layoffs

Media Decoder Blog: Time Inc. to Reduce Global Staff by 6 Percent

January 30, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Time Inc. joined the many news organizations that are trying to tighten their belts in a tough advertising climate by announcing layoffs and offering employees buyout packages on Wednesday.

In a memo, Laura Lang, chief executive of Time Inc., said that she planned to reduce the company’s worldwide staff of 8,000 employees by 6 percent, or about 480 employees. Ms. Lang stressed that the cuts would extend beyond New York and that it was hoped they would help Time Inc. better make the transition to the digital world.

“They come from all areas of Time Inc. across our locations — both domestic and international,” Ms. Lang said. “We must continue to transform our company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately multiplatform.”

Editors at People and Time magazines announced buyout packages Wednesday morning and other magazines are expected to follow with announcements throughout the day.

In a memo to his staff, Larry Hackett, editor in chief of People magazine, said that he was seeking nine volunteers to accept severance packages. According to the memo, he specifically was looking for three writers and six reporters or researchers to volunteer to take packages.

Mr. Hackett said in his memo that volunteers must apply by Feb. 13. “If necessary, we will then follow the guild contract procedure for conducting involuntary layoffs in these guild categories,” he added, referring to the Newspaper Guild, the union representing Time employees.

At Time, Richard Stengel, the magazine’s managing editor, said he was seeking two researchers, one staff writer and three copy editors to volunteer for severance packages.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/time-inc-to-reduce-global-staff-by-6-percent/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: copy editors, layoffs, time magazines

France Near Deal to Simplify Labor Regulations

January 11, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

After weeks of sparring among the five major labor unions and the main employers’ lobby, both sides were edging toward a breakthrough that could pave the way for a series of changes that President François Hollande has said are needed to burnish France’s international allure as a place to do business.

Those ambitions were clouded recently by a series of high-profile episodes, including a recent government threat to nationalize an ArcelorMittal plant in northeastern France to preserve jobs. There was also the audacious decision during the past week by the French actor Gérard Depardieu to take Russian citizenship to escape a proposed 75 percent marginal tax rate on incomes of more than €1 million, or €1.3 million.

The labor measures expected to be cemented in the accord still being worked out late Friday would help address what Louis Gallois, Mr. Hollande’s investment commissioner, has dubbed a “two-speed” labor market in France. Under that system, employees on long-term contracts enjoy extensive, costly job protections and benefits, while temporary workers, whose ranks have surged to one-third of the French labor force, have minimal job security and relatively few benefits.

The changes under discussion would include giving employers more flexibility to reduce working hours in times of economic distress without incurring union strikes. High levels of compensation that courts can award to laid-off workers would be trimmed, and the five-year period that ex-employees now have to contest layoffs would be reduced.

In November, the government introduced a tax credit for companies, potentially worth a total of €20 billion, aimed at easing high employment costs.

In exchange, business negotiators on Friday agreed, as a concession to unions, to pay higher taxes for short-term work contracts. Two unions objected that the offer was not enough, a hitch that could still scuttle the talks. But if approved, that move would expand government coffers meant to support the unemployed, while also nudging employers toward favoring long-term contracts. Employers would also pay somewhat higher contributions for private health insurance.

But whether any of the changes, even if nailed down in a binding agreement, will come fast enough to fix France’s problems is an open question. Some economists now say that France could become the next sick man of Europe if it does not improve the environment for investment and hiring.

“Given the gap we still have between the level of labor market regulation in France and in countries like the United States, Britain and Ireland, it is very clear that when observers look at the outcome, they will say it’s a step in the right direction, but not enough,” said Dominique Barbet, the European economist for BNP Paribas in Paris.

“But we also need to keep in mind that in France, if you want to make reforms, you have to go through small steps first,” he said. “You can’t try to change the system overnight. That usually results in mass protests in the streets.”

Mr. Hollande’s government is expected to sign off on the deal. He has said it will help him keep a promise of reducing unemployment, now at a 13-year high of 10.7 percent, by the end of 2013. Youth unemployment is now around 25 percent.

