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Rockford Sees Best in State Numbers for Unemployment Decline

11/11/2022

 
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According to a recent release made by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), significant progress has been made in the state of Illinois to increase its number of jobs and decrease its unemployment numbers. Rockford, listed as one of the 14 major metropolitan areas, saw significant unemployment decline, and touts the highest unemployment decrease in the state of Illinois from 7.7% (2021) to 5.9% (2022) for a total decrease of -1.8%.
 
IDES reports the last time this rate was equal to or lower was in 2019 when it was 4.8 percent. Total employment (non-farming jobs) increased by +6,100 jobs over the last year in Winnebago County. Frank Rotello, CEO, Alpha Controls & Services LLC and Past Board Chair stated, “Trends are moving in the right direction. Our goal is to get back to 2018 peak employment levels which were 13,000 higher from where we are today.” 
 
The Workforce Connection, in collaboration with multiple community partners, has been diligently working to assist employers and employees alike to solve the workforce needs of the region. “We are proud that our community is leading the state of Illinois in decreasing our unemployment rates year to year. The Workforce Connection will remain focused on our mission and vision of providing a workforce that meets the needs of business and industry now and into the future.” explained Gina Caronna, Executive Director, The Workforce Connection.
 
About The Workforce Connection
The Workforce Connection (TWC) Board is one of 22 local workforce boards established by the Governor of the State of Illinois pursuant to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Utilizing Federal, State, and donated funds, TWC provides a system for individuals to get employed and works with employers to find skilled workers and access other services, including education and training for their current workforce in Boone, Stephenson, and Winnebago Counties. TWC is committed to providing a workforce that meets the needs of the business community.

Einar Forsman, CEO of the Greater Rockford Growth Partnership, of which the Chamber is a partner, sits on The Workforce Connection board. We are proud to be involved in this work.

Navigating Retail

11/9/2022

 
By Andrew Wright
Originally published in the November 2022 issue of The Voice.
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When the seasons change and the holiday decorations come out, it's easy to see that retail businesses have been working all year behind the scenes to prepare for the influx of shoppers. 

But the past two years have been anything but predictable. Many businesses have weathered uncertain supply chains as they attempt to restock their stores to match pre-pandemic demands. However, rising interest rates, higher costs for utilities and gas, and other economic factors could make shoppers more cautious this holiday season.

Here’s how four Rockford business are building a better customer experience.

Benson Stone Company
Last year was a record year for Benson Stone Company, a brick, stone and masonry supplier and retailer of quality home furnishings.

“There was a huge amount of pentup demand, as everyone was sitting at home thinking on ways to improve their space,” said Andrew Benson, president of Benson Stone Company. “We’ve grown our staff since pre-pandemic. And we’re seeing supply chains getting better; costs and freight charges coming down.”

According to Benson, 2022 has been a good year as well. “We’re well over 2019 and 2018, but I think the home improvement sector is lightening up a bit. However, we’re seeing gift items and café traffic improve [as the holidays near].”
Creating an inviting customer experience is evident at Benson Stone’s showroom in the restored the historic Rockford

Standard Furniture factory in midtown—from the fresh-baked scents of the Hearth Rock Café to the giant stone fireplace that’s always lit during business hours.

But it’s not all retail glitz. They offer quality products for nearly any budget along with a low price guarantee. Other local retailers also are stepping up to improve the customer experience.

Guler Appliance
Guler Appliance has been open for more than 86 years at 227 Seventh Street in Rockford. But for the last two years, they’ve been focused on their brand-new location at 4435 E. State Street, which opened in April of this year.
Like Benson Stone, the managers at Guler Appliance saw a huge spike in orders at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and that created a demand their old location couldn’t handle.

“The warehouse space was maxed out, and we had spread out across three locations to handle deliveries. It was cumbersome, logistically,” explained Dale Johnson, president of Guler Appliance. “The amount of business we were seeing meant we were doing well enough to consolidate to one building, and that we could handle bigger showroom space.”

In 2020, Johnson and Andy Guler, vice president of Guler Appliance, visited the State Street location and fell in love.
“This building reflects what we want our message to be – clean, elegant, simple and refined,” Guler said.
The new space is open, with neutralcolored walls and high-end cabinets and countertops that keep the focus on the selection of brilliant white, onyx black, and stainless steel refrigerators, stoves and other appliances.

