Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 5, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 21 e broken rung in the corporate ladder BY MELANIE BONSU Special to WBJ F or the last several years for WBJ's Women in Leadership edition, I've written about the challeng- es women of color face in attaining and retaining leadership positions within corporate America. Six years (and a total career change) have passed since I first wrote about the concrete ceiling for WBJ, so I figured it was time to revisit this barrier and see if any progress has been made. I started with the same route I did in 2018 – checking the Fortune 500 list. I was pleasantly surprised to find 2023 was a record year for women CEOs; 52 (10.4%) compa- nies reported having women lead- ing their organizations, which is a 19% increase from last year. Since I now work for a global company, I checked the Global 500 list and found that 5.8% (29) are led by women, a 20% increase from last year. is shows a gain, but one that doesn't transfer down to Black women, as only two Black women made the list, asun- da Brown Duckett of New York insurer TIAA and Toni Townes-Whitley of Virginia engineering firm SAIC. Two women? Is this still the effects of the concrete ceil- ing? Aer doing some research, I discovered the broken rung in the corporate ladder! According to research from McKinsey and LeanIn.Org the barrier isn't at the top of the ladder with the glass (or concrete) ceiling, it's at the bottom! Women are less likely than men to be promoted to a management role from their entry-level positions. Last year, for every 100 men promoted, only 87 women were promoted, and it was even less for women of color: 73, a reduction from the prior year's number of 80. For Black women, it's even lower at 54. Many factors cause this broken rung to exist, including microaggressions, unconscious bias, misperception on work flexibility, lack of mentorship, etc. Companies need to acknowledge these exist and make conscious efforts to address them. Don't assume if someone requests hybrid work accommodations that less work is going to get done. If deadlines and deliverables are met, why require a standard workday at their desk? Set achievable goals for gender and racial diversity targets and have a clear set of KPIs. No more fluffy DEI training to check a box! Having been on the receiving end of numerous micro- aggressions throughout my career, I cannot stress enough these behaviors need to be called out when they occur. Don't foster a culture allowing this type of behavior to thrive. Well-organized, meaningful mentorship is critical through any stage of one's career, but they are especially impactful at the early stages. Professional development will have a great ROI. Investing in your team members doesn't only help them, it helps the company. While I wasn't thrilled with the slow progress of 2023 for women in leadership, I will remain optimistic the increase seen last year will continue into 2024. Melanie Bonsu is community relations manager for Worcester manufacturer Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc. - North America. Cannabis businesses aren't government piggy banks anymore Melanie Bonsu B ack in 2018 when nascent Massachusetts recreational marijuana dispensaries were vying to become the first cannabis busi- nesses to open east of the Mississippi River and cash in on the newly legalized industry, their potential impact on their host communities was unknown. Fear and anticipation ruled the day, and their yet-to-be-determined effects on traffic, crime, and a host of other potentially deleterious outcomes dictat- ed how local governments treated these startups. In this environment, municipalities could extract significant community-impact payments from the new cannabis businesses as part of their host community agreements, which were required by regulators in order for any business to open. In Worcester, for example, the first dispensary to consummate one of these agree- ments – Good Chemistry – agreed to pay the City $450,000 over three years, plus an escalating percent- age of gross sales, in addition to donating $10,000 annually to public charities. is was all on top of the 17% in state and 3% in local taxes levied against retail marijuana sales. e Cannabis Control Commission declined to regulate these deals, even though many went beyond what communities could legally ask. What was discovered in the six years since the first dispensaries opened is marijuana businesses are basi- cally just like any other business, with limited commu- nity impacts. Yes, in the beginning, the cannabis craze did have an outsized impact, such as when Leicester dispensary Cultivate in November 2017 became one of the first two dispensaries to open in the state, and the line of cars stretched into residential streets, requiring police overtime to manage the traffic.ose kinds of community impacts were short lived. A new law in 2022 required communities to document any financial impact caused by a cannabis business, and fees should be directly tied to those measurable impacts. Fast forward to January of this year, when dispensa- ry Caroline's Cannabis won a $1.2-million settlement from the Town of Uxbridge in a lawsuit over millions collected in community-impact fees, which Caroline's claimed they didn't reflect its community impact. e Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association then called on all local governments to refund fees they couldn't justify keeping, which MassCBA says could be as high as $165 million. Worcester and Boston, the two communities with the most dispensaries, are already ahead of the curve. In November 2022, Boston returned $3 million in fees to nine businesses. Aer collecting $5.2 million over a four-year period, Worces- ter stopped collecting the fees altogether in 2023. e perceived cannabis industry gold rush has come to an end. Businesses now are struggling and closing, as supply has outpaced demand. Not only must exces- sive fees be stopped, but the state should lower its 17% tax on cannabis retail sales, as it has collected $960 mil- lion since 2018. Previously collected fees municipalities cannot justify should be refunded, and any future fees must be tied to measurable impacts. Cannabis firms are like most other businesses and should be freed from excess fees and taxes, in order to be competitive. ey shouldn't have to pay a king's ransom just to exist. The above Editorial is the opinion of the WBJ Editorial Board. The Viewpoint column, the A Thousand Words cartoon, and the Word from the Web commentary represent the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of WBJ or its staff. WBJ welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Send them to bkane@wbjournal.com. W W

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