The Lee Company, a family-owned manufacturing business in Westbrook, started off the new year by offering their employees a new benefit: free healthcare.
"No monthly premium for their medical health insurance," explained Bill Lee, CEO of the Lee Company. “It’s something we have been thinking about for a long time and we finally got around to doing it this year.”
Lee would not disclose how much the benefit is costing his company, but with 1,030 employees in Connecticut alone, he said that it is a big investment. The company, which was founded by Lee's parents 75 years ago, offers other benefits including training programs and tuition reimbursement.
“We are trying to have a holistic approach to our employee benefits and certainly this is a differentiator," Lee said of the decision to offer free medical insurance.
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The move comes as manufacturing companies statewide struggle to hire workers.
“Most manufacturers I talk to are very busy, they have lots of backlog, and the single biggest impediment is having a fully trained workforce," said Paul Lavoie, Connecticut's chief manufacturing officer.
According to Lavoie, there are about 15,000 open manufacturing jobs in Connecticut. He said that the state has been working on how to attract more people into the workforce and how to get more people engaged in manufacturing. Companies are also looking for solutions.
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“Every smart manufacturer is really looking at ways that they can attract more employees, but also really retain the ones that they have," Lavoie said.
According to the 2022 Connecticut Manufacturing Report, 87% of manufacturers reported difficulty finding and/or retaining employees.
President and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) Chris DiPentima called the Lee Company's approach impressive.
“It is what companies need to do to retain and attract workers," DiPentima said.
Recognizing that some companies might not be able to afford to offer their employees free health insurance, DiPentima said systemic changes are needed on the state level to attract more workers to Connecticut.
“We need to make the state more affordable for both individuals and businesses," DiPentima said.
The Lee Company currently has roughly 60 open positions. Last year, they hired about 120 employees and expect to hire a similar amount, if not more, in 2023.
