wbjournal.com | June 7, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
Staff Writer, Monica Benevides,
mbenevides@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing, equality & inclusion)
Editorial Interns
Amy Thai, athai@wbjournal.com
Sharon Boateng,
sboateng@wbjournal.com
Devan Greevy,
dgreevy@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon
Lead Researcher, Timothy Doyle,
tdoyle@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Account Receivable Specialist,
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Audience Development,
Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Operations Assistant,
Leah Allen,
lallen@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Tom Curtin
tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
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England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
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Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
W
ow. Just wow. In less
than a year, employers
went from holding
hands with their em-
ployees saying, "We're
all in this together," even as companies
were laying off their workers begging
them to understand, to now employers
saying, "People are just lazy and entitled."
Companies want to ramp up their op-
erations by hiring more workers, but are
having a hard time finding the right peo-
ple. While multiple factors to blame, the
overwhelming sentiment in the business
community is the extra $300 in weekly
unemployment benefits is the cause.
is narrative has two villains: Big bad
government providing too much money
for people to do nothing, and the work-
ers, who would rather sit around than
provide meaningful benefit to society.
As Jeffrey Turgeon, executive director of
the MassHire Central Region Workforce
Board, points out in the "Workers needed"
story on Page 12, this characterization is
overblown, but the narrative from persists.
Frankly, this finger-pointing is so
insulting, it borders on enraging. Nev-
ermind the countless reasons for the
labor mismatch: parents have to care
for children, a job might require skills a
potential employee doesn't have, the pay is
too low compared to a worker's previous
job, Massachusetts is still in a state of
emergency. Nope, it took all of about two
weeks for employers to say, "Laziness and
big government are ruining businesses."
Can't we all just remember that initial
phase of the pandemic when everyone
was frightened and confused, but under-
standing of the difficult positions busi-
nesses and employees were in? Businesses
ended up getting $800 billion in Paycheck
Protection Program money to stay afloat.
Laid-off workers got an extra $600 per
week, initially to encourage them to stay
at home, and then $300 per week as they
were caught in a freefalling economy with
unemployment nearing Great Depression
levels. We were all understanding a year
ago; we can be understanding now.
People aren't inherently lazy. Some-
times, a $15-per-hour job is the perfect fit,
while other times a full-time job whose
I N T H I S I S S U E
annual earnings are only $5,000 off the
federal poverty level for a family of four is
untenable. As businesses struggle to find
workers, they need to remember the strug-
gle isn't necessarily over for everyone.
– Brad Kane, editor
Don't blame the extra $300 unemployment
N E W S & A N A LY S I S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
14 Focus on Mid-Year Economic Survey
19 The List: Top marijuana companies
20 Column: Outside the Box
21 Know How
22 Movers & Shakers
25 Opinion
8 Changing power dynamics
The Kennedy Community Health Center has
purposefully remade its board to be more
reflective of its patient population.
25 The new normal must uplift
Black businesses
Viewpoint opinion columnists Courtney
J. Brunson and Samuel M. Gebru lay
out legislative priorities.
D E P A R T M E N T S
A division of:
MEMBER FDIC
MEMBER DIF
— G. Leo Casey, Management Advisor/CFO, Partner B2B CFO
®
On Behalf of MTD Micro Molding Inc.
THEY'RE
HERE TO HELP.
"
"
We're partners.
We work together.
W
CORRECTIONS: A chart from the story "Cultural momentum"
from the Special Section: Worcester Emerging in the May 24
edition incorrectly said the 2019 attendance at Mechanics
Hall in Worcester was 22,500. The correct figure is 225,000.
The name of Tony Rakic, the senior vice president for
commercial lending at Rollstone Bank & Trust in Fitchburg,
was misspelled in the Movers & Shakers section in the May
24 edition.
