It’s hard to find anything good to say about nearly a year of remote learning. For some kids, months of Zooming without in-class contact with both teachers and fellow students has had disastrous consequences and unintended effects—educational, social and emotional—that we are only just beginning to understand.

The fear, of course, is that our children have fallen woefully behind, and catching up could take months or years. What we know for sure is that we cannot afford another semester of remote learning. It’s asking too much of teachers, parents and, most important, our kids, who need to be back in the classroom for a panoply of reasons. And with the vaccine now widely available to virtually everyone who wants it, the rationales for continuing to keep children out of the classroom and away from their vaccine-eligible teachers grow thinner by the day.

That’s why we were thrilled when Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, made her surprise call May 13 for a full reopening of public schools by the fall.

“Conditions have changed,” Weingarten said. “We can and must reopen schools in the fall for in-person teaching, learning and support. And keep them open. Fully and safely for five days a week.”

What we found less than thrilling was the Chicago Teachers Union’s rather tepid response, sowing yet more contentious uncertainty about whether it can or will be on board.

“President Weingarten is a national leader. Our work is centered on Chicago, and Black and Brown families in Chicago are centered on justice and fairness. They will need more than vaccines to instill confidence in returning their children to school buildings,” including strong ventilation systems and safety protocols agreed to after engagement with “parents, students and educators” about how to best spend COVID relief funds flowing soon to the district, the CTU, a unit of Weingarten’s national organization, said in a statement to Crain’s.

No one argues that a full, five-day-a-week return to the classroom could be done safely without continuing many of the enhanced precautions that have already been put in place by Chicago Public Schools officials. Keeping teachers and children safe is the top priority.

What is increasingly apparent is that children need the best chance to succeed. If there’s anything that the past year taught us, it’s that remote learning falls short on so many fronts.

What Weingarten is recognizing is pure and simple: The vaccines are working to drive infection rates down. Her comments came during a flurry of positive news about the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and in Illinois in the past couple of weeks. Both the city and state are moving closer to full normalcy as infection rates continue to fall locally and nationally. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention pulled back on mask mandates, announcing that those who have been vaccinated no longer need to wear masks in most settings—a stunning recognition of the success and pace at which the vaccines are working in our communities.

Even Lollapalooza is reportedly feeling giddy, for good reason. Of course, an outdoor music festival getting the green light to reopen this summer is not a benchmark for reopening schools fully. But it is a recognition of this: We have crossed a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19. And with reports that we are unlikely to reach herd immunity anytime soon, we are learning to live with the virus more successfully, as many scientists have expected for many months. But the future of Chicago and its recovery from a year that we would all like to forget depends so much on getting our schools back to functioning at full power.

We agree with the CTU that more work needs to be done to engage with families, especially in Black and Brown communities. The city needs to work harder to get the vaccine out to the neighborhoods where vaccine adoption rates are still low. But what the CTU needs to do is put forth a good-faith effort to work collaboratively with CPS and place the needs of children first, rather than turning the conversation over reopening into another opportunity to score a win over the administration.

Taking a cue from one of the largest national teachers unions and giving full-throated support to in-person learning this fall would be a nice place to start.

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Crain’s Chicago Business has garnered several honors in two recent journalism awards programs.

The Chicago Headline Club on May 13 granted Crain’s its coveted General Excellence award in the non-daily category. Crain’s Aug. 27 Forum on Education—part of the publication’s ongoing monthly series exploring major public policy challenges facing the region—won honors for best education reporting in the non-daily category.

Several individual staffers were also singled out for special honors in the competition. Crain’s Digital Design Editor Jason McGregor won the best graphics award for his work on Chicago Transit Authority ridership coverage as well as his work on Crain’s Forum; Crain’s Senior Reporter John Pletz won best technology reporting; health care reporter Stephanie Goldberg won best in-depth reporting honors; real estate reporter Danny Ecker won for best in-depth reporting in a business magazine or newspaper; Crain’s contributors John R. Boehm and Zac Osgood won best photography honors; and Crain’s Editor Ann Dwyer won for best editorial writing.