Mr. Hollande sought the accord after Mr. Gallois issued a stark assessment of the French economy in November, saying the country needed a “competitiveness shock” that would require politicians to curb the “cult of regulation” that the Mr. Gallois said was choking business.

Under current labor rules, many entrepreneurs in France hesitate to hire large numbers of workers. Some employers even resort to operating several companies with no more than 49 employees each, instead of running larger ones that employ hundreds.

That is because after the 50th person is hired, a stack of new regulations come into play, including lengthy firing procedures even for underperforming employees, and requirements for numerous union representatives.

Temporary contracts fall on the other end of the scale: they are often lower-paid and offer far fewer protections, something that has alarmed French labor unions. More than 80 percent of new contracts now issued in France are short term, a trend that has grown steadily as employers turn to them to escape the costly rules protecting permanent workers.

Mr. Gallois’s report said that unless France relaxed its labor rules, the country would continue on an industrial decline that had destroyed more than 750,000 jobs in a decade and helped shrink France’s share of exports to the European Union to 9.3 percent from 12.7 percent. The report also called for cuts to a variety of business taxes used to pay for government and France’s expensive social safety net.

The International Monetary Fund in December warned that France needed to lift competitiveness or risk rising unemployment. Because of continued impediments in the functioning of labor and product markets, the fund added, French companies were earning lower profit margins than in other European countries, in turn affecting the ability of enterprises to invest and innovate.

While the impact of such changes will take time, France has already taken a series of steps that could help it skirt the worst in coming years. A fiscal consolidation begun in 2010 is continuing, in which tax increases and spending cuts are being applied to bring the overall budget deficit down to 3 percent of gross domestic product in 2013, from an estimated 4.5 percent in 2012.

The economy is expected to grow about 0.4 percent in 2013, according to the I.M.F.

“What’s most important is that France get an economic recovery,” said Mr. Barbet, of BNP Paribas. “If we don’t have that, people won’t hire no matter what the new labor rules are.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/business/global/france-near-deal-to-simplify-labor-regulations.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: french labor force, layoffs, russian citizenship

God Save the British Economy

December 19, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

One morning this summer, I went to the bank to visit Adam Posen, a member of its Monetary Policy Committee, the custodian of the pound. With bright red curly hair and a trim beard, Posen, who is 46, stands out in all the M.P.C.’s official photographs. He is “ fatter” and “fuzzier” than the other officials, he joked. Posen also happens to be only the second American economist ever to serve on the committee.

It’s impossible to imagine the uproar if President Obama ever nominated a British academic to work at the highest level of the Federal Reserve. But when Posen arrived, in September 2009, his job was to provide an outsider’s perspective. The bank was trying to steer Britain through the global financial crisis, and Posen seemed like a uniquely perfect fit. In the late 1990s, when he was a 30-year-old economist, his contrarian critique of Japan’s central bank and finance ministry helped that country put an end to its so-called Lost Decade. In the years since, Posen has become a well-respected adviser to (and critic of) many of the world’s key financial institutions. With this appointment, Posen crossed the line from scholar to decision maker. It was the first time that he had real power.

Posen arrived in London after the acute panic of the financial crisis had given way to the long slog we’re still in. At that point, policy makers around the world were given the task of assessing the damage and devising a plan that would best position the economy to function at normal levels. The United States had already responded with a roughly $800 billion stimulus package. In the spring of 2010, British voters went in another direction. They elected Prime Minister David Cameron, who had promised to reset the economy by severely cutting government spending, which would lead to significant public-sector layoffs. The economy’s only chance to return to long-term growth, Cameron argued, would be a painful, but brief, period of austerity. By shrinking the size of an inefficient government, Cameron explained, the budget would be balanced by 2015 and the private sector could lead the economy to full recovery.

