Quick Takes

Majority Say Business Is Not Doing Enough for Climate Change

January 27, 2022

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Businesses are not doing enough to address climate change, economic inequality and workforce reskilling, according to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer. 

In its 22nd year, the vaunted research firm continues to be a trusted source of consumer sentiment. This year, it surveyed 31,000 people from around the globe and found that 52% of respondents think that businesses are not doing enough to address climate change, whereas 39% think that businesses are doing just the right amount. Nine percent say that businesses are overstepping, mostly in the areas of addressing trustworthy information and systemic injustice.

The findings, however, shed light on a general public that generally agrees that societal issues aren’t strictly the responsibilities of politics or consumers. This speaks to the ever increasing pressure of businesses to address ESG issues. It matters how ESG is measured, however: Research has also shown that stocks that profess to be ESG-friendly can still have adverse effects on the environment.

Scientists and Co-Workers Top Trust List

Today

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In the 2022 edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer, the research firm found that respondents trust members of their personal group over large institutions. 

Edelman surveyed 31,050 people from 27 countries to rate each category using a nine-point scale, with one being “do not trust them at all” and nine meaning “trust them a great deal.” The survey found that respondents trust scientists and national health authorities as well as the CEO of the company they work for and members of their workplace and community. This was a trend reflected in last year’s poll as well. They distrusted CEOs in general, journalists and government leaders — further enforcing the distrust of institutions.

The trust in public health and science comes as COVID-19 continues its second year. The trust in a person’s company leader and co-workers shows the importance of building a strong company culture that provides flexibility and a sense of purpose as well as physical and mental health support.

Oil and Gas Production Causes Record Levels of Methane

January 30, 2022

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NASA’s Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center.

The amount of methane in Earth’s atmosphere has reached record levels in recent years, according to new research from the United States ​​National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A major source of methane emissions is the extraction, storage and transportation of oil, natural gas and coal, which results in the release of about 97 million metric tons of methane gas each year, according to the United Nations. NASA’s Goddard Earth Sciences data team found that Russia emits the most methane related to oil exploitation, the U.S. leads natural gas emissions; and coal emissions are highest in China. 

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, trapping about 35 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Governments at the COP26 conference in Glasgow last year pledged to  reduce methane emissions by 30% compared with 2020 levels. Businesses are also pitching in by choosing where their gas comes from — grading gas sources by the amount of methane emissions they produce.

Less-Educated Women Left the Workforce During the Pandemic

January 24, 2022

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The pandemic affected the workforce differently depending on people’s gender and education status, according to new research from Pew. In 2021, the percentage of women aged 25 or older in the workforce dropped by 1.3% compared to 2019’s numbers, and those with high-school degrees were more likely to leave the workforce than their college-graduate counterparts.

In 2021, the percentage of high-school-educated women in the workforce dropped by 6% compared to 2019. Their male counterparts saw just a 1.8% decrease in the workforce. The difference is even more drastic for those who are not high school graduates: In this category, there are 4.9% fewer men and 12.8% fewer women in the workforce.

The difference may be explained by the gender balance in industries affected by the pandemic. The health-care industry, for instance, is 60% women, and many workers are dealing with burnout after two years under stress. The same gender imbalance can be found in the food preparation and personal service occupations, per Pew.

Universities See 1 Million Student Decline Since Start of Pandemic in US

January 23, 2022

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Higher education enrollment in the United States fell a further 2.7% in 2021, according to new estimates by The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. This follows a 2.5% drop from the preceding fall. In total, 938,000 fewer students have enrolled in colleges since the fall of 2019, before the pandemic, the center estimates.

Private for-profit four-year colleges saw the biggest drop, with 11% less students enrolling in 2021. Followed by community colleges (-3.4%) and public four-year colleges (-3.8%). Private nonprofit colleges were least impacted, with a 1.5% decrease.

The trend in college enrollment indicates more are inclined to join the labor market directly — taking minimum-wage jobs in part because rates have risen under increasing pressure and a competitive job market. Even more are turning toward trade schools in lieu of traditional universities. This also comes at a time when universities are navigating the COVID-19 landscape, with many courses shifting toward remote instruction.

