Tag Archives: New York City

Excellence in Corporate Citizenship on Display in the Coronavirus Crisis

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by Hank Boerner – Chair & Chief Strategist – G&A Institute and the G&A team   — starting a new conversation about the corporate and investor response the coronavirus crisis…this is the beginning….

These are the times when actions and reactions to crisis helps to define the character of the corporation and shape the public profiles of each of the corporate citizens. For companies, these are not easy times.

Many important decisions are to be made, many priorities set in an environment of unknown unknowns — and there are many stakeholders to be taken care of.  

Employees – Customers – Suppliers – Regulators – Partners – Investors – Lenders – Communities – Civic Leadership.

We are in the age of the stakeholder – beyond the long-time focus on investors only (the Milton Friedman school of shareholder primacy).

Setting the challenge before corporate leaders for us, The New York Times in a story by Jim Tankersley and Ben Casselman, we read:

“Economists fear that by the time the coronavirus pandemic subsides and economic activity resumes, entire industries could be wiped out, proprietors across the country could lose their businesses and millions of workers could find themselves jobless.”

As the Federal government rushes to aid the American society, CEO Chuck Robbins of Cisco put things in perspective in the story: “It’s critical that D.C. do something fast for companies – if you get 80 percent right today, it’s better than waiting a week and getting it 90% right.”

The good news:  Corporations are not waiting – decisions are being made quickly and action is being taken to protect the enterprise – no easy task while protecting the corporate brand, the reputation for being a good corporate citizen, watching out for the investor base and the employee base — and all stakeholders.

We’re starting this commentary in the first week of the crisis breaking through the barriers of doubt and with reality setting in. What are companies doing? How will the decisions made at the top in turn affect the company’s employees, customers, hometowns, suppliers, other stakeholders? Stay tuned.

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March 20, 2020 – Day Four of the National Shutdown in the Coronavirus Crisis…

Outdoor Heroes and Timberland

(The firm is well known for its shoes and boots and out-of-doors gear)

Message to Consumers
At Timberland, we’ve always cared deeply about nature and people.
With this great passion, comes the responsibility to protect the health and well-being of our community. For this reason, to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and minimize impact, we’ve decided to temporarily close our stores. All retail employees at these locations will continue to receive full pay and benefits during the closure period.

In the meantime, we can stay in touch through our social channels and your can shop from home at our online store with free shipping.
As an outdoor brand, it’s hard for us to suggest that you stay home, but for now it’s advised. Perhaps use this time to plan your next outdoor adventure. Nature will wait for us. #NATURENEEDSHEROES (end)

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Amazon – Hiring Underway in the Dark Valley of Layoff Land

The giant internet retailer Amazon is set on hiring 100,000 workers for warehouse and delivery services to help the company meet the delivery demand during the crisis period. This could be a relief for workers laid off in key industries – restaurants, hospitality, airlines, amusement parks, and other service industry categories.

The company will create both full and part-time positions, paying a minimum of $15 per hour to $17 per hour in the USA, with similar raises in Canada, the UK and EU states.

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Delivering All Those Packages – FedEx on the Line

FedEx says it will not require recipient to physically sign for deliveries during the crisis in the USA. The company has set up COVID-19 safety page for information: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/coronavirus.html

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Paying for Those Deliveries — Chase Bank for Business – Adjusting Branch Hours

Chase Bank notified customers today that branch hours may be adjusted (for in-person or ATM visits). The bank encourages customers to use the Chase Mobil App (bank from anywhere). The bank explains that the branch teams are using EPA-approved disinfectants for cleaning ATM screens and key pads for customer safety.

“Chase for Business” has a “Business recovery page” for the latest information. Chase is encouraging customers to tune in to the advice at: https://recovery.chase.com/customers  — to keep their contact information current and up to date.

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Valley Bank – Relief for Customers — From the Regional Bankcorp Serving New York, New Jersey, Florida and Alabama.

Announcing Relief Measures:

  • The bank will be increasing debit and credit card limits.
  • Increasing the funds held in ATMs for easy access to cash.

For eligible customers (consumer and business) – the invitation is out to connect with the Valley representative to discuss interest and principal deferrals; waiver of overdraft charges; waiver of penalties for early CD withdrawals for emergencies; increased loan limits.