“We want our customers to know that we’re taking this seriously for them. We’re here to take their needs seriously and we want our messaging to reflect that,” Guler said.

Infinite Soul Vibrations
The customer experience matters to owners of smaller businesses as well.

When she opened Infinite Soul Vibrations in 2018, Tamika Brown wanted to create a healing space for her customers. Brown is a Reiki practitioner, energy healer and certified medical empath. At her shop on State Street, she’s created a haven of warm colors and positive messages.

Works from local and regional artists like Pinklomein, Shaniqwa Porter, Kayla Janae and Yaz look down on shelves of oils, books and holistic healing goods.

For Brown, Infinite Soul Vibrations is more than a shop, it’s an extension of her own health journey. “The most healing and restorative part of what I do is having the honor and privilege to help people heal and become more conscious beings.”
Brown discovered this profession through her own health struggles.

“There was a tumor on the front of my brain, and I suffered a heart attack shortly after that. Surgery was too high risk, and the medication I took for my tumor caused adverse reactions, so I needed to find other means [of healing],” she said. “I started using acupuncture and I studied natural healing. Soon I added acupressure to other healing techniques.”
Now, when someone new walks into her shop, Brown can speak from personal experience about the healing benefits of her products and services.

Whether it’s a transient passer-by who wants someone to listen to their problems or a customer with an ache in their shoulder, Brown starts by listening intently as the first step in the healing process.

“I believe nothing is a coincidence. Sometimes people don’t know what brought them in, just that something doesn’t feel right,” Brown said. “I love people – that’s the biggest part of this.”

Rockford Art Deli
When Rockford Art Deli opened their retail shop in 2011, Jarrod Hennis had a vision—to create a cool community that people wanted to come to, move to and talk about.

“I’m trying to create a better community,” he said. “I’m using the Rockford Art Deli voice that the community helped to build to help Rockford grow.”

Walking into Rockford Art Deli is like walking into a Rockford booster club. Art and clothes all bear signs and symbols of Rockford pride, embracing the area code 815 and sharing the love of the things and places that make Rockford unique. Local artists are featured along the walls and the employees who make the products are front and center of the operation.

In a time when other retail outlets struggle to find staff, Hennis is confident in his team. “People want to work here. We have great benefits, good pay and a positive atmosphere at work.”

Hennis is also seeing growth in his business thanks to partnership with Schnucks that’s helping him expand to other cities. “We’ve got five or six Peoria designs we’re getting Schnucks to carry, and we’re working on Beloit and Janesville as well,” he said. But when it comes to Rockford, Hennis still sees opportunities for bigger things.

“People want to see positivity. We have the infrastructure to do so much stuff,” he said. “I want to see a new resurgence downtown. We have a great city and the structure for it, but we need to change our mindset. We could be a Milwaukee, Madison or whatever we want to be. In the end it’s about the community and attitude.”

Improving Your Leadership Skills By Thinking Differently

10/17/2022

 

Is your team stagnant, or is there a sense of tension in your department? It may not be "just your gut feeling," but rather an indication that your team is in a "flight or fight" mode. Today, we're looking at three distinct emotional states in the workplace, fight, flight, and flow, and the implications when leaders shift out of flow and into flight or fight.

Start With Team Analysis
The condition of your workplace may reflect your own state of mind as a leader. If you're feeling in flight-or-fight mode, it's hard to lead your team in a creative, problem-solving flow.

Let's look at the emotional state of each "zone":

Fight is a feeling of anxiety or a need to trump a co-worker in being right. The fight feeling is one where people feel threatened or a noticeable divide between groups in a team. Stress in the work environment and a lack of direction or resources can lead to infighting. Office politics and unskilled leadership can lead to people being more focused on fear of failure or retribution, and the team loses cohesiveness. Flight feels like wanting to hide and avoid conflict. In this environment, employees feel like there's little they can do to change things and mainly keep their heads down. Innovation stagnates, and enthusiasm for the team's goals wanes.

The flow state is one where collaboration and innovation are at their highest. Everyone on the team feels relaxed and excited about the project or new ideas. "Flow state" is a feeling of creative energy, cited by professional athletes, musicians, and writers as a time when they're focused on a goal. For collaborative teams, flow state is the kind of working environment where everyone is focused on the task and feels they're heard. Becoming more self-aware of your own working emotional state and the state of others around you can help you make better leadership decisions.