Today these two approaches offer a crucial case study and perhaps a breakthrough in an age-old economic argument of austerity versus stimulus. In the past few years, the United States has experienced a steep downturn followed by a steady (though horrendously slow) upturn. The U.S. unemployment rate, which shot up to 10 percent at the end of 2009 from 4.4 percent in mid-2007, has now dropped steadily to 7.7 percent. It might be a frustrating pace, but it’s enough to persuade most economists that a recovery is under way.

The British economy, however, is profoundly stuck. Between fall 2007 and summer 2009, its unemployment rate jumped to 7.9 percent, from 5.2 percent. Yet in the three and a half years since — even despite the stimulus provided by this summer’s Olympic Games — the number has hovered around 7.9. The overall level of economic activity, real G.D.P., is still below where it was five years ago, too. Historically, it’s almost unimaginable for a major economy to be poorer than it was half a decade ago. (By comparison, the United States has a real G.D.P. that is around a half-trillion dollars more than it was in 2007.) Yet austerity’s advocates continue to argue, as Cameron has, that Britain’s economic stagnation shows that the government is still crowding out private-sector investment. This, they say, is proof that austerity is even more essential than was first realized. Once the debts have been paid off and the euro zone solves its political problems, the thinking goes, the British economy will bounce back quickly.

When I visited Posen this summer, he refused to publicly criticize a sitting administration’s policies, but every time the topic of austerity came up, he was unable to hide his frustration. Posen’s term ended in August, and his subsequent nondisclosure agreement expired last month. Now he wants to persuade everyone he can that Britain should abandon its austerity program. He says that he has a solution that would quickly return healthy economic growth. His critics say that his prescription would bring about another financial panic. But whether you think he’s right or wrong depends on what you make of the data.

Economics often appears to be an exercise in number-crunching, but it actually resembles storytelling more than mathematics. Before the members of the Monetary Policy Committee gather for their monthly meeting, they sit through a presentation from the Bank of England’s economic staff. The staff members take the most recent economic data — G.D.P. growth, the unemployment rate and more subtle details gathered from interviews with businesspeople throughout the country — and try to fashion it into a narrative. Does a sudden spike in new factory orders represent a fundamental shift, or is it just a preholiday blip? Do anecdotal reports of rising food prices herald a period of inflation, or is it the result of a cold snap? Which story feels truer?

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/magazine/god-save-the-british-economy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: custodian, layoffs, perfect fit

Media Decoder Blog: New York Times Seeks Buyouts From 30 in Newsroom

December 3, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Aiming to cut costs in an increasingly troubled advertising environment, The New York Times announced on Monday morning that it would offer buyout packages to newsroom employees. While the primary goal of the buyout program is to trim managers and other nonunion employees from its books, the company is offering employees represented by the Newspaper Guild the chance to volunteer for buyout packages as well.

In a letter to the staff, Jill Abramson, executive editor of The Times, said she was seeking 30 managers who are not union members to accept buyout packages. She stressed that the paper had been reducing as many newsroom expenses as possible, like leases on foreign and national bureaus. But the hiring The Times has done in recent years to help make it more competitive online has restored the newsroom to the same size it was in 2003 — about 1,150 people.

“There is no getting around the hard news that the size of the newsroom staff must be reduced,” Ms. Abramson said in the letter.

Employees have until Jan. 24 to accept a severance package. Ms. Abramson pointed out in her note that the business side had cut its staff by more than 60 percent in recent years. The company recently announced that it was offering buyouts to 30 employees in the advertising department. The newsroom had its most extensive cuts in 2008 when it eliminated 100 jobs through buyouts and layoffs. Ms. Abramson urged employees to consider “whether accepting a voluntary severance package at this time in your life makes sense.”

She added: “I hope the needed savings can be achieved through voluntary buyouts but if not, I will be forced to go to layoffs among the excluded staff.”

These buyouts are not being offered to members of the editorial department. Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor, wrote in a note that “we, too, have made reductions to our expenses to meet our share of this burden, but we are not going to be offering buyouts in the Editorial Department at this time.”