On May 11, Crain’s staffers learned they had received several honors in the annual Best in Business Awards sponsored by the Society for Advancing Business Editing & Writing at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Crain’s columnist Joe Cahill won top honors for commentary and opinion. Crain’s monthly Forum work won top data journalism honors for McGregor as well as contributing writers and editors Steven R. Strahler, David Mendell, Cassandra West and Bob Secter. The Forum also won in SABEW’s innovation division, with McGregor and contributors Secter, Mendell and Alex Garcia sharing top honors.

In SABEW’s feature division, Ecker won an honorable mention, as did Pletz in the travel and transportation competition.

“I’m continually proud of this staff and the outstanding journalism we produce on a daily basis,” says Jim Kirk, group publisher and executive editor of Crain’s city business publications. “It is wonderful to see that others recognize it as well.”

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When he finally turned to the advisory board, I connected him with a noncompeting company that I knew had dealt with similar problems. In no time, our CEO had learned enough to correct the division’s problems and make it a success.

These types of stories abound in the business world, leading to a mystique about outside advisers. They’re thought to be endowed with supernatural powers or to possess more and special knowledge about a wider range of topics than those inside a business. In addition, outside board members are assumed to be ready to make command decisions as needed.

All of this is pretty much nonsense, of course. Insiders work 50-60 hours a week in the business, and outside advisers visit for a few hours each quarter. Even so, I think there are good reasons to consider assembling a board of outside advisers.

Outside advisers have probably been a few places you haven’t and may know some people you don’t. They not only offer advice based on their own experiences but can connect you with resources to which you wouldn’t otherwise have access.

As a result of their independence and objectivity, they’re also able to address topics that other employees can’t or won’t. Outsiders can uniquely add value when a CEO has an underperforming division and doesn’t want to talk about it or when an acquisition fails to live up to projections but no one is asking for a review.

They have no favorite solutions to most problems. They tend to be less informed but more objective. They know they are a part of a team and not the leader. And outsiders can proffer safe paths of communication between different levels of executives.

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“This is an important move to protect our people and our customers, ensuring we can safely operate as demand returns,” the airline said.

American Airlines Group Inc. isn’t requiring employees to be vaccinated, although it is offering an additional vacation day next year and a $50 gift card to encourage people to get shots.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. said nothing has changed since January, when the carrier said it would like to make employee vaccinations mandatory, but couldn’t without other large companies doing the same. Southwest Airlines Co. and Alaska Air Group Inc. said they don’t plan to require employee vaccinations.

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Delta’s announcement came a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that fully vaccinated Americans should be able to stop wearing face masks in most settings, a turning point in the fight against Covid-19. All travelers, vaccinated ones as well, are still required to wear masks on airplanes and in airports under federal rules.

Looser restrictions and increased vaccination rates across the country are prompting people to get back on planes. Travel through U.S. airports was minimal at this time last year but today is about 65% of where it was during the equivalent period in 2019.

Delta’s change takes effect May 17 and allows exceptions, such as for medical conditions. Employees who aren’t vaccinated can be restricted from international flights if shots are required by other countries. The Atlanta-based company has made vaccinations available to all its employees.

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Mowery & Schoenfeld announced the official launch of its women’s initiative, Growth & Learning Opportunities for Women.

GLOW’s mission is to elevate, educate and support women, with the vision to create a community that fosters personal connections and professional growth.

“We continue to ask for feedback, review and evolve our programs to better meet the needs of our team. We are dedicated to this new initiative, believe in its mission and thank all who support the diverse women and men who make up our incredible team,” managing partner Jeff Mowery said.

Mowery & Schoenfeld started by creating an inclusive group of men and women at all levels of the organization. Feedback and insights from team members are gathered through both formal and informal methods. Internal data was layered with industry information, adviser input and best practices to create a framework for the program. Designed by and for employees, this program brings women and men together to:

• Ensure an environment of honesty, that lacks judgment or division;

• Collaborate and communicate to help build each other up and solve problems;

• Build programs based on personal, professional and community growth;

• Assist each member to create a plan for clear action to achieve their goals;

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

• Focus on accomplishments and celebrate one another.

