BECOME A MEMBER     CONTACT
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce
  • What we do
    • Advocacy >
      • Local & State Priorities
      • 2023-2024 Legislative Scorecard
      • Political Giving
    • Networking Groups >
      • Leadership Council
      • President's Huddle
      • Executive roundtable program >
        • Roundtables for high-growth companies
      • Networking Forum for referrals
    • Regional economic development >
      • Milwaukee 7 Regional Partnership
      • Expand or relocate your business
      • Supporting local startups >
        • MKE Venture Mentoring Service
        • New business planning guide
      • Milwaukee Development Corp. >
        • Milwaukee Urban Strategic Investment Corp. (MUSIC)
      • Milwaukee EB-5 Visa program
    • Education >
      • 2025-2027 MMAC Education Strategy
      • Ranking Milwaukee County Schools
    • Talent >
      • Student career development program
      • Leadership development program
      • Young professional network
      • ROC: Improve the recruitment, retention & advancement
  • Membership
    • Become a member
    • Benefits
    • Marketing & visbility
    • Member directory
    • Member resources >
      • Cost saving programs
      • Member Orientation
      • Sponsorship
      • Advertising
      • Customize email preferences
      • Need more info?
  • Newsroom
    • Milwaukee Commerce magazine
    • Members of the media
    • Member Spotlights
    • Member Appreciation Tour
    • State of Manufacturing
    • Impact Report
  • Demographics
    • Business climate
    • Business and industry
    • Cost of Living
    • Milwaukee region education
    • Population and housing
    • Transportation and infrastructure
    • Workforce
    • Peer metro comparisons
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Community Calendar
  • About
    • Board of directors
    • Our Team
    • Partnerships

True Grit

5/2/2022

 
By Michael Gentry - Labor & Employment Shareholder, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren
Email |  414.298.8715

In November, the New York Times put out an Opinion Interactive called, Where Should You Live. “Everyone’s moving to Texas,” it proclaimed. “Why?” I thought; it’s hot there (ok, it was not quite as cold here at the time as it is now). Try as I might, I could not get the Times’ quiz to validate my choice to live around Milwaukee. So, I investigated the article’s biases. And sure enough, it summed it up well: “Places are shaped by the people who live in them, and people are full of surprises that no algorithm can capture.” That’s right, I think. It’s Milwaukee’s people that make this an interesting place to live and work. As a midwestern transplant, it’s a place that I have been proud to call home since 2010. And, I’d argue, a good place to start and run a business.

Sometimes overshadowed by its neighbor to the south, and often underappreciated, Milwaukee is a cultural powerhouse. Summerfest. Harley Davidson. Annual cultural festivals celebrating Milwaukee’s diverse roots. The recently re-opened America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Likewise, the Bucks-in-six championship certainly did not diminish Milwaukee’s cultural standing nationally.

What’s more, Milwaukee has grit (an intangible quality not easily measured by algorithms). Our kind are more likely than most to endure the cold at Lambeau, or sit outside during winter when a pesky pandemic prevented indoor dining. And the cost of living in Milwaukee (and even in Milwaukee’s surrounding communities) is low when compared to most other metropolitan areas its size. So, Milwaukee’s workforce presents an attractive ROI for employers and Milwaukee should be an attractive option young professionals seeking to build their careers in a vibrant city where they can afford to live near downtown.

As an employment attorney, I have encountered quite a few characters in and around Milwaukee. It’s always the people involved in a deal or dispute that keep things interesting. But the last couple of years have provided an especially challenging context for building good, lasting relationships between employers and their employees. Employers have been put through the ringer —adapting to remote work, constantly shifting state/local/federal pandemic-related restrictions, rising prices (without necessarily increasing margins), hiring and training and retaining workers whom they scarcely if ever see in person while enduring the zeitgeist of the “Great Resignation.”

Each of these issues has presented its own set of legal questions: how do we build company culture when we’re never together? What changes do I need to make to my policies, contracts and offer letters to accommodate our reconfigured workforce? How can I keep my employees safe while still delivering the service that our customers expect? And how can I protect my customer relationships in a market where employees jump from job to job?

Many employers I have spoken to over the past couple of years feel like the ground has shifted such that they’re reluctant to plan for the future —like a builder who has weathered a bad storm. But, by embracing the new realities and refreshing certain employee practices, policies and agreements to rise to the occasion (like remote work practices and refreshed, enforceable contracts and policies) they can put their workforce, their people, in the best position to help their companies succeed. That’s true grit.

Comments are closed.

    MMAC
    Sponsored Content

    Our award-winning quarterly magazine, Milwaukee Commerce, provides in-depth coverage of the top issues facing the metro Milwaukee business community.
    Become a advertiser>


    Current sponsors:

    All
    Associated Bank
    Building Advantage
    Delta Dental
    J.H. Findorff & Son
    Reinhart
    Spectrum Reach
    SVA Certified Public Accountants
    UnitedHealthcare
    Wells-Great Lakes
    Wintrust Commercial Banking

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2025 MMAC    All rights reserved.
PARTNERS   NEWSLETTERS   PRIVACY


301 W Wisconsin Ave., Ste. 220 | Milwaukee, WI 53203 
414/287-4100
  • What we do
    • Advocacy >
      • Local & State Priorities
      • 2023-2024 Legislative Scorecard
      • Political Giving
    • Networking Groups >
      • Leadership Council
      • President's Huddle
      • Executive roundtable program >
        • Roundtables for high-growth companies
      • Networking Forum for referrals
    • Regional economic development >
      • Milwaukee 7 Regional Partnership
      • Expand or relocate your business
      • Supporting local startups >
        • MKE Venture Mentoring Service
        • New business planning guide
      • Milwaukee Development Corp. >
        • Milwaukee Urban Strategic Investment Corp. (MUSIC)
      • Milwaukee EB-5 Visa program
    • Education >
      • 2025-2027 MMAC Education Strategy
      • Ranking Milwaukee County Schools
    • Talent >
      • Student career development program
      • Leadership development program
      • Young professional network
      • ROC: Improve the recruitment, retention & advancement
  • Membership
    • Become a member
    • Benefits
    • Marketing & visbility
    • Member directory
    • Member resources >
      • Cost saving programs
      • Member Orientation
      • Sponsorship
      • Advertising
      • Customize email preferences
      • Need more info?
  • Newsroom
    • Milwaukee Commerce magazine
    • Members of the media
    • Member Spotlights
    • Member Appreciation Tour
    • State of Manufacturing
    • Impact Report
  • Demographics
    • Business climate
    • Business and industry
    • Cost of Living
    • Milwaukee region education
    • Population and housing
    • Transportation and infrastructure
    • Workforce
    • Peer metro comparisons
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Community Calendar
  • About
    • Board of directors
    • Our Team
    • Partnerships