most of the people are still working from home," Karagiannis said. "We need all the traffic we can get."

La Notte Waterside Grille now employs a "skeleton group" of people, Karagiannis said, due to a lack of business and a worker shortage in the restaurant industry. But Karagiannis said he expects to hire about 30 more people as workers return to the office.

"If we can find them," Karagiannis said.

Austin Mirmina is the Journal Inquirer's business reporter and also covers the town of Windsor.