Dearth of a salesman (and woman)
We’ve all heard about how employers are struggling to fill restaurant, retail, child care, health care and other hourly wage jobs.
Here’s another category where applicants are scarce: Sales.
As the U.S. economy gains momentum, companies selling technology and other services to corporate customers are struggling to fill potentially lucrative sales jobs, reports Lauren Weber at the Wall Street Journal.
Sales reps who peddle technical and scientific products earned a median annual wage of $74,970 in 2012, more than twice the median for all workers.
Competition for science and tech workers contributes to part of the shortage, Weber writes.
But employers also say young workers, having lived through the financial crisis and recession, are uninterested in sales—a field they perceive as risky and defined by competition.
Two decades of UI price hikes headed your way
Brace yourself for a more than 10% bump in the unemployment insurance rates your business or nonprofit is paying.
And then expect to keep paying it every quarter for the two decades.
The special assessment is designed to pay off the $7 billion the state has borrowed to fund jobless benefits during the pandemic, reports Greg Ryan at the BBJ.
Originally the increase was going to be much higher, much sooner. But in May the legislature agreed to spread those costs over 20 years.
That interim step was appreciated. But it's not right to ask employers who stayed fully staffed during the quarantine, as well as future employers, to pay for UI claims they had nothing to do with.
Business leaders will ask lawmakers at a hearing today to use some federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars to pay down some of the UI deficit.
“It would just be patently unfair to require the business owner and the employer, who are trying to get people back to work and facing things like supply chain issues, to now have to deal with higher UI taxes, ironically at a time where they’re struggling to hire,” said Chris Carlozzi, National Federation of Independent Businesses Massachusetts director, tells Ryan.
The special assessment will be equal to 10.5% of an employer’s UI rate and is retroactive to Jan. 1. For instance, a business with a 3.5% UI rate will have a COVID assessment rate of 0.368%.
Businesses will be notified of their new rates by next Monday (July 26). Bills for Q1 and Q2 will be due Aug. 31. If your business overpaid earlier this year, you will be credited for the overpayment.
Heads up, then head first
A MassBay Community College student from Needham is credited with helping deliver a baby just as tropical storm Elsa was bearing down on our region.
“Once you see the head you know the rest of the baby is coming,” EMT intern Corinna Kent told WCVB’s Mary Saladna.
Kent was on her first day riding along with Patriot Ambulance as part of MassBay’s EMT program.
Just by chance, Kent had trained on MassBay’s pregnancy simulation mannequin the day before the healthy baby boy’s delivery.
A solution to employee parking?
A pilot program designed to partly address a lack of employee parking in Newton Centre will be considered by the City Council Thursday (July 22) at 7 p.m. (Zoom link here).
The program would to convert 43 existing metered parking spaces to “Employee Parking Only” areas. The dedicated spaces will be located in the Cypress Parking Lot (ten spaces), the Pleasant Street Lot (28 spaces) and Langley lot (five spaces).
Obligatory (but still important) PPP updates
A reminder that if you received a PPP loan back when the program launched in the spring of 2020, you need to secure forgiveness now (i.e. ten months after your eight week covered period).
If you don’t, your PPP will automatically convert to a standard loan at 1% interest.
PPP loans granted in 2021 will face an easier path to forgiveness, including simplified forms, updated guidance and new regulations, reports Andy Medici for the BBJ.
This includes a new, yet-to-go-live forgiveness portal which will allow some small-business owners to apply for forgiveness though the SBA instead of starting your their lender.
If your PPP loan is for $2 million or more, you no longer need to complete the SBA’s controversial Loan Necessity Questionnaire.
And while the PPP and the SBA’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant program are out of funds, here's five other SBA programs you may find helpful.
Ride hailing fees nixed again
Hopes to raise revenue for cities and towns from ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft were rejected once again on Beacon Hill.
One proposal would have replaced the state's 20-cent fee charged by ride-hailing companies with a 40-cent fee for shared rides, $1.20 for a ride that isn’t shared, and $2.20 for a non-shared ride in a luxury vehicle, reports Christian M. Wade at Salem News.
Proponents of higher fees say they will generate needed revenue for local transportation projects while encouraging commuters to use mass transit, which as Shirley Leung reminds us this morning is essential to getting workers comfortable returning to the office.
Are you a Newton village-based business or commercial property owner?
The City of Newton wants to meet with owners of village center-based businesses and commercial property owners about the future look and needs of the city's village centers. You can provide your insight by participating in a focus group:
- Business owners focus group: Thurs. July 29, 5 p.m. - Register
- Commercial property owners focus group: Weds. July 28, 5 p.m. - Register
You do not need to live in Newton to participate.
Can’t make the focus group? Complete a survey with the same focus group content for business owners and property owners.
Additional ways you can participate include completing a Vision Kit for your village center(s), or responding to an interactive online forum.
If you have questions, contact Zachery LeMel.
Needham soldier honored
The Massachusetts House approved a bill Monday to designate the bridge on Great Plain Ave in Needham (near the intersection of Broad Meadow Rd. and near Hersey Station) as the Private First Class David “Damon” Borrelli Memorial Bridge.
Private First Class Borrelli was killed at the age of 21 in action on July 11, 1941 in the initial invasion on Omaha beach in Normandy France.
Is your business immigrant, minority, LGBTQ, woman and/or veteran-owned?
We’re looking to update our online business directory to allow members and others be able to find immigrant-owned, minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned or LGBTQ+-owned businesses in our region.
Sign up here if your business/nonprofit qualifies. And please help us grow this listing by sharing the link with other businesses owners.
Now, that’s more like it!
A guest stood up at a Falmouth restaurant the other day with an unusual request for his fellow diners.
“If you guys are willing to give the wait staff five minutes to take a break, for all the hard work they’ve done, I’d be willing to buy them a drink,” he said. “Could we have a round of applause if you’re interested in doing it?”
The crowd at Shipwrecked cheered as employees looked on, MassLive reports.
The gesture follows an incident in Brewster the week before when after a customer reportedly told an employee, “I hope you get hit by a car,” among other things, and reportedly brought employees to tears.
You can still be a millionaire
I'm amazed how many people don’t know that it doesn’t matter when you were vaccinated to qualify for the Vax Millions raffle. So many people seem to think it's only for the newly vaccinated.
That might be one reason why only half of those eligible have registered for a process that takes literally seconds. Odds for your kid winning a scholarship are even better.
Sign up by Thursday to qualify for all five rounds. You owe me a beer if you win, OK?
That’s today’s Need to Knows, unless you need to know what almost went very bad for Watertown’s state Sen. William Brownsberger when he went hiking in Utah.
No rain today...take those Zoom calls outside.
President, Newton-Needham Regional Chamber
617-244-1688
Your chamber is here when you need us.