Mowery & Schoenfeld sought to ensure accountability through key performance indicators (KPIs) for the organization in five specific areas: pay, recruitment, retention, advancement and representation.

Expectations for participants also include actionable takeaways for each event, incorporation into goal setting and a continuous feedback structure.

Mowery & Schoenfeld, LLC is an accounting, advisory and IT services firm with offices in Lincolnshire and Chicago. The organization is focused on providing personalized service to each client, building lasting and trusted relationships.

Made up of 13 partners and over 120 total employees, Mowery & Schoenfeld ranks among the top 10 firms in Illinois and recently named one of the largest accounting firms in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business.

Focused on culture, the firm provides a supportive environment focused on growth. In 2020 they were named a Best Firms to Work For by Accounting Today, a Best Firms for Women by Accounting Today, and a Best Place to Work by Crain’s Chicago Business.

Mowery & Schoenfeld offers comprehensive tax, assurance, transaction advisory, outsourced accounting, wealth management, business advisory, as well as managed IT services through our partnership with Xamin. Through the M & S Cares program, the firm prioritizes giving back and provides opportunities for teams to support the larger community. The firm was awarded the Illinois CPA Society’s Time and Talent Public Service Volunteerism Award, presented to only one firm each year.

Mowery & Schoenfeld is always looking for employees with a focus on growth, community and superior client service to join the team.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

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The Hall of Famer is an accidental pitchman for cannabis. He said he didn’t start using marijuana products until late last year, after someone from PharmaCann invited him to the company’s cultivation facility in Dwight, about an hour south of Chicago.

“I had some interest in the booming industry, but I had no knowledge about cannabis,” Sandberg said. “I went to see the product being made and started talking to the scientists, and then I went to a dispensary. I compare it to the first time I went to a Napa Valley and went to a winery.”

As a beloved sports hero in Chicago, Sandberg’s endorsement of weed marks a turning point for the industry in its continued evolution from criminal enterprise to mainstream business as more states legalize recreational marijuana. 

As a 61-year-old grandfather, Sandberg is a perfect pitchman for an industry that’s moving from longtime dope smokers to suburban soccer moms.

“He’s not that different from the majority of people who have haven’t used cannabis and are a little apprehensive,” said Mehul Patel, chief operating officer. He declined to say how much the company is paying Sandberg. “The experience he went through, a lot of people can relate to. He’s seen as a trusted figure.”

Sandberg, who lives in Lake Bluff, says he uses cannabis-infused gummies and tinctures — not smokable marijuana — that carry a low dose of THC, the chemical that creates the high associated with weed. 

“It agrees with me,” he says. “My goals were to have better focus and energy throughout the day and wind down at the end of the day.”

Sandberg also will do a handful of appearances, starting May 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Verilife store at 60 W. Superior St. in River North. 

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Relations with the Chicago Teachers Union never quite recovered from the time Emanuel dropped an F-bomb on then-CTU President Karen Lewis, setting the stage for a nasty teachers strike.

The CTU backed Preckwinkle over Lightfoot in the 2019 election. Tensions since only have escalated, with an 11-day school strike, a fight over electing the Board of Education and a raucous debate over in-person instruction during the pandemic.

Lightfoot’s move to back off certain campaign promises such as an elected board has only provoked the union. “The mayor really stumbled out of the gate” during contract negotiations, says CTU President Jesse Sharkey. She had “a complete misread of that dynamic.”

Now, on top of labor tensions and helping CPS families recover from a year of instability, Lightfoot will have to deal with the departure of Jackson, who admits she’s giving up her “dream job” because, in part, she’s “tired” of the fighting with the CTU. “We have to keep mayoral control, where at the end of the day, the buck stops with the mayor,” says Jackson.