The newspaper industry as a whole is confronting a drastic falloff in advertising revenue. Print advertising at The New York Times Company’s newspapers, which include The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune, shrank 10.9 percent, according to the latest earnings report. Digital advertising across the company fell 2.2 percent.

“These are financially challenging times,” Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the chairman of the Times Company, said in a statement. “While our digital subscription plan has been highly successful, the advertising climate remains volatile and we don’t see this changing in the near future.”

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/new-york-times-seeks-buyouts-from-30-newsroom-managers/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: executive editor, layoffs, newsroom staff

DealBook: UBS to Cut 10,000 Jobs in Major Overhaul

October 30, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesUBS headquarters in Zurich.

LONDON – The Swiss bank UBS announced plans on Tuesday to eliminate up to 10,000 jobs and cut costs in a major overhaul that dragged down earnings.

In the latest quarter, UBS posted a loss of 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2.3 billion) for the three months ended Sept. 30, citing restructuring costs and charges connected to its own debt. The bank recorded a net profit of 1 billion francs in the period a year earlier.

Like many European banks, UBS is dealing with the effects of the sovereign debt crisis and the sluggish European economy. With profits eroding, UBS is moving to reduce its riskier operations and focus on its profitable wealth management group.

DealBook: Credit Suisse Said to Plan New Round of Layoffs in Europe

June 26, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Arnd Wiegmann/ReutersA branch of Credit Suisse in Basel, Switzerland.

LONDON – The Swiss bank Credit Suisse is planning to further reduce the size of its European investment banking department, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Credit Suisse, which announced plans last year to eliminate 3,500 jobs as part of an overhaul of its worldwide operations, may reduce the work force in its European investment banking division by as much as 30 percent, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The new job reductions in that unit are part of the bank’s previously announced restructuring plans.

The cutbacks are expected to be focused in the bank’s advisory and capital markets businesses in Europe. Last month, the bank said it would let go 126 employees in the New York area by the beginning of August.

A spokesman for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

The new layoffs in Europe could take place over the next 12 months. In a progress report on its restructuring efforts, Credit Suisse said previously that it had eliminated 2,000 jobs by the end of March.

The prospect of layoffs in the bank’s European investment banking department comes soon after Switzerland’s central bank said Credit Suisse needed to increase its capital this year to prepare for a potential worsening of the European debt crisis

The Swiss National Bank singled out Credit Suisse in its annual financial stability report as a bank that needed to “significantly expand its loss-absorbing capital during the current year.”

In response, Credit Suisse said it was “comfortable” with its progress toward increasing capital reserves.

With a new round of layoffs in Europe, Credit Suisse is reacting to a broad reduction in deal activity and initial public offerings on the Continent prompted by market volatility and the debt crisis.

The total combined value of mergers and acquisitions in Europe has fallen 20 percent this year, to $382 billion, from the same period in 2011, according to the data provider Dealogic.

The total value of deals in Europe’s equity capital markets, including I.P.O.’s and rights issues, also fell 50 percent, to $60.4 billion, in the first half of the year.

Credit Suisse is not the only bank looking to cut back. A Swiss rival, UBS, has said it plans to cut 3,500 jobs, with about half of the layoffs expected within its investment banking division.

The French banks Société Générale and Crédit Agricole have also announced layoffs in response to a slowdown in the European economy.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/credit-suisse-said-to-plan-new-round-of-layoffs-in-europe/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: dealbook, layoffs, worldwide operations

New Jobless Claims Are Lowest Since ‘08

December 22, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 364,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was the lowest amount since April 2008.

In other economic news, a survey released Thursday showed that consumer sentiment rose in December to its highest level in six months. And a gauge of future economic activity increased more than expected in November because of a sharp pickup in new permits to build homes.

But revised data showed that the nation’s economic growth was slower than previously estimated in the third quarter because of a sharp drop in health care spending. Stronger business investment and a fall in inventories pointed to a pickup in output in the current period.