 

Her Poll Ratings Just Went Up! Willow the White House Cat Gets Her Own Bobblehead

2 hours ago

© REUTERS / The White House

Mary Manley

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She’s only been in the executive mansion for a few days, but it’s official, Willow the White House tabby cat is getting her own bobblehead.

The limited edition bobblehead of Willow is now available for purchase online for $25, but it won’t be available to the masses until June.

At present, Willow’s rendition can be found on the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame’s website, alongside her other furry siblings Major and Commander, the first family’s German Shepherds. The Bidens’ late dog Champ, who died last year, also has his own bobblehead.

“It was fun to see the reaction to the adorable pictures of Willow that the Bidens shared on social media last week. Now, everyone will have the opportunity to have a smaller bobblehead version of Willow,” Phil Sklar, the CEO of the Wisconsin-based National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement.

First lady Jill Biden shared pictures of the frisky feline to Twitter on Friday with a heart-filled caption, “Meet Willow!”

The delightful 2-year-old tabby cat was adopted from a farm in Pennsylvania called Willow Grove, for which she was named after. It appears the first lady must have been wooed by the feline two years back, when the cat jumped on stage, interrupting her campaign speech for her husband, now USPresident Joe Biden.

The farm is located in the village of Volant in Lawrence County, and is owned by Rick Telesz. After Willow made her impression on the future first lady, Telesz said he got a phone call asking if Mrs. Biden could adopt the cat.

“The thing that humbles me the most is that it represents the community, right here in Volant, putting Volant on the map,” he said. “To me, that is pretty special.”

Willow’s arrival to the White House marks the first time in over a decade a cat has laid paws in its presidential halls. The last cat before Willow was owned by former US President George W. Bush in 2004.

At hospitals, food halls, and ski resorts, Colorado effort helps employers create on-site child care

By Ann Schimke  Feb 1, 2022,

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!0 Colorado employers are part of a state-funded “design lab” to guide

 them in launching child care centers for their employees.

 ilkercelik / Getty Images

A ski resort in Steamboat Springs, a community hospital in Grand Junction, and a food hall project in downtown Pueblo.

On the face of it, they don’t have much in common, but all three have ambitious plans to launch child care centers for their employees within the next two years.

They’re among 10 Colorado employers participating in a new program that guides businesses through the complicated process of opening child care centers on their sites or nearby. Called the “Design Lab” and conducted mostly through biweekly Zoom sessions, the five-month program is funded with $54,000 from the state and run by the business group, Executives Partnering to Invest in Children, or EPIC.

If all goes as planned, the effort could produce nearly 500 new child care slots across Colorado and give participating employers a new tool for recruiting and retaining workers. The Design Lab is unfolding as Colorado leaders work to bolster an industry pummeled by the pandemic and enlarge the provider pool in preparation for a major expansion of state-funded preschool in 2023.

Design Lab participants

• Chancellor Health Care and Devonshire Acres (Logan County)
• City of Aspen (Pitkin County)
• Clear Creek County and Clear Creek School District
• Community Hospital (Mesa County)
• Fuel and Iron (Pueblo County)
• J.M. Smucker Co. (Weld County)
• Rio Blanco County and the City of Meeker
• Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. (Routt County)
• Vail Valley Foundation and the Sonnenalp Hotel (Eagle County)
• Weld County School District RE-1

At the same time, a new state grant program will send nearly $9 million this year to help Colorado employers cover the cost of building child care centers for their workers.

Currently, there is enough licensed child care in Colorado to serve only about 62% of the 246,000 children under 6 who need it.

State officials say employer-based child care represents part of the solution. Such offerings also reduce staff turnover, shrink commute times, boost morale, and provide child care hours that better match parents’ work hours.

Design lab participants, which also include cities, school districts, a hotel, a senior living facility, and a food production company, say the program has been invaluable in teaching them about a topic outside their area of expertise.

“It was like a college education in opening a child care center,” said Nathan Stern, director of development at Fuel and Iron Realty, which is leading the Pueblo food hall project.