Jackson by no means is the only one leaving. As of publication, the mayor is without permanent chief operating or risk officers. Nor are there permanent leaders in the procurement, fire, water, family and support services departments or at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Lightfoot only recently filled vacancies for her deputy mayor for public safety and corporation counsel, and she faces key tourism vacancies. She has also seen churn in her press office, had three different police superintendents and swapped City Council floor leaders in recent months.

The mayor blames COVID, in part. “This has been a very tough year, I think, on a lot of people. We’re coming up to the two-year anniversary, and I think a lot of people are taking stock of where they are,” she recently said.

But Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, one of the mayor’s harshest critics, says the mayor’s losses can be chalked up to micromanaging and an attitude that she is the smartest person in the room.

“Believe me, I have conversations with the mayor about how to be a bridge builder,” says Ghian Foreman, a friend who served with Lightfoot on the Police Board he now heads. But consider her roots, Foreman adds. “Poor family, father lost his hearing, brother incarcerated, she went to top law schools. She’s short. Gay. All the things she had to fight her whole life. She’s a fighter.” He doesn’t want her to change. Still, “halftime means you go back, you draw up some new plays, you adjust.”

One place adjustment clearly is needed is Springfield. Despite a big win in finally getting permission to build a casino—something her predecessors could only dream about—the mayor’s team constantly jostles with Pritzker’s. With her friend John Cullerton no longer the Senate president, Lightfoot suffered a series of humiliating defeats, including being routed on a bill that will raise pensions for some firefighters at a difficult time, dropping plans for a tax hike she wanted for affordable housing and struggling to save her power on the school board.

The advice from such varied figures as House GOP Leader Jim Durkin and Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago: Reach out, personally. “It’s about compromising and collaborating,” Feigenholtz puts it.

Business leaders are tactful when asked for their assessment, with Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce chief Jack Lavin repeatedly using the word “challenges” to describe Lightfoot’s performance. That word certainly applies to the biggest problem facing the mayor and her city: violent crime rates, a woe Lightfoot inherited but one that has become worse on her watch.

Criminal justice reform advocates say Lightfoot and her police department have been too slow to implement the consent decree governing police operations, to create a civilian oversight board and to provide sufficient funding for violence-prevention efforts. Sniping from the other direction is the Fraternal Order of Police, which loudly asserts Lightfoot does not back the men and women in blue. In the middle is a scared citizenry—on every side of town.

Lightfoot points to COVID’s impact on crime around the country and to a recent improvement in the homicide clearance rate. But the overall numbers are brutal: Murders so far are up 22 percent this year, and the number of shooting incidents is up 33 percent. That’s led to considerable second-guessing over her decision to fire police chief Eddie Johnson—for lying to her about a personal matter—and bring in David Brown from Dallas.

The mayor has butted heads with criminal justice stakeholders, including Preckwinkle, for more than a year over how to solve the problem. Preckwinkle says it’s not about locking offenders up or moving them through court, but improved relationships between the police and residents. “Unfortunately,” Preckwinkle recently sniped, “that’s been the mayor’s standard operating procedure: Blame others.”

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The report noted that 51 of the top 100 companies bent their own rules in 2020—a year defined by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic—to boost executive compensation. They did that most commonly by lowering thresholds for meeting bonus targets or awarding special retention bonuses, for example.

“In my mind, 2020 should have been a year of shared sacrifice during a national crisis,” said Sarah Anderson, the report’s lead author and director of IPS’ Global Economy Project. “Instead, it became a year of shielding CEOs from pandemic risk at so many of these companies.”

Among the 51 companies that sidestepped their own rules, CEO compensation averaged $15.3 million in 2020, up 29% from 2019. Their CEO-worker pay ratios averaged 830 to 1. Last year’s median worker pay was $28,187 on average, down 2% from 2019.

The annual list tends to be heavily weighted toward retail and fast-food companies, Anderson said. It doesn’t typically include many healthcare companies.

Retail pharmacy giant Walgreens was among the companies whose boards made moves to boost executive pay.