The United States economy has shown signs it is gaining steam as the year ends, although the recovery still could be derailed by any big flare-up in Europe’s debt crisis. The economy also faces risks from the fight in Congress over extending special unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut.

Jobless Claims

The decline in jobless claims last week was a more positive development than expected. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 375,000 last week.

The prior week’s jobless claims data was revised up to 368,000 from the previously reported 366,000.

The level of unemployment claims has fallen in recent weeks, and analysts say fewer layoffs means employers are probably more likely to hire.

Economists at Goldman Sachs said earlier in the week that weekly claims below 435,000 pointed to net monthly gains in jobs. Their research was based on figures available through October.

In November, the jobless rate dropped to a two-and-a-half-year low of 8.6 percent. The Federal Reserve last week acknowledged an improvement in the jobs market, but said unemployment remained high and left the door open for further measures to help the economy.

Consumer Sentiment

In a fresh sign of economic hope, a survey released Thursday showed that Thomson Reuters University of Michigan’s final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment rose to 69.9 points in December from 64.1 the previous month.

It topped the median forecast of 68 points among economists polled by Reuters and beat December’s preliminary figure of 67.7.

Over all, real spending is expected to increase by 1.8 percent in 2012 as long as action is taken on extending the payroll tax cut, the survey said.

The survey’s barometer of current economic conditions rose to 79.6 points from 77.6, while the survey’s gauge of consumer expectations gained to 63.6 points from 55.4. All three indexes were at their highest level since June.

“I think it’s a reflection of improving job statistics, we’re seeing an increase in retail sales and even housing seems to be going up,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. “A lot of the key bookends of our economy appear to be really strengthening and that’s supporting confidence.”

Leading Indicators

A report released Thursday by the Conference Board suggested that economic momentum could increase by spring.

The private firm’s Leading Economic Index rose 0.5 percent in November to 118 points, following a 0.9 percent increase in October. It was the seventh straight monthly gain in the index.

“The risk of an economic downturn in the near term has receded,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, an economist at the Conference Board.

Ken Goldstein, another Conference Board economist, said the index suggested the economy could pick up steam by spring.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the index to rise 0.3 percent in November.

Economic Output

In a separate report released on Thursday, the Commerce Department said in its final estimate that gross domestic product grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, down from the previously estimated 2 percent.

Economists had expected growth to be unrevised at 2 percent. Though spending on health care dropped by $2.2 billion, spending on durable goods was stronger than previously estimated, indicating household appetite to consume remains healthy.

Health care spending had previously been reported to have increased at a $19.7 billion rate. Health care spending subtracted about 0.1 percentage point from the G.D.P. change in the final revision, whereas the previous estimate had it adding 0.61 percentage point to growth.

Despite the downward revision, the third quarter growth is still a step up from the April-June period’s 1.3 percent pace. Part of the pickup in output during the last quarter reflected a reversal of factors that held back growth earlier in the year.

A jump in gasoline prices weighed on consumer spending earlier in the year, and supply disruptions from Japan’s big earthquake and tsunami in March curbed auto production.

The government revised consumer spending to a 1.7 percent growth rate from 2.3 percent because of adjustments to health care services, in particular nonprofit hospitals.

Spending on durable goods was, however, revised up to a 5.7 percent pace from 5.5 percent.

Business inventories dropped by $2 billion, which sliced off 1.35 percentage points from G.D.P. growth. Inventories had previously been estimated to have declined $8.5 billion.

The drag from inventories was offset by strong business spending, which increased at a 15.7 percent rate, instead of 14.8 percent.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b043ce80eb59335e8618bf879b992e1f

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: debt crisis, inventories, layoffs

Economix Blog: More Churn in Job Market Is Hopeful Sign

November 9, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

CATHERINE RAMPELL

Dollars to doughnuts.

The number of people leaving or receiving jobs picked up in September, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, a sign that that the labor market may be regaining its health.

Both hires and separations have been relatively stagnant in the last year, with companies too nervous to hire or let anyone go, and employees too frightened to leave their jobs. Layoffs in particular had reached record lows earlier this year. But levels of both rose in September.