Valley is an SBA lender and will implement the federal government’s emergency plans. Bancorp has total of US$37.5 assets.

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Grubhub – We’ll Save Restaurants $100 Million in the Crisis

CEO / Founder Matt Maloney told CNN that the firm is temporally suspending collection of up to US$100 million in commission fees for delivery etc that the firm collects from vendors.

Grubhub services more than 350,000 restaurants of all types, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Subway. But of the total, some 80% are locally-owned businesses.

The announcement was made in Chicago with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and local restaurant owners present and participating.

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Information That Board Members Need in the Crisis

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is the premier board member professional organizations; both individual and full board membership is offered, as well as membership for board advisors. This is an educational- and informational-focused peer organization for the board room.

For the crisis, NACD is offering limited access to “NACD Directors Daily”® -that is usually for members only; this also has links for board members to access key COVID-19 resources.
For information: Matt Barone, Director, Board Development – www.NACDonline.org

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What is Happening in the Distant Work Site? Verité is the Checker

Verité, the supply chain audit company, communicates that its team members are now working from home and that all offices are closed. The program and project work continues with remote connecting.

The work that usually involves group visits to factories, farms or other worksites is now suspended. Verité is collaborating with funders, partners, clients, other stakeholders to determine the way forward such as adjusting the programs to protect its team members.

The organization notes: This, as vulnerabilities of workers worldwide are increasing. The firm will be back in full swing as soon as “trusted authorities” say that it is OK.

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Burlington Retail Stores – Open But Watching Carefully

Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) is a well-known retailer of off-price high-quality, branded apparel (and toys, gifts, home goods) with 700-plus stores across the United States (in 47 states and Puerto Rico).

The corporate offices are closed in New Jersey so employees could work at home, and stores’ hours are reduced with evaluation going on about the retail, local store operations.

Today, 100 stores have been closed. The Fortune 500® company “is carefully managing expenses, inventory receipts, capex and balance sheet.

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Update For Greater New York City – Business and Government Partnerships in the five boroughs (counties) of the city.

City Council Member Brad Lander (D-Brookyn) shared this news today:

Essential Businesses: Governor Andrew Cuomo has expanded on business closures. Restaurants, bars and cafes may only serve food take-out and delivery. Gyms, theaters and many other establishments have been ordered to close.

Gatherings of over 50 people are prohibited. (Later reduced further.)

Yesterday, Governor Cuomo ordered that all non-essential businesses reduce their workforce by 50%. He said that essential businesses would include health-care providers, grocery and food production, pharmacies, shipping, media, warehousing, utilities, banks and related financial institutions, and other industries critical to the supply chain.

Everyone is encouraged to work from home wherever possible.

Schools: NYC Schools (with one millions students, largest system in the USA) are closed this week as teachers prepare for distance learning. Grab-and-go meals are available for students between 7:30 and 1:30 am at any public school.

Next week, some schools will open as enrichment centers to provide childcare, food and support for children of essential workers and those who cannot stay home.

Some online learning resources are already available here. NYC is buying and giving out laptops for students who do not have access to technology at home (people can fill out the form to request tech).

Spectrum  is making internet access free for those who do not already have it for the next two months.

Spectrum is service of the franchise holder – Charter Communications, Inc. – the NYC service was formerly owned by Time Warner Cable. The company is offering free access to Spectrum Broadband and Wi-Fi for 60 days for new K-12 and college student households beginning March 16. Click here for more info. 

Hospital capacity: The City and State are taking action to find and create more hospital beds and supplies, as we look ahead to overwhelmed hospitals. They are considering turning spaces like the Javits Conference Center and private hotels into emergency hospitals. The shortage of beds and supplies means that we all need to do our part in preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed.

Paid Sick Leave: The New York State legislature passed legislation yesterday to provide emergency paid sick leave up to two weeks for employees who test positive for the virus or are told to quarantine.

While that is a good step, says Council Member Lander, the legislation leaves out hundreds of thousands of workers in NY who are independent contractors, including many mis-classified workers like food delivery workers and for hire drivers. “I am continuing to push for an expansion of paid sick leave to reach many more people, both now and in the long term”, he declared.

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G&A Institute Team Note 
We will continue to bring you news of private (corporate and business), public and social sector developments as organizations in the three societal sectors adjust to the emergency.

The new items will be posted at the top of the blog post and the items today in this first blog post will move down the queue.

