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Massachusetts Task Force Challenges Companies To Promote Women

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A state task force was established by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to encourage the hiring of female employees in the Commonwealth. The task force is suggesting that companies permit more flexible scheduling, and hire and promote female workers to higher positions.

Almost half of the employees in Massachusetts are women, and nationwide they are either the only or main breadwinner in approximately 40 percent of families with children under the age of eighteen. It is a well-known statistic that women earn almost 25 percent less than male employees, and many find it difficult to juggle home and work due to inflexible work schedules. These have been ongoing problems for years, but the newly created task force is trying to change that.

Rachel Kaprielian is the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. She wants businesses to change outdated policies and become more family friendly, with the understanding that doing so benefits everyone desiring more time with their loved ones.

Governor Patrick recently started a one-year internship program for women after noticing a shortage of females in administrative positions and on the boards of private companies in the state. Fourteen women have been hired for executive positions at the state level.

Bentley University and Governor Patrick’s administration are challenging Massachusetts companies to hire more female workers and use their talents more effectively. Companies accepting the challenge will assign an administrator for the program, agree to hire women, increase the number of females at the executive level and narrow any wage gaps between male and female employees.

The task force also wants the Governor’s administration to look into paid family leave. Currently, almost three million workers in the state are not compensated when they miss work to take care of babies or other family members.

The task force is also targeting schools to encourage female students to learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to assist them in achieving higher paying jobs. Working with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education, the task force will recommend courses for female students in high school that will help them in their future job search.

Three Ways to Grow Your Business

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Building a business requires hard work, determination and talent. When it comes to the methods used to build your company, there are literally hundreds of processes to choose from. In reality however, there are only three effective ways to build any business.

Bringing In New Clients

The only way your business is going to survive is if you have a steady stream of new clients. The business world can be an unforgiving place and your top customers could decide that they want to buy from your competition. That is why you need to have new customers ready to step in and maintain your company’s growth.

Remembering That Repeat Business Is Essential

It is always nice to get that first order from a new client, but you will need to continue to see a flow of orders from each client if you want to grow your business. Repeat business is the foundation on which your company growth is built.

If you have competition, then that means that you are not offering a product or service that is truly unique. Your ability to get repeat orders from clients relies on the level of service you offer your clients, the quality of your products, and your ability to remain proactive in delivering new solutions to the marketplace.

Squeezing Every Profit Dollar Out Of Every Transaction

To sustain corporate growth, you need to revisit the basics of doing business and make sure that you are drawing every possible profit dollar from each transaction. You do this by making your process as efficient as possible, maintaining a competitive and profitable retail pricing structure and by keeping the production costs down for your goods and services.

You can look at any business that has ever found success and you can trace that success back to the ability to follow these three business building principles. As a business owner, you should always have a command over the basics of operating your business and you should constantly be looking for new ways to make your business more profitable.

Improvements to South Station Could Boost Framingham/Worcester Rail

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According to Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, Boston’s South Station is “becoming a choke point in the system and an obstacle to expanded service.” Davey placed a request with lawmakers on October 9 asking them for help with negotiating a deal that has the potential to allow the expansion of South Station.

Before the MBTA can add an additional seven tracks to the existing 13, it must first purchase property owned by the U.S. Postal Service. This piece of land has been the topic of discussions for years. The property is critical for the expansion of the station in its efforts to provide prompt service to commuters traveling through South Station.

The U.S. Postal Service and South Station “have yet to strike a deal,” said Davey, who will be leaving his post as transportation secretary at the end of October. He has asked Transportation Committee chairmen Sen. Thomas McGee (D-Lynn) and Rep. William Straus (D-Mattapoisett) for assistance with coming to an agreement. Davey also mentioned that the office is interested in purchasing property that once belonged to the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. This purchase would enable the expansion of the North Station rail lines with two new tracks and a center platform.

Following the signing of a transportation bond bill in April, the Patrick administration re-engaged with the Postal Service, offering to build a $350 million mailing facility in the Boston Seaport District. “Frankly, we’re a little stuck,” Davey admits. “We’ve made a number of different proposals that we thought were compelling, that made the Post Office whole.”

The Postal Service has expressed concerns that the new Seaport land would depreciate, resulting in a lower price if it should attempt to sell the property in the future.

AbbVie-Shire Deal Dies, Causes Fallout for Massachusetts

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Last month, the U.S. Treasury took action to make tax inversion deals less profitable. This is cited as a primary reason AbbVie reportedly dropped plans to acquire Shire. This decision calls into question another deal similarly based on tax inversion involving Medtronic and Covidien.

In the wake of the news, Shire’s stock price dropped by roughly a third. The odds are poor that Shire will get a similarly lucrative offer again. Analysts suggest this may be an opportunity for local biotech firms, such as Acceleron, a Cambridge firm currently in partnership with Shire.

In addition to that angle, there is speculation that Shire may move its U.S. headquarters from its current location in Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. This is due in part to its local growth. Their employee base here has reached 1425 in total.