“It’s been so vital for us because we have learned absolutely every minuscule detail necessary not only to design a facility but to open a facility thoughtfully,” said Loryn Duke, communications director at Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

Nicole Riehl, president and CEO of EPIC, said most or all of the employers in the Design Lab will likely end up hiring an operator for their new centers — perhaps a child care chain or a local early childhood leader — rather than running the facilities themselves. But business leaders planning such facilities still need a solid understanding of the highly regulated world of child care licensing, governance, and financing.

“We cover the whole gamut,” said Riehl, who hopes EPIC will be able to offer Design Lab to a second round of Colorado employers.

Duke said the ski resort plans to open a center to serve the children of employees as soon as next November. It will enroll about 35 children, including infants and toddlers, a population for which it is particularly difficult to find licensed care. While lots of details are still in the works, she said it’s likely the center will charge sliding-scale fees based on family income.

Duke, who has a 10-month-old daughter, is familiar with the wild goose chase many families experience in the search for child care. She signed up for child care waitlists even before she shared the news of her pregnancy with her family. After baby Eloise was born, Duke called a local child care center twice a week for 2½ months to see if a spot had opened up. When that finally happened, even though it was for only two days a week, she and her husband jumped on it.

As “insanely stressful” as the lack of child care can be for parents, Duke knows how damaging it can be for businesses trying to find and keep staff.

“It’s long been proven that retaining employees is more cost beneficial than rehiring,” she said.

Before the resort’s child care center plans began taking shape last summer, Duke and two close co-workers, who are also working moms, were on the brink of quitting.

“There was a moment all three of us thought we would have to resign because we could not find child care,” she said.

At Community Hospital in Grand Junction, the shortage of local child care has been a problem for its employees since before the pandemic. (Several years ago, the county health department even spearheaded a campaign to create thousands of new child care slots.)

Now, with guidance from the design lab and an employer-based child care grant from the state, hospital administrators are planning to build a 10,000-square-foot child care center near the “Lion’s Loop” walking path behind the hospital. The center is scheduled to open in early 2023 and will have room for 100 children, with care starting at 6 weeks of age. Eventually, the center could operate around the clock, and project leaders are considering the possibility of offering care when children get sick.

Tawny Espinoza, vice president of business development at the hospital, said the Design Lab experience showed hospital leaders their plan to build a child care program from scratch was feasible.

“Child care is not our wheelhouse. We do health care,” she said, “EPIC was able to … create a roadmap for how to get from point A to point B.”

Although the project is about a year from completion, Espinoza said many of the hospital’s 1,200 employees are already showing interest.

“I get emails almost daily of, ‘Hey, when will that be open,’” she said.

The leaders behind the Fuel and Iron Food Hall on the edge of downtown Pueblo plan to create a 54-seat child care center just east of the historic former hardware store that anchors the project. They’ll offer subsidized child care to employees of the five restaurants in the food hall as well as residents of the project’s affordable housing units. In addition, they hope to offer child care until 8 p.m. to align better with restaurant shifts.

Like Community Hospital, Fuel and Iron recently won one of four state grants for construction of employer-based child care facilities. More of those grants could be awarded this spring.

“Without grants, I don’t know how we could justify the cost of building out a child care center,” said Stern, of Fuel and Iron Realty.

But with restaurants in fierce competition for employees, he believes the new center will help recruit and retrain the best candidates for the food hall.

Child care is “critical to a healthy workforce, which is critical to a healthy business community,” he said.

Lyft emerges as fundraising heavyweight in Massachusetts ahead of vote on gig work ballot initiative

• By Katherine Huggins
• February 1, 2022 8:48 am

(Photo by Mario Tama via Getty Images)

Gig work-based companies such as food delivery apps and rideshare services are pouring millions into supporting a Massachusetts ballot initiative that would solidify their workers’ status as independent contractors instead of employees.

Rideshare company Lyft has already given a hefty $14 million in support of the Massachusetts measure, in hopes of being able to classify their drivers as independent contractors, which would allow Lyft to not provide drivers certain employee benefits such as health insurance and paid vacation.