The company evaluates performance during a three-year period to calculate long-term incentive pay. In this case, Walgreens omitted the latter half of fiscal 2020 from that calculation. The company also changed how it calculates bonus pay. Walgreens spokesperson Jim Cohn noted that those changes applied not just to executives but to all eligible employees.

Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina made $17.5 million in total compensation last year, while median worker pay stood at $33,396, a pay ratio of 524.

“That was a clear case where they rejiggered the rules,” Anderson said.

Clinical testing company Labcorp’s pay ratio was 354 last year. Its CEO, Adam Schechter, made $14.7 million in total compensation and its median worker salary was $41,670. Labcorp did not respond to a request for comment.

Universal Health Services, a for-profit chain of acute-care and behavioral health hospitals, had a pay ratio of 305 in 2020. Then-CEO Alan Miller — whose son, Marc Miller, replaced him this year — made $13.2 million in 2020, compared with a median worker salary of $43,337. UHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Anderson praised King of Prussia, Pa.-based UHS’ decision to curb the windfalls its executives made on stock options by setting the premium exercise price at 110% of the grant price.

Another for-profit hospital operator, HCA Healthcare, did not make IPS’ list even though it’s been the subject of wide criticism by unions for allegedly putting profits over safety. Groups like National Nurses United and Service Employees International Union say HCA, which generated almost $3.8 billion in profit last year, failed to provide enough personal protective equipment and adequately staff its facilities during the pandemic. HCA’s latest proxy statement shows its CEO made $30.4 million in 2020 and median employee pay was $54,651, a ratio of 556. Anderson noted that all 100 companies in her report had median worker pay below $50,000.

IPS’ report noted that more than 500 publicly traded U.S. companies announced CEO salary cuts in 2020, but that had a negligible impact on their actual pay levels. That’s because salary comprises just 10% of total compensation, on average. The bigger portions are bonus pay and other benefits.

The report said corporations’ compensation plans allow firms to take both “positive” and “negative” action to account for the impact of unusual events, particularly those beyond executives’ control. In the hundreds of 2020 proxy statements IPS reviewed, there was just one example of “negative” discretion: pharmacy giant CVS Health’s board slightly lowered bonus payouts to offset the company’s unexpected windfalls from COVID-10 testing and vaccine revenue, “windfalls that in no way reflected executive prowess,” the report said.

A measure before Congress called the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act would incentivize corporations to narrow pay gaps by linking their tax rates to the size of the compensation gaps between the highest-paid executive and the median worker. The IPS report said companies with CEO-median worker pay gaps less than 50 to 1 would owe no extra taxes. Those with pay ratios above 500 to 1 would face the largest tax increase. Their tax rate would jump 5 percentage points over the base corporate tax rate.

If the Act had been law in 2020, both Amazon and Walmart would have owed an extra $1 billion in federal taxes. The proposed law would apply to private and publicly held U.S. companies with average annual gross receipts of at least $100 million. It would raise an estimated $150 billion over 10 years.

Correction: This story originally misstated changes Walgreens made to its compensation program in 2020.

Tara Bannow writes for Crain’s sister publication Modern Healthcare.

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As now written, the rules appear to prevent the state from using any of the money to directly repay the $2.1 billion it borrowed last year from the Federal Reserve. Local officials say that’s unfair since money wasn’t used to pay old debt but to replace tax revenue lost to COVID and avoid layoffs and program cuts.

“We’ve been going back and forth with the White House” since the preliminary rules were issued, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh told me.

She declined to say who was called but said they are “high up” in the Joe Biden administration. Asked if the governor himself has called the president—both are Democrats—Abudayyeh replied, “Not yet.”

Also working the phones has been Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who’s been in touch with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and U.S. Rep. Raja Krisnhamoorthi, D-Schaumburg.

Mendoza also wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, saying among other things that the borrowed money was used to replace lost revenue, pay Medicaid and other providers and purchase protective equipment when the pandemic first hit.

“This borrowing was essential for the continued performance of government services during the most challenging times to the state’s cash flow during the pandemic, all directly related to the COVID-19 crisis,” Mendoza wrote.