Solving Fight or Flight Mode to Achieve Flow
A new project, start-up company, or special team often starts with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Over time, however, and with poor leadership, the organization can shift from a productive, cohesive team to a more toxic workplace, and leaders lose a sense of cohesiveness and flow.

So how can leaders keep their team from slipping into a fight or flight mode? The first way is to look at your emotional state. Are you tense and hyper-focused on being "right" more than team success? Or maybe you feel like your suggestions for improvements are like yelling into the void, and your team has given up. If you note that you're consistently in flight or fight, your team has probably picked up on it, and they, too, are mimicking your state.

Stop, take a breath, and calm yourself. Once you're calm, assess the workplace situation to determine what's causing your frustration. Is there competition among team members for scarce resources? Is your team frustrated because their suggestions are falling on deaf ears? Is office politics or territorialism reducing efficiency? Once you've found the problems, you can work toward a solution. When your employees see you working to change and address their concerns, they, in turn, may follow your lead. However, moving from a flight or flight workplace environment can take time, so it's essential that you show patience and a commitment to resolving the issues that caused your team to stagnate.

Chamber Board Urges Local Taxing Bodies to Hold Levy Flat

10/6/2022

 

At the September 27, 2022 Rockford Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting, the board voted to adopt a resolution urging local taxing bodies to hold their levies flat, the crux of the resolution is as follows:

NOW THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED that; the Rockford Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors hereby supports and recommends to the business community to strongly encourage its local taxing bodies in Winnebago County to work together to adopt priority of reducing or keeping their levy flat and thereby reduce the overall property tax rate.

As part of our mission to Lead Business Growth, the Chamber is responsible to its members to work to remove obstacles that could be a burden to a healthy business environment. Increased property taxes are a burden on our future talent pipeline, our current workforce, and businesses that are already suffering from inflation, wage hikes, and supply chain issues. Increased property taxes right now are just not good for business.

Here is the full resolution:

WHEREAS: The property tax is an important component of our overall structure of taxes that are critical to local governments. It can be a stable, consistent revenue source for local government services (including schools), and its high collection rate makes it a reliable pledge for debt and bond security, and;

WHEREAS: The property tax is also a highly visible tax, meaning that most Illinois property owners are typically aware of the exact amount of property tax they pay, because they are explicitly billed twice per year, and;

WHEREAS:  Retaining Illinois' highest-in-the-nation 9,000 units of local government drives up tax bills, contributing to property tax rates that are among the highest in the U.S. As recent as 2019 Illinois is ranked as having the second highest real estate tax rate in the country, and;

WHEREAS: Winnebago County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United States, and is ranked 151st of the 3142 counties in order of median property taxes; Winnebago  County ranks 80th in property taxes as a percentage of income and 29th as a percentage of property value, and;   

WHEREAS: A 2012 report by the Illinois Policy Institute study on property taxes since 1990 showed that residential property taxes in Illinois have grown 3.3 times faster than median household incomes, and that the residential property tax burden as a percentage of median household income had risen 76 percent, and if Illinois had frozen its residential property taxes in 2012, it would have taken 28 years for property tax levels to return to 1990 levels, and; WHEREAS: 2022 represents the year of the quadrennial reassessment may lead to higher property values, which can also influence property tax levels; and

WHEREAS: Business community surveys conducted by the Rockford Chamber of Commerce routinely find that taxes are consistently a primary concern among the business community; 

WHEREAS: The amount of dollars a taxing body seeks for their annual budget represents the annual tax levy, which then determines the necessary tax rate to generate that levy amount;

WHEREAS: An effort has been made by some local taxing bodies within Winnebago County to hold the line on their levy amount over the past few years, thereby having the effect of lowering property tax rates and saving taxpayers millions of dollars; and dies within Winnebago County

WHEREAS: to reduce or Winnebago A concerted, collaborative effort by all taxing bo keep their levy flat will lead to an overall reduction in the gross property tax rate County;

NOW THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED that hereby supports an ; the Rockford Chamber of Commerce Board of in Directors d recommends to the business community to strongly encourage its local taxing bodies in Winnebago County to work together to adopt priority of reducing or keeping their levy flat and thereby reduce the overall property tax rate.

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