Does RI Have a Workers Comp Problem? (An Interview with Stephen Hickey, owner of Hickey Insurance)   Workers’ comp for RI state employees soars 54%, alarming officials - Target 12 Headline from Sept. 16   A recent headline story by one of Rhode Island's local news outlets has created quite a buzz in some circles. For perspective, I turned to Stephen Hickey, a Rhode Island Insurance agency who has been involved in the issue for over 35 years. His knowledge and experience is useful to understand the history of Workers Comp in Rhode Island, where we started and where we are now, and whether or not...

A Ruff Day At The Office? (from Business2community.com)   According to USA Today, a growing number of companies are allowing employees to bring their pets, typically dogs, into the workplace. And its not just companies related to the pet industry that are doing this (e.g., Purina, IAMS, Friskies).   Pets at Work, otherwise known as PAWs (get it?), may just be a way to differentiate employee culture, or to try to further blur the modern day distinctions between where you work and where you live. But some studies offer persuasive evidence that the presence of pets not only reduces workplace stress levels for the pet...

ASN - 2 YEARS RUNNING!     Twenty local companies have earned a spot on Providence Business News’ 2019 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies, and 14 organizations were named among the state’s most innovative for PBN’s 2019 Fastest Growing & Innovative Companies program.   Companies with the highest-percentage growth in revenue from 2016 to 2018 will be honored on Sept. 18 at the Omni Providence Hotel, along with the winners in the various innovative companies categories.   Five finalists for PBN’s Fastest Growing competition were named in each of four revenue categories: $250,000 to $5 million; $5 million to $25 million; $25 million to $75 million; and...

It's so much more than your logo     A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another. – Seth Godin       Marketing experts have a joke “what’s the difference between a logo and a brand? About a $1000.”   A little bit funny, but it tends to devalue the true worth of a good brand. Companies like Apple and Microsoft, or the NFL and MLB, have all the money and expertise required to build a powerful brand and to consistently “stay on brand”.   Small businesses often do not have the resources...

Puerto Rico's Job Market Still in the Eye of a Hurricane       The outgoing Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, who will leave office this Friday, has resigned in the wake of leaked group chats detailing crude and profane conversations, as well as allegations of widespread fraud and corruption. Puerto Rico's government has been suspected of corruptions for many years, as well as mismanagement and nepotism.   What most have seen as the final blow was a pair of hurricanes that devastated the island in 2018. In light of all this, how is it that the island's unemployment rate has gone down to a fifty-year...