On December 5, Kasia Tazearslan, Workforce Field Building Hub Associate, and Sandy DeShong, Workforce Field Building Hub Consultant, presented at Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation’s (SBIDC) Navigating the Minimum Wage workshop. Sandy DeShong provided an overview of the minimum wage increase schedule in New York State, New York City, and across the country. In addition, Sandy discussed themes from the more than 20 interviews with businesses conducted by The Hub to learn how they are coping with the minimum wage increase. The findings from those interviews will be featured in the fourth brief of the Monitoring the Minimum Wage series, which will be published in early 2018; click here to access the first three briefs in the series.
The presentation was followed by a group discussion among attending businesses about changes, challenges, and opportunities related to the increasing minimum wage that they have encountered. Attending businesses are anxious about what comes next. They are facing a number of challenges that come along with the minimum wage increase such as where to find a qualified workforce, how to retain the loyal and hardworking employees, and most importantly how to pay for the increasing wages.
The second presentation, facilitated by Simi Mir, Esq. from Katona & Mir LLP, covered some of the legal aspects of employment laws and regulations and how to comply with them. Lastly, Ron Loveland from Summit Businesses Solutions presented a case study showcasing one of the manufacturing company they work with as an example of how to develop strategies to deal with rising costs of labor and how to redirect resources to cover the wage increase.
It was a great opportunity for The Hub to not only present the work around the Monitoring Minimum Wage series of briefs, but also to hear directly from businesses on how the minimum wage increase is and will impact them after it phases in. Thank you to SBIDC for organizing a great event and inviting The Hub to participate.
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