We are creating the tag “Corporate Purpose – Virus Crisis” for this continuing series – and the hashtag #WeRise2FightCOVID-19 for our Twitter posts.  Do join the conversation and contribute your views and news. 

Send us news about your organization – info@ga-institute.com so we can share.   Stay safe – be well — keep in touch!

U.S. / Global Cities Showing the Way on Climate Change Solutions

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Sustainability — Forward Momentum!

By Hank Boerner – Chairman & Chief Strategist – G&A Institute

U.S. / Global Cities Are Showing the Way on Climate Change Solutions — consider:  more than half of the world’s population (now at 7 billion) now live in cities. Many cities are vulnerable to the effects of climate change — rising seas; drought; severe storms; heat waves; winter blizzards…vicious storms of all types…and more.

City Fathers and Mothers are awake to the threats — and doing something about climate change!

While at the Federal level the public sector of the United States of America has abandoned the field to other nations to now lead on addressing climate change challenges, at the city/municipality level, there is a lot going on that is positive and encouraging.

Here’s a brief collection of recent events that spell out o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y at the domestic and global urban level.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors
At the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami Beach (the 85th annual for the association), climate change issues were high on the agenda. Of course — many U.S. cities are at water level, on oceans-rivers-bays. New York; Miami; Baltimore; Philadelphia: Boston; San Francisco; Chicago; Cleveland; New Orleans; St Louis — need we go on?

At the annual conference there were plenaries, workshops, committee meetings, task force meetings, and more. The headlines coming out of the Conference of Mayors:

A survey of the members found many U.S. mayors are taking action on climate protection and planning even more steps in the future.

City governments are focusing on:

  • Purchase of renewable energy electricity (69% of respondents already generate or purchase and 22% are considering doing so);
  • utilization of low-carbon transport (63% buy green vehicles for municipal fleets; 30% are considering; this includes hybrids, electric, natural gas, biodiesel);
  • striving for greater energy efficiency, especially for new municipal buildings 71%; 65% for existing buildings — this includes new policies put in place;
  • the association has teamed with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES)**, to promote renew these programmatic approaches; this creates a framework for mayor and business leaders to collaborate to develop approaches to reduce carbon emissions, speed deployment of new technology, implement sustainable development strategies, and respond to the growing impacts of climate change.

Survey respondents were from 66 cities with populations ranging from 8.5 million to 21,000 across 30 of the U.S. states. These cities invest more than US$1.2 billion annually in electricity — a significant buying power to help create the changes needed in the municipal electricity market.

Collaboration — the survey demonstrated that cities are working with each other (90%) and with the private sector (87%) to accelerate action on climate change issues. This is important when considering the recent White House abandonment of the Paris Agreement.

Opportunity Spelled Out:

  • Half of responding cities are incentivizing energy efficiency in both new and existing commercial and residential buildings. There is significant room for growth here. And lots of opportunity for public-private sector collaboration.
  • Less than half of the cities have policies / programs to help businesses and their citizens choose renewable energy — more room for growth and opportunities for partnering.
  • 66% of the cities responding have put in place public charging stations; 36% are in the process of doing so with private sector partners (for electric vehicle charging).

Says Conference of Mayors CEO Tom Cochran: “The nation’s mayors are poised to take an even greater leadership role in fighting climate change and protecting cities from its negative impacts. Working together with the business community, we can achieve deeper results more quickly and broadly.”

While much progress is being made, the mayors collectively are striving to do more.

Notes Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales, Alliance Co-Chair : “We need to create a baseline so we can measure our ongoing progress. Sustainability is a smart strategy for the future, and cities and companies need to learn from one another.”

One of the positive actions taken at the conference was adoption of a resolution — “Supporting a Cities-Driven Plan to Reverse Climate Change” — which notes that cities comprise 91% of the U.S. GDP, placing mayors at the center of marrying environmental protection with economic growth; and, it calls on the Trump Administration and the U.S. Congress to support the fight against climate change by fully committing to the Paris Climate Accord; the Obama Clean Power Plan; the Clean Energy Incentive Program; and other efforts to provide U.S. cities with the tools needed to combat climate change. (You can read the full text at: http://legacy.usmayors.org/resolutions/85th_Conference/proposedcommittee.asp?committee=Environment

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There’s much more encouraging news from the municipal government level.