Mendoza also writes: “My specific request is for the Department of the Treasury to clarify this rule to accommodate this unique circumstance; allowing fiscal recovery funds to be used to directly COVID-necessitated short-term borrowing.” (Read the letter below.)

Meanwhile, Durbin and members of the state’s congressional delegation also have written Yellen, making the same arguments and even attaching a copy of Mendoza’s letter.

Other fiscal experts say the state might be able to work around the situation even without a treasury shift, moving money from one pot to another. But the new state budget is scheduled by be approved by May 31, and officials here would like as much certainty as soon as possible.”

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McDonald’s Corp. announced Thursday it will raise hourly wages by about 10%, bringing the average wage at its restaurants to more than $13 an hour. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said earlier this week it will set hourly starting wages at $11 to $18. Target Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp. have increased theirs to $15 and $16, respectively.

McDonald’s is hiring 10,000 new employees at its company-owned stores over the next three months alone, and Walmart Inc. brought half a million people on board last year. Chipotle is hiring 20,000 workers across the U.S., and Target needs workers for the 30 to 40 stores it will open this year.

Amazon.com Inc. also upped the labor market ante Thursday by announcing plans to hire 75,000 people in the U.S. and Canada at starting pay that will average more than $17 an hour. New employees will get hiring bonuses of $1,000 and those fully vaccinated for Covid-19 will get additional $100.

Amazon is betting the pay and bonuses will help it meet stepped-up e-commerce demand tied to the pandemic. Delivering products more quickly requires Amazon to build facilities closer to big cities, where labor costs are higher.

To get drivers back to ride-hailing gigs, Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are giving out cash bonuses for referring new drivers. In April, Uber said it would earmark an additional $250 million for near-term pay incentives, and that drivers in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia are making more than twice the hourly minimum age. Lyft said some of its drivers are bringing in at least $40 an hour.

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The wage hikes come amid an intensifying debate about why companies are struggling to hire workers despite the fact that millions of Americans remain out of work. Last month, the U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs — far short of the 1 million that economists had forecast. At the same time, the number of job openings is surging and business surveys show employers are increasingly unable to hire enough workers to meet demand as the economy rapidly reopens.

While some executives and Republican lawmakers say generous unemployment benefits during the pandemic are deterring potential applicants, many economists say there are a variety of factors and the mismatch is temporary. Ongoing health concerns, child-care responsibilities and the combination of low pay and unreliable hours offered in many service-industry jobs may also be contributing.

“It’s gotten very tough to hire workers and tough to hold onto them,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. “And I think it’s going to stay that way.”

For Walmart, boosting average wages rather than the starting pay rate is a calculated gamble to entice enough workers while not taking the big hit to profits that a minimum-wage hike would entail. Keeping its minimum wage at $11 an hour presents a “ladder of opportunity” for employees to earn more as they climb the ranks, Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon has said.

While labor activists have been pushing for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, and President Joe Biden is implementing a $15 wage floor for federal contractors, the nation may hit that figure even without a government mandate, said Michael Skordeles, a senior U.S. macro strategist at Truist Financial Corp.

Companies increasingly are concerned about issues of social justice and are sensitive to criticisms of how much their corporate officers make when compared with the average worker, he said. So, they’ll likely bump up wages just to get ahead of any potential criticism.

“That was largely shrugged off in the past, and I don’t think it’s as easily shrugged off anymore,” Skordeles said.

As long as workers remain in such high demand and enhanced jobless benefits remain, employers may need to bump up wages even higher than $15 an hour, according to Wells Fargo’s Vitner. As more Baby Boomers retire, that could give workers even more leverage in the coming years, he said.

“They are all over 55, and labor force participation falls off after 55, and it may be that we’re going to see that the returns to labor catch up relative to the returns to capital,” Vitner said.

Rising wages may also add to inflationary pressures. As employers’ costs rise, consumer prices are more likely to follow suit, stoking an already heated debate. Fed officials have said price pressures from pent-up demand and bottlenecks will likely prove temporary, but many others expect the pickup in inflation to prove more lasting.

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