On the other hand, the failure of this deal may throw up obstacles to such a move by putting more attention on Shire’s own drug pipeline. It was recently announced that the FDA wants more pediatric data on the ADHD medication they are currently developing. This represents yet another delay in the approval process. Like so many drugs aimed at children, this one has already had a drawn out process filled with setbacks and delays.

In spite of some mixed opinions among industry analysts, the general consensus seems to be that the deal involving Covidien and Medtronic will still go through. Even after the U.S. Treasury made such deals less profitable, Medtronic continued to develop its financing plans for the deal. Based on that fact, that deal looks pretty solid and unlikely to fail. However, it is on less firm ground than it first enjoyed. Therefore, should there be further tax law developments or other changes that undermine such deals, it could still fall through. Still, the strategic underpinnings of the deal have been called “compelling” by Jefferies analyst Raj Denhoy.

With the expected closing just a few short months away in early 2015, each passing day will make it all the harder for either party to pull out of the deal.

Five Things to Know About Webster Bank’s Boston Expansion

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Webster Bank history spans nearly eight decades, but was first introduced to the financial district five years ago. Since that time, their efforts to gain traction in commercial banking by targeting business owners have been quite successful and, although the bank hasn’t successfully expanded into the retail sector just yet, plans have been put in place to establish a greater presence in the retail community.

  1. Webster’s current focus on commercial lending efforts originated from the sale of Shawmut Bank in 1995. The bank initially specialized in handling deposits and making home loans. Their interests in commercial banking started in the 1990’s.
  2. The commercial lending business has been a major growth factor. The bank experienced an 8 percent growth rate compared to the previous year. For the commercial and business portions, the bank realized a 13 percent gain during that same period.
  3. The model will be transported to New York and Philadelphia. Consolidating multiple lending teams together to handle all business loan services has benefited the institution.
  4. Wealth management is expected to be the very next addition to the Webster Boston fold in 2015. Retirement planning is a market that is expected to really pay off for the institution since the company favors a broader asset allocation approach to investing.
  5. The bank still has plans to extend its network. Webster was first opened over a decade ago are a result of the acquisition of First Federal. After several years, it was finally able to open its location in Boston. The goal is to have 10 locations in the Boston area.

Webster Bank has made tremendous strides in several areas, and continues to eye opportunities for expanding its offerings.

Two Atrius Health Providers Merging in 2015

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Two major healthcare provider organizations will be ringing in the New Year by breaking away from Atrius Health. Worcester-based Reliant Medical Group and Southboro Medical Group have announced their merger plans will take effect on January 1, 2015.  The two will merge together into a new organization that will keep each group’s identity separate. Once the merger is complete, they will have formed a healthcare provider that can offer the services of some 300 doctors along with more than 2,000 other healthcare professionals to serve more than a quarter of a million patients living throughout Central Massachusetts and the MetroWest region.

Formerly known as the Fallon Clinic, Reliant has 20 locations employing 2100 individuals throughout greater Worcester. The smaller Southboro Medical Group has only about one-fourth the number of employees spread throughout its four offices, located in Framingham, Westborough, Southborough and Milford. Each  organization plans on being known by its current name rather than having the merger create a new name or identity. Reliant and Southboro officials first announced plans for the merger, the details of which have yet to be released, at the end of summer. After Atrius Health seriously considered pursuing the merger of all of its network of six medical groups, Southboro and Reliant decided it was best to establish their own merger free and clear of Atrius.

In early 2014, Reliant premiered a medical office at the main medical center operated by Southboro, which gave the two healthcare providers a small taste of what it would be like to be in permanent partnership together. Southboro Medical has already been supplying one of the Reliant offices in Central Massachusetts with the services of one of its physicians to assist in patient care there.

MA Senate Passes $80 Million Spending Bill

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An $80 million spending bill was recently approved by the Massachusetts State Senate to end the 2014 fiscal year. The bill will allow select state agencies to spend money from the 2014 fiscal year in the 2015 fiscal year. Five million dollars was also included to reimburse cities for expenditures from extreme weather conditions.

While several riders ended up attached to the bill, a rider to authorize the sale of the state transportation building in Boston was stripped. This rider originated in the House and would have allowed the Massachusetts Department of Transportation building on Tremont Street to be sold to the highest bidder. The Senate was wary about moving forward with the sale. After the Senate passed the spending bill, Democrat Senate Ways and Means Chairman Stephen Brewer said, “We will have an ongoing discussion about that. I am not going to prejudge where anything ends up.”

A myriad of other items were also included in the bill. There was a section on a commission to address sex offenders, a section on prescriptions written by nurse practitioners or physicians assistants, a section regarding Taunton State Hospital, the crafting of a new unemployment table, a section on the Cambridge Public Health Commission, and sections on home energy assistance to low-income families.

There was also a specific section that earmarked two million dollars to cover the restoration costs of the Mayflower II. A section could also be found that allowed the building of a three million dollar public safety building in Senator Brewer’s hometown.

The bill seems to effectively dispense with the budget surplus, estimated to be at twenty-five million dollars, amassed by the Patrick Administration as a result of tax collections that greatly exceeded revenue estimates made for the 2014 fiscal year.

The Senate and the House orchestrated no debate or public explanation of the bill. Senator Brewer stated he is optimistic to have the final bill on Gov. Patrick’s desk quickly.