While a rise in separations, at least, may not sound like welcome news, it means that companies and workers are finally more willing to start making decisions again. Uncertainty about the state of the economy had largely frozen both hiring and firing, and without people leaving their jobs, companies had nobody to replace with new workers. Greater churn in the job market now potentially means more opportunities down the line for the 14 million unemployed workers sitting on the sidelines.

The turnover is still not as great as it was before the recession began, however, when the population was also smaller.

Particularly promising is that the number of quits — that is, workers who voluntarily left their jobs, as opposed to being fired or laid off — rose in September, reaching its highest total since November 2008. That probably means that workers finally feel more confident that they can find new work if they are unhappy with their current position.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics

The best news was in job openings, which was at its highest level since August 2008, the month before Lehman Brothers failed. That also helped bring down the number of jobless workers per opening to 4.1, which, while still historically high, is far better than its peak of 6.9 unemployed workers per opening in July 2009.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics

Continued competition among unemployed workers implies that wage inflation is unlikely to hit anytime soon, according to Henry Mo, vice president of economics at Credit Suisse.

The main continued area of concern in the Labor Department’s report was the disconnect between job openings and hiring. There has been decent growth in the number of job openings since the recovery officially began, with openings up 38 percent since June 2009, but growth in the number of hiring has been very slow, up only 17 percent.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics

It’s not clear what to make of this. The disconnect could be due to a skills mismatch — that is, workers don’t have the skills that employers are looking for. Or it could just be a sign of continued hesitation among employers, who are waiting for the recovery to pick up more speed before they commit to filling an opening.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=33c0b395f75ecdd58e3ad417d67892a9

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: current position, jobless workers, layoffs

DealBook: Amid Wall Street Protests, Smaller Banks Gain Favor

November 4, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesVince Siciliano, the head of New Resource Bank in San Francisco, says his business is growing.

Vince Siciliano — a Birkenstock-wearing, organic food-eating, public transportation-riding sympathizer of Occupy Wall Street who earns $240,000 a year — is far from a banking baron.

But as the chief executive of New Resource Bank in San Francisco, Mr. Siciliano has managed to pull off what his bigger rivals have not: turn a profit and stay out of the line of fire.

“Our business has tripled this month,” said Mr. Siciliano, 61, referring to October. “We have had nonstop, all day long, people moving their money.”

New Resource, a small community bank that focuses on sustainable and “planet-smart” small businesses and nonprofits, is one of the many community-based lenders benefiting from the criticism of Wall Street.

In recent weeks, big banks, already barraged by flagging profits and widespread layoffs, have been a focus of global protests and disparagement over new fees. A $5 monthly debit card fee introduced by Bank of America provoked enough outrage that the company retracted its decision. An online campaign, called Bank Transfer Day, that encourages clients of the nation’s largest banks to park their money elsewhere, has attracted more than 75,000 Facebook commitments from angry customers of big banks.

On the margins, customers are seeking out alternatives like community banks and credit unions. Without the obligations to generate huge returns for public shareholders, these smaller banks often can charge lower fees and pay higher interest rates than their bigger competitors. More than 650,000 people have joined credit unions since Sept. 29 — the day Bank of America announced its debit card fee — and have brought in an estimated $4.5 billion in new deposits, according to a survey conducted by the Credit Union National Association.

“I think it’s a last-straw thing,” said Bill Cheney, the association’s chief executive. “Even though banks are backing up on some of their fees, there’s a sense that if it’s not this fee, its going to be something else.”

In October, New Resource added 150 new accounts and $1.5 million in deposits. GreenChoice Bank, a company based in Chicago that describes itself as a “green community bank,” has opened at least 100 new accounts since Occupy Wall Street began, including one for a couple who drove from Darien, Ill., 25 miles away, to move their money.

“People vote with their deposits,” said Steve Sherman, GreenChoice’s chief operating officer. “It all points to a broader cultural shift in what people expect from their bank, and from the companies they’re doing business with.”

