Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 6, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 9 A Sound Tax Structure? We Help Anticipate The Curves. FletcherTilton.com WO RC E ST E R | F R A M I N G H A M | B OSTO N | C A P E CO D Tax planning. It's a building block of business strategy and the cornerstone for informed decision making. Our tax attorneys have highly specialized knowledge and employ sophisticated tools. They look beyond general tax planning concepts to implement complex goals for charitable giving, succession planning, and more. And a good plan makes a strong structure. BUSINESS FORMATIONS | BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS NONPROFIT & TAX-EXEMPT ENTITIES | INDIVIDUAL TAX PLANNING EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION | ESTATE & GIFT TAX PLANNING TAXPAYER RESOLUTION SERVICES Dennis Gorman, Esq., CPA, LLM 508.459.8037 Michael Duffy, Esq., CPA, LLM 508.459.8043 As biomedical industries grow at a rapid pace – QCC reported 7.9% growth in biomanufacturing jobs in Central Massachusetts in 2020 – it's important to make sure people from diverse backgrounds are on-ramped from the start. Other programs at MBI cover areas like outreach to students as young as middle school and reducing barriers to entry for completing science education programs through providing pathways to early college credits, English-as-a- second-language programs, and job opportunities for college students. is is particularly important, Weaver said, because completion rates for STEM fields at community colleges are very low, such as 20%. Company momentum e six pillars of the pledge included in the MassBio open letter included commitments to inclusive company cul- tures; leadership and executive culture; recruitment; retention and develop- ment; accountability and sustainability; and supplier diversity. While the majority of respondents re- ported already having initiatives related to the first three pillars, the retention, accountability, and supplier diversity pillars were not as developed: 24% of survey respondents said they've used a diversity dashboard to track various diverse workforce data, for example, although implementing one was part of the open letter, and only 26% of respon- dents said they'd launched initiatives focused on supplier diversity. Putting these kinds of DEI commit- ments in place requires both time and staffing, something respondents said they were lacking. e top two most reported reasons reported to have hindered either the implementation or success of best practices or new DEI measures were a lack of resources and bandwidth, as well as lack of budget, per the survey. "When there's that concerted invest- ment in both resources and tools, you see meaningful change," said Kendalle Burlin O'Connell, pres- ident and chief operating officer at MassBio. Indeed, imple- menting meaning- ful DEI practices and changes with- in companies, re- gardless of the sector, inevitably means allocating tangible tools for leadership to do so. Public statements are only one step in that direction. "is is not a progress report," Mar- shall said. "is is a benchmark." W Kendalle Burlin O'Connell, president at MassBio We have multilingual employees Do some of your customer-facing employees speak more than one language? Greater Worcester has a diverse population, which speaks an array of languages. Being able to communicate with people who speak different languages is a way to diversify relationships from business to business, as well as to expand a company's customer base. When polled online, the majority of WBJ readers said some of their customer-facing employees speak more than one language. F L AS H P O L L Yes, although it is not required. 67% Yes, and we pay them more for their translating services. No, it is not necessary for us. 16% 8% No, but we're planning to add multilingual employees. 6% No, but we give hiring preference to employees who speak more than one language. 2% Yes, it is required for all positions. 1%

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