Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com January 18, 2016 • Worcester Business Journal 11 Preferred Mutual Insurance Company One Preferred Way, New Berlin, NY 13411 Assurance is more than a policy. It's a promise. www.preferredmutual.com It's the confidence you feel when the expertise of an agent meets the guarantee of a quality product. It's liberating; it's refreshing; it's Living Assured. Scan our QR Code to visit our website and view our product offerings. employment and employee benefits group, said the proposed bill does give some more teeth to the laws designed to assure equal pay for men and women. He said noncompliance would be con- sidered a discriminatory act under state law, and that employers would not be able to solicit salary history from job candidates, a common practice. Higgins said he thinks many employ- ers would be generally accepting of the requirements of the new law, since it's so similar to existing laws. Like Mailman, others expect more pushback. Small business burden Stuart Loosemore, an attorney and director of government affairs and pub- lic policy at the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, said while the chamber hasn't taken a formal position on the bill, there are concerns that it may strip these decisions about employ- ee qualifications away from employers, as they try to set guidelines for defining comparable work. For example, Loosemore wondered if a female janitor and a male cafeteria worker should be on the same pay scale, or whether a chief financial officer should be paid on the same scale as an in-house attorney. It may be particularly difficult for small businesses without robust human resource expertise to make those decisions, he said. "We don't want to see anything that's going to add undue burden to small- and medium-size business," Loosemore said. He wondered if requiring businesses to post minimum salary information – ostensibly to set a floor so that women will not undervalue themselves when applying for jobs – removes autonomy from businesses. AIM: Market demands equal pay The Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), the state's largest employer association, has taken it a step further and formally opposed the Act to Establish Pay equity. Christopher Geehern, executive vice president of marketing and communications at AIM, said enforcement of existing state and federal laws should be reviewed before the state passes a new one. Meanwhile, Geehern said the pres- sure to find skilled and educated work- ers needed to help companies grow should prompt businesses to offer com- petitive wages to all workers. AIM's long-term economic plan for the Bay State found this problem is the one that most businesses consider the most important as they look to grow. "In that kind of a labor market where skills are at such a premium, any employer who doesn't believe in pay equity and gender equity, frankly, isn't going to be in business very long," Geehern said. n Several Worcester lawyers have mobile apps, including Gregory Casale and the Sharry Law Office. Both apps are operated by AttorneyConnect LLC and have appointment calendars as well as directions to the firms. The Beechwood Hotel also has an app to make it easy for guests to call a cab or check out what's going on in the area, and Blackstone National Golf Club in Sutton allows visitors to book a tee time on its app. This fall, Discover Central Massachusetts launched the 21st century version of its longtime staple the WOO Card. Called the WOO Pass, the mobile app will eventually consolidate all the benefits of the punch card into one place and serve as a connector between busi- nesses and the people they serve. Unlike the WOO Card, which func- tions largely as a rewards card, the WOO Pass will be an all-encompassing elec- tronic visitor's guide to the region, said Christina Andreoli, president of Discover Central Massachusetts. A loy- alty aspect to the WOO Pass will roll out this spring, she said. "Say I'm near the Hanover Theatre, if I'm walking or driving by, there will be an event near where you are right now, you'll get a notification on your phone," she said. "When you favorite things that you like [on the app], you get an instant notification on your phone, like alerts." Andreoli said she hopes the WOO Pass will become the go-to guide for locals as well as visitors to the region. As of December, about 50 local businesses paid the fee to be listed on the app, but Andreoli expects that number will increase after a bigger push this spring. n The Worcester Art Museum is one of the many local businesses listed in the new WOO Pass app, Discover Central Massachusetts' 21st century answer longtime Worcester staple the WOO Card. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y

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