Commentary
We All Need to Step Up to Stem the Economic Carnage of the Coronavirus Crisis
Its time to have a national conversation about the path forward for our way of life
At Gravity Payments, we process $10 billion a year in credit card transactions, and we just finished going through the data on how COVID-19 (the coronavirus) has affected businesses. In Washington state (mostly the Seattle area) the epicenter of the outbreak total revenue for all businesses is down 10% just in the last 3 weeks….
Seattle Is Now the Laboratory of This Nations Future
Prepare for more sacrifice ahead in the battle against the coronavirus, but dont let dread of the future paralyze you in the present
Washington Gov. Jay Inslees emergency proclamation temporarily shutting down restaurants, bars and recreational facilities statewide and prohibiting all gatherings of more than 50 people is part of an escalating social-distancing effort that also is drastically constricting economic activity. Its a public-health response aimed at limiting the deadly reach of the coronavirus (COVID-19). So, it seems…
Working Remotely Is Becoming the New Normal in the Coronavirus Era
Maximizing productivity and collaboration in a work-from-home environment requires preparation, communication and smart use of technology
With many businesses in the Seattle area mandating work-from-home policies in the face of a rapidly evolving coronavirus outbreak, now is a good time to revisit best practices that can make working remotely as productive as possible. Many of the key ingredients of effective remote work are not new concepts to most people, but they…
5 Things to Do Right Now to Keep Your Business Moving Forward During the Coronavirus Onslaught
Flex work is a best practice during epidemics and disasters, but it takes planning to get it right
As the coronavirus spreads across the globe with a spike in cases in Iran, Italy and South Korea in recent days the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) is urging organizations to create contingency plans should the disease continue to spread. Nestle SA told more than 290,000 employees to suspend all international business travel until…
Microsoft Addresses Seattle’s Housing Crisis
Microsoft strives to succeed where others have failed
This article appears in print in the April 2019 issue. Click here to subscribe. Microsoft is back. It never went away, but some missteps in the consumer electronics market and the ascendance of social media, search, device and retailing competitors rendered the Redmond company almost an afterthought in an industry it helped create and once…
Companies Must Pay Women the Same as Men
Companies face legal risks if they rely on salary history rather than equal pay
Today, April 2, is Equal Pay Day, which symbolizes how far into 2019 women, on average, must work to earn what men earned in 2018. The Seattle tech community, like many others across the country, has stated a commitment to increase diversity overall, including increasing the percentage of female employees throughout the ranks. Women accounted…
Seattle Business: Change Brings Fresh Ideas and Perspectives
'At its core, business journalism is all about covering growth and growth companies'
This article appears in print in the April 2019 issue. Click here to subscribe. Theres a brand-new team at Seattle Business magazine. You may know that longtime editor Leslie Helm left the publication in October after 10 years as executive editor. You also may have heard that John Levesque recently retired as managing editor after…
2018 Was a Bad Year for the News Business
2019 isnt likely to be any better
This article appears in print in the March 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. For the media business, 2018 was not a good year. From established magazine titles like The Weekly Standard and Glamour shutting down or dumping print editions to the depressing and relentless stream of layoffs in the newspaper industry, the…
Paid Sick-Leave Policies Can Be Fraught With Compliance Traps
Employers could face big consequences for missteps
This article appears in print in the February 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Its been more than a year since the effective date of Washington states Paid Sick Leave Act, bringing both legal and practical compliance challenges to employers with Washington-based employees. For most employers, the law added a layer of paid-sick-leave…
Journalism 101: Repeating a False Claim Often Can Be Persuasive, but It Doesn’t Make a Lie the Truth
Saying the same thing over and over again isnt necessarily a sign of diminished capacity
This article appears in print in the February 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for American journalists to fear for their safety on their home turf, we have a problem. Exactly how we got to this point isnt a mystery. Our own president…
The Big Questions for Seattle in 2019: Boeing’s New Plane, Amazon’s Next Move and the Fate of Real Estate?
Its 2019, and its time for a new set of questions.
This article appears in print in the February 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The dominant question on the local business scene for most of 2018 had to do with a too-cutesy bit of corporate coinage that, in the end, even its own creator didnt believe in. By the time Amazons trolling for…
The 2019 Economic Forecast
Rapid expansion slows, but global, U.S. and regional economies will continue to be strong in 2019
This article appears in print in the January 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The global economy has been performing pretty well recently with Gross World Product running in the 3 to 3.5 percent range for the past seven years. I believe the world economy will continue growing, but we are starting to…