Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | August 20, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS Nashoba Valley Medical Center president resigns e president of Nashoba Valley Medical Center, Sal Perla, has resigned. Korry Dow, the hospital's CFO, took over as interim pres- ident on Aug. 13. Perla has been named the presi- dent of Norwood Hospital, which, like Nashoba Valley Medical Center, is part of Bos- ton-based Steward Health Care. Perla joined Nashoba Valley Medical Center in 2014. He was previously the vice president of Milford Regional Medical Center. Dow was previ- ously a Medicare auditor at Blue Cross & Blue Shield, a reimbursement analyst at Boston Med- ical Center and a senior accountant at Emerson Hospital in Concord. Greater Worcester scores below average in popula- tion, business growth e Worcester metropolitan area doesn't fare particularly well in a new national rating of cities based on a range of growth factors. Worcester landed 70th out of the 100 largest cities measured in a report pub- lished Monday by the website Magnify Money, which analyzed U.S. Census data on growth in population, housing units, labor force, unemployment rate, number of business establishments and other factors from 2010 to 2016. Each city was ranked in three areas — population and housing, workforce and earnings, and business growth — on a scale of 0 to 100. For population and housing, Worces- ter was a 11.4. For workforce and earn- ings, a 24.6. For business growth, a 28.3. e city's average score is 21.4. e Worcester metropolitan area is de- fined by the Census as Worcester County and Connecticut's Windham County. Austin, Texas, topped the list, followed by Provo, Utah, and Raleigh, N.C. In the Northeast, Worcester ranked third behind Boston and Washington, D.C. Continued on next page Say hello to the newest member of UniBank's Executive Management team. We are thrilled Robert E. Paulsen has joined us as Senior Vice President and Senior Lending Officer. Bob brings over 30 years of experience in the financial world to the Central Massachusetts and Metro West communities. The newest member of our Executive Management team, this Nichols College grad is eager to participate in the formulation of bank-wide strategies, decisions and policies. For more about Mr. Paulsen, visit unibank.com or call 508-849-4335. UniBank welcomes Robert E. Paulsen. Member FDIC /Member DIF UNI_LenderAd_WBJ_9x5.5.indd 1 6/8/18 9:45 AM Paid leave could be a problem Aer the wide-ranging Grand Bargain bill signed by Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this summer, the minimum wage will rise to $15 an hour by 2023, tipped workers will make $6.75 by 2023, and a new paid family and medical leave program goes into effect in 2021, but higher pay on Sundays and holidays will be phased out by 2023. When polled online, WBJ readers were mostly concerned with the new paid leave rules. F L AS H P O L L Which aspect of the Grand Bargain is your company most concerned with? The minimum wage hike. Such a drastic increase will force layoffs or price increases. 35% "If you can't pay a living wage, you're doing something wrong." COMMENTS: "The state government really needs to back off. They definitely have their hands way too deep in the pockets of small business." "Why don't we just raise the minimum wage to $50 per hour so every- one in Massachusetts can live well?" Paid leave. The cost of absent workers will really add up. 54% Tipped worker wages. Struggling restaurants could be forced to close. 4% Sal Perla, outgoing CEO, Nashoba Valley Medical Center 7% Time-and-a-half on Sundays and holidays. There will be no extra incentive for employees to work on those days. Korry Dow, interim CEO, Nashoba Valley Medical Center

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