Ebola and the Economy

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Unless you’ve been under quarantine for the past few weeks, you know that Ebola has once again reared its ugly head, causing widespread concern – bordering on panic in some quarters – about the possibility of a global pandemic. How realistic a possibility is this?  Could it actually happen? Frankly, it’s still too early to say one way or the other. However, it’s not too soon to make some basic predictions about how some businesses will be affected should matters get much worse.

Dr. Bruce Aylward is the Assistant Director General for the World Health Organization (WHO). He recently announced that organization’s prediction that the number of cases is expected to top 9000 by the end of this week, and the fatality rate of the current outbreak has risen from just under 50% to over 70%. When asked how the situation might evolve over the next 60 days, he warned: “We anticipate the number of cases occurring per week by that time to be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 per week.”

As in previous instances of global health scares, airlines, theaters, sports arenas, and other locations where large “fraternities of strangers” gather are sure to be the first to suffer the economic consequences of a population frightened into isolation. Participating in purely recreational activities will be weighed against the fear of contagion, and attendance is sure to plummet.  Schools, churches, and other venues where attendance is “less voluntary” will follow suit in very short order if the outbreak is not quickly reigned in.

The WHO announced yesterday that the Ebola epidemic had officially been halted in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.  Sadly, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other nations in the region remain mired in the misery of a highly-contagious, incurable, deadly viral outbreak, and new cases are popping up around the globe on a daily basis.  Should this situation continue, the global economy is sure to take a big hit.

From a business perspective, this could cause a loss of billions of dollars in revenue. On a more personal level, this could very likely fundamentally change the way we socialize. How big a change depends entirely on how long this outbreak takes to be subdued and how much damage it does in the meantime.

Needham wins Google’s Annual eCity Award in Massachusetts

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This Wednesday Google will honor the the city of Needham, MA with the company’s annual eCity award.

In an attempt to identify the “digital capitals” of America, the award (which went to Westborough last year) is meant to recognize the communities with the strongest online business presence in every state. Google’s honoring of the town may be a show of support for the town of Needham’s recent rebranding as becoming a part of a new “innovation corridor” in Massachusetts, which aims to compete the city of Cambridge’s Kendall Square and Boston’s Innovation District.Together with the independent research firm Ipsos, Google analyzed the strength of the online presence of local small businesses in every state in America. According to a spokesman from Google, each of the winning cities showcase both “strong engagement with and potential growth within the digital economy.”

“Long before the current tech boom, our town leaders had the wisdom to re-zone our old industrial areas and make them attractive to the technology, life science and other innovative businesses that are moving and thriving here” says president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce Greg Reibman in a statement. “Needham’s success is really about a partnership between the municipality and businesses here.”

Aside from the formation of the N2 Innovation Corrider, in partnership with the neighboring town of Newton, MA, the town will soon also become the new headquarters of the company TripAdvisor (Nasdaq: TRIP). Another top name company Verastem, a biopharmaceutical company formerly based in Kendall Square, will also make the move to Needham.

What Caused Last Month’s Increase in the Massachusetts Jobless Rate?

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Showing signs of improvement over weak August numbers that had the state losing an estimated 5,000 jobs, Massachusetts employers reported on Thursday they had added 9,400 jobs in September. The data came from the monthly jobs survey conducted by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOWLD). Still, the Bay State’s unemployment rate actually rose to 6 percent, up from 5.8 percent in August, slightly above the national rate of 5.9 percent.

How can the unemployment rate climb when the economy is adding jobs? The answer is simple: More people are looking for work.

According to the survey, the Commonwealth’s workforce grew by about 14,600 people in September. This simply means that more people said they were actively participating in the job market than had previously been the case.

The “Market Basket” Effect

Separately, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said September’s job growth was fueled by 10,700 new jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities sector. One reason cited for that sector’s rebound, was the resolution of a work slowdown and boycott at the Market Basket supermarket chain where ownership troubles resulted in “temporary disruptions in the retail trade.” The situation there stabilized in September after Arthur T. Demoulas won control of the company.

Demoulas, who inspired an employee revolt after he was ousted as the company’s CEO by family members who collectively controlled a majority interest in the chain, agreed, along with his sisters, to purchase the company from them outright.

Mixed Bag

The job results were less robust in other sectors of the economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on Wednesday reported what it described as a “mixed picture” in the region’s job picture, with manufacturing appearing weaker while business consulting and advertising services showed strength.

While the information sector added 1,900 jobs, the leisure and hospitality sector added 1,000 and the professional, scientific and business services sector added 800, the education and health services sector lost 4,800 jobs in September, and manufacturing was down by 700 jobs.

What Does This Mean?

While Massachusetts has historically enjoyed a lower unemployment rate than that of the nation at large, this was not the case last month.  In fact, this gap has been steadily narrowing for months. What led to this reversal? Either the state’s economy is stagnant and the unemployment rate is steadily ticking up due solely to an increase in population – OR – the economy is improving to the point where those who had previously been discouraged enough to withdraw from the job market are now re-entering in numbers large enough to skew the results.

The real answer surely lies somewhere in the middle.