The Massachusetts ballot initiative, which would classify app-based drivers as independent contractors and enact labor policies, could appear on the ballot during the state’s Nov. 8 election pending either legislature approval or further signature collection.

The issue of gig work classification was first raised statewide last year in California. 

A ballot measure that would allow gig workers to be classified as independent contractors in most cases — Prop. 22 — passed in 2020, handing a big win to gig work-based companies that put more than $200 million behind the measure, according to OpenSecrets data. Although the measure passed, a judge later ruled it unconstitutional and an appeal is pending.

Now, as Massachusetts considers a proposition similar to Prop. 22, companies are replicating their strategy from 2020 by throwing millions of dollars into the effort.

In addition to Lyft’s $14 million, Uber, DoorDash and Instacart have each injected more than $1 million into funding the Massachusetts measure.

According to the Boston Globe, Lyft’s donation is the largest political contribution the state has ever recorded — easily surpassing the previous record of General Motors’ $5.1 million contribution to fight a successful 2020 ballot measure that would allow auto shops to access more information about the cars they repair.

The majority of Lyft’s $14 million came in the form of a $13 million donation given on Dec. 30. Prior to the end-of-year contribution, Instacart had given the largest single sum of about $978,000.

The Massachusetts measure would classify gig workers as independent contractors instead of employees while providing some benefits, including establishing a pre-tips earning floor equivalent to 120% of the state’s minimum wage and health care stipends for those who work more than 15 hours per week. 

Opponents of the measure argue classifying gig workers as independent contractors instead of employees deprives workers of labor rights.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a suit in July 2020 claiming that rideshare drivers are already considered employees under state law and that companies have misclassified them as independent contractors.

“Uber and Lyft have built their billion-dollar businesses while denying their drivers basic employee protections and benefits for years,” Healey said. “This business model is unfair and exploitative. We are seeking this determination from the court because these drivers have a right to be treated fairly.”

Other opponents of the measure are also seeking to block it from appearing on the ballot in November.

If passed, the ballot initiative would cement Uber and Lyft’s independent contractor classification — provided no judge later deems it unconstitutional as in California.

Aside from contributing to gig work-related ballot measures, Lyft and Uber are frequent donors in state and local elections, and leverage millions of dollars in lobbying.

Lyft has spent $63 million in contributions mostly to statewide candidates and committees since 2016 — $49 million of which went to the ballot measure committee on California’s Prop. 22. The company has also spent more than $12 million in state-level lobbying since 2013. 

Those figures are on par with Uber, which gave a total $61 million to statewide candidates and committees since 2016, with a larger percentage than Lyft going toward California’s Prop. 22 ($59 million). Uber, however, has spent considerably more on lobbying, spending $30 million since 2013.

Both parties have recently focused their lobbying heavily on the bipartisan Sami’s Law, which would require rideshare drivers to display lighted signs and a scannable QR code for passengers to verify their identity. The bill is named after a college student who was killed after getting into a fake Uber.

Aside from nonpartisan ballot measures, both companies’ political activity skews Democratic.

Excluding contributions to ballot measure committees, Lyft has given roughly 150% more to Democratic causes than Republican ones — a notably higher percentage than Uber’s rate of giving 63% more to Democratic causes.

In certain instances, Lyft was an equal opportunity donor, giving similar amounts to committees of both parties. For example, during the 2020 cycle, Lyft gave $20,000 to the Florida Republican Committee but also gave $9,000 to the Florida Democratic Party and $3,000 to the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. In the same cycle, Lyft gave $15,000 to the Texas Republican Legislative Caucus, but in 2016, it gave $5,000 to both the Texas Republican and Democratic parties.

Although Uber gives to candidates and committees less frequently than Lyft, a similar pattern can be seen.

In 2020, Uber gave $15,000 to the Florida Republican Senate Campaign Committee while also contributing $10,000 to the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. And in 2018, Uber contributed $45,000 to the California Democratic Party while also giving the state’s Republican Party $20,000.

Feb. 1, 2021 Correction: This story has been updated to show that AG Maura Healey is not seeking to block the ballot initiative appearing on the ballot in November and clarify other information about the ballot initiative process in Massachusetts.

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