Many bankers at these smaller companies come from traditional finance backgrounds. Mr. Siciliano spent 10 years at Bank of America, where he worked in Asia on corporate finance projects, before decamping to community banking. His switch to New Resource in 2009 required a major attitude shift.

“I tell people, there’s slow banking and fast banking,” Mr. Siciliano said. “In fast banking, you say, how fast can I grow? How high are my prices? How high an internal rate of return can I generate? Whereas slow banking says, it’s not about an exit strategy. It’s about building a long-term franchise around the mission.”

When Mr. Siciliano arrived at New Resource, during the financial crisis, it was in a state of disrepair. Deposits had shrunk, and federal regulators had ordered the bank to clean up its balance sheet. But after the bank began marketing itself as a green alternative to mainstream bank, and it became certified as a B-corporation — a type of corporation that encourages businesses to focus on creating environmental and social benefits as well as profits — business began to thrive. Last quarter, New Resource made a profit of $196,000, compared with a loss of $433,000 a year ago.

“It’s a good time for us,” Mr. Siciliano said. “Midsized foundations and nonprofits and companies are being asked by their boards, ‘Why do we bank at Wells Fargo or Bank of America?’ And we’re able to step in and offer an alternative.”

Part of the appeal of smaller banks has always been their focus on local investments. New Resource’s clientele is West Coast-centric, and includes Bay Area small businesses like San Francisco’s Haight Street Market in addition to people in the area.

“It’s a way to put your money in an institution that is investing in your community, and holds that as one of its core values,” said Jeannine Jacokes, chief executive of the Community Development Bankers Association, a trade group.

There are drawbacks, too. Many smaller banks lack the expansive ATM networks and online banking services of larger companies. And it can take weeks to move an account and set up auto-pay bill systems and direct deposits and have checks clear.

Michael Radparvar, the co-founder of Holstee, a lifestyle goods company in New York, does the company’s banking at Bank of America. He and his colleagues were contemplating switching to a smaller bank but had not decided whether the hassle would be worth it.

“The whole purpose is beautiful, and it jibes really well with our personal values,” he said. “It’s a matter of us finding a way to switch systems that’s seamless and doesn’t mess with the flow of what we’re working on.”

For some customers, though, feeling connected to a local bank is all that matters. David Becker, president of PhilippeBecker, a design firm in San Francisco, and a Bank of America refugee, said he had found shelter in a small local credit union, which charged him fewer fees, even though it lacked some of the conveniences of a larger bank.

“What’s a pretty Web interface worth?” he said. “What are you really getting?”

Mr. Becker, who has been keeping his business accounts at the Bank of San Francisco, a small local bank, for years, said it would be difficult to go back to his impersonal, fee-laden life as a big-bank customer.

“I called my credit union up the other day, and someone answered the phone,” he said. “I was like, holy smokes! I’m on a different planet!”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d2b6a6cc7e17fc5fbdf6fbb7af238c4a

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: community banks, credit unions, layoffs

Business Briefing | Company News: Newell Rubbermaid Will Consolidate Its Structure

October 29, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Newell Rubbermaid, the maker of Rubbermaid containers and Sharpie pens, said it was simplifying its structure to find savings and to focus more on its high-growth businesses and markets. The new structure, effective on Jan. 1, will reduce the number of operating groups to two from three, with one for consumers and the other for the professional market. Newell will also consolidate its manufacturing plants and distribution centers. The changes will result in 500 layoffs, primarily white-collar jobs. The company also reported better-than-expected earnings and affirmed its full-year outlook. Newell reported a net loss of $177.6 million, which included a one-time charge of a charge of $382.6 million. Shares of the company rose 11 percent, to $15.36.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ee53d20720cdc45fd69efae21ffe7e5a

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: layoffs, manufacturing plants, sharpie pens

Media Decoder Blog: Time Inc. to Reduce Global Staff by 6 Percent

France Near Deal to Simplify Labor Regulations

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