Now for an update to a story, we brought you at this time last week. One of Charlotte’s most well-known companies, Belk, recently announced workers at its corporate headquarters on Tyvola Road would have to return to the office at least three days a week. Even if they don’t live anywhere near Charlotte. Some of those workers told the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter they believe Belk is trying to force out some employees. Joining me now to talk more about it is The Ledger's Tony Mecia for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: OK, Tony so what did you hear from some of these employees, and is Belk saying anything?
Tony Mecia: Marshall, I talked to a few of these employees over the course of the last week and they were surprised. A lot of them live out of state and they were hired under the assumption that they would be remote for quite some time because, after the pandemic, Belk said it was going fully remote. Now, Belk is saying they want people in the office in Charlotte three days a week and the moving expenses that they're offering, some of the employees say are rather meager, in some cases a $1,000 in reimbursement for a U-Haul. Several of these workers I've talked with think that it's sort of a way for Belk to cut costs and to reduce the headcount. That has been a tumultuous last few years for Belk who've had leadership changes. They've restructured their finances a couple times. The company really isn't commenting why they're doing this other than they say they want more collaboration among their employees.
Terry: And are other companies using return-to-office mandates as a back-door way to cut costs? Because it’s not unusual for companies to still have employees who work out of state since the pandemic.
Mecia: Yeah, I mean there are a lot of companies that are still fully remote, a lot of them in the tech industry. The issue is usually when you bring people back, you have the expense of offices and one of the advantages of remote work is that you can save on office expenses. In the case of Belk, they still had their office on Tyvola Road that they had a lease on. It was sitting there mostly empty from what we understand. So they still had that expense. There are other companies that have recalled people back to work. Amazon is a big one. They require their workers to be in the office five days a week starting last month. But I'm not sure of other examples where this might be used as a cost-cutting measure.
Terry: All right. Let’s go now to an update to a story you’ve been following for the past few years. That is what’s happening with Charlotte’s Aldersgate retirement community, which has been put under state supervision. Are they closer to an affiliation, or merger, with another entity? And what's going on with residents who are still owed refunds?
Mecia: Yeah, Aldersgate told us last week that they are getting close to an affiliation or a merger with another organization. They've got it narrowed down, it sounds like, to two others. Aldersgate, as you might recall, Marshall has encountered a number of financial problems over the last couple of years. Troubles repaying residents and their families (along with) troubles paying vendors. They are under some new leadership that says it's been making some progress. There are still, they say 10 families that are owed a total of $1.9 million and that those would be paid out if they were to merge. But they've been under supervision, as you say, for almost two years now when they say they're making some progress.
Terry: Finally, The Ledger this week looked at a trend that began during the pandemic and is growing, micro weddings. So what do no more guest lists of 200 plus people mean for vendors, and how much are couples saving?
Mecia: We talked with some event planners and some people who are getting married who indicate that this is a trend that is persisting even after these things sort of came in vogue during the pandemic. Certainly, for vendors, it would mean fewer opportunities perhaps, but there's still a number of weddings, Charlotte's still a pretty growing place. Still a lot of people getting married out there. The average cost for a traditional wedding in North Carolina according to Theknot.com, is about $31,000. So you can see that if you just did it instead with a few friends, small intimate gatherings with your family, you could save tens of thousands of dollars compared to some of those more traditional larger events.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the original Mattress Factory and our listeners.