The Compact of Mayors (“C40”) is the world’s largest cooperative effort among mayors and city leadership working together to reduce GhG emissions and address climate risk in the world’s cities. The effort was launched by the United Nations General Secretary in June 2016. And in the year since:

— 652 cities have joined the effort;
— representing almost 500 million people residing in the urban centers;
— which is about 7% of the global population today.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (now returned to chair the eponymous Bloomberg LP organization after 12 years in office) is serving as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, and spearheads the Compact of Mayors initiative.

Ambitious plans: commitments to the Compact of Mayors are set to deliver half of the global urban potential GhG emissions reductions by 2020. But, there is still much more to do, the Compact notes, on the part of the nations in which the cities are located. (Like the USA!).

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And…CDP’s Cities Initiative reports that more than 500 cities are now disclosing their initiatives related to climate change. More than US$26 billion in climate-related projects are underway or targeted.

CDP is providing a global platform for cities to measure, manage and disclose their environmental data on an annual basis. This is intended to help local governments manage emissions, build greater resilience and protect against the growing impacts of climate change. So far, cities are disclosing almost 5,000 climate actions.

And be sure to note this: there has been a 70% increase in cities’ sustainability-related disclosure since the Paris Agreement was adopted; 1,000-plus economic opportunities have been identified by almost 400 cities; and, 56% of cities identified opportunities to develop new businesses or industries linked to climate change.

More information for you at: https://www.cdp.net/en/cities

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Then there is “America’s Pledge” — an effort involving 227 cities and counties, 9 states and 1,650 businesses and investors that have pledged to uphold the U.S.A. commitment to the Paris Agreement! (Reducing our country’s GhG emissions by 26% to 38% by 2025, compared to 2005 levels.) The group is led by California Governor Jerry Brown and Michael Bloomberg.

As The New York Times reported on July 11, 2017 (“US Cities, States and Business Pledge to Measure Emissions”):

Former Mayor/Bloomberg LP Chair Michael Bloomberg:
“The American government may have pulled out of the Paris Agreement, but American Society remains committed. We will redouble our efforts to achieve its goals.

California Governor Jerry Brown:
“Were sending a clear message to the world that America’s states, cities and businesses are moving forward with our country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement, with or without Washington DC.”

The new group will measure the effect (by 2025) of new climate actions by cities, states, business, universities, that sign on for the effort. The analysis will be performed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Rocky Mountain Institute.

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Bloomberg Philanthropies
All of these efforts of course takes money!  Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic arm – Bloomberg Philanthropies – has a cities-focused initiative: What Works Cities Initiative.

This is one of the largest efforts to help cities use data for making local decisions, and get technical assistance from experts through the  Bloomberg organization.

Four more cities just joined up: Arlington, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Fort Collins, Colorado; Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That makes 85 U.S. cities in 37 states are now participating.

Cities commit to a “WWC” Standard, using data to improve performance and results that make their residents’ lives better. More info at: https://whatworkscities.bloomberg.org/cities/

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Why Is City-Level Action on Climate Change So Critical?

The total population of urban areas (486 areas) in the United States of America was 80.7% of the country’s total population in 2010, according to  an analysis by Reuters News.

More Americans are moving to urban areas, according to the 2010 census. (As reported by Reuters in March 2012.) The nation’s total population growth was 9.7% from 2000 to 2010; urban growth was 12.1%. In some places the growth was 50% — like Charlotte, North Carolina (64.%).

The most urbanized state in America is California — where 95% of the total population live in urban areas (35.4 million people).

Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim is the nation’s second largest city (at 12,1 million residents); New York/Newark NJ is #1 (18.4 million); Chicago is #3, noted Reuters in the story.

So — we are keeping close watch on the significant efforts at the city/municipal level efforts in the United States of America with regard to developing climate change solutions.  Cities and states are showing the way for this nation, as the Federal government at least for now has abandoned climate change leadership.

Summing up:  With literally thousands of  local government units developing partnerships with the private sector, and with NGOs and other stakeholders, and looking to the U.S. capital markets to help fund infrastructure and other initiatives — a climate change economic boom is underway!  Are you part of it?  We see great o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y spelled out at the American municipal level.

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Notes:

**Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) is an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization working to forge practical solutions to climate change. Link: www.c2es.org.