The Wall Street Journal - USA (2020-11-16)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Monday, November 16, 2020 |B5

Mr. Pruitt said the company

is monitoring the rise in cases

daily. “We do have to be nim-

ble,” he said. “It’s part of the

reason why we haven’t man-

dated going back to the office”

and instead are allowing em-

ployees to come in as they see

fit.

Some business owners have

sought creative ways to boost

morale.JergensInc., a Cleve-

land-based manufacturer, re-

mained open all year because

its customers include the med-

ical and defense industries.

To keep employees engaged,

Jergens has handed out Ohio

Lottery tickets and coupons

that promised employees $20

if they brought in a receipt

from a local pizza shop or pub.

Last month, the 78-year-old

company held a costume com-

petition for mask-wearing em-

ployees.

Because manufacturing em-

ployees can’t work remotely,

“there is a risk of ‘we’ versus

‘they,’ ” said Jack Schron,

whose grandfather and father

founded the company, which

has roughly 450 employees.

“We had to tell people that you

are front-line, as important as

the person who was making

parts for the Hellcats,” a World

War II fighter plane.

Sales are improving but re-

main down 15%. After the com-

pany spent its $5.9 million fed-

eral Paycheck Protection

Program loan, Jergens fur-

loughed workers one day a

week and joined an Ohio pro-

gram that made workers

whose hours were cut eligible

for unemployment benefits, in-

cluding the additional $600 a

week in pandemic-related re-

lief.

The pandemic has also

forced some small-business

owners into uncomfortable

roles. In Utah, anyone who

tests positive for Covid-19

must notify their employer and

self-quarantine for two weeks

before returning to work.

But some employees atFor-

ever Floral Inc., a 101-em-

ployee wooden décor company

based in Ogden, haven’t done

so, adding to tensions on the

factory floor, said CEO Alex

Ledoux.

Until recently, Utah didn’t

enforce mask-wearing, making

some Forever Floral employees

feel casual about face cover-

ings.

Since March, six employees

have tested positive for

Covid-19, and another six have

self-quarantined for potential

exposure outside the work-

place.

“It puts employers in this

weird spot,” Mr. Ledoux said.

“It shouldn’t really be our job

to do contract tracing.”

SMALL BUSINESS

Companies in the burgeon-

ing real-estate technology sec-

tor have been subject to con-

trasting fates during the

coronavirus pandemic. Some

startups, such as those offering

virtual property viewing, have

thrived, while those catering to

hard-hit parts of the market

have struggled.

The latest example of a

startup on the right side of that

divide isCurbioInc., which

said Friday it raised a $25 mil-

lion round of funding led by

Comcast Ventures, the venture-

capital division of telecommu-

nications conglomerateCom-

castCorp. Curbio offers home-

renovation management

services to people selling their

homes and expects its annual

revenue from projects to more

than double to $20 million in

2020, CEO Rick Rudman said.

Other participating investors

in the deal include Camber

Creek, Brick & Mortar Ventures,

and Second Century Ventures,

the investment arm of the Na-

tional Association of Realtors.

Property-tech-focused Camber

Creek closed a $155 million

fund in October.

While the real-estate tech

sector has grown in recent

years, investment has dipped in

recent months. There were 97

venture deals involving startups

in the real-estate financial tech-

nology sector during the third

quarter, a five-quarter low, a CB

Insights report found. Funding

levels also fell, with $951 million

raised in the quarter, down 68%

from last year’s third quarter.

Still, the pandemic has been

a boon for some startups. So-

cial-distancing requirements

have led construction firms to

partner with startups offering

virtual surveying tools to re-

duce congestion at job sites,

Brick & Mortar founder and

managing director Darren

Bechtel said.

BYMARCVARTABEDIAN

Property

Startup

Lures

Capital

bill-processing, the only other

jobs that can’t be done re-

motely. Until Labor Day, the

company paid employees’ gro-

cery-delivery fees, a benefit

that could return if Covid-19

cases surge this winter.

As the pandemic stretches

on, issues such as where do

employees eat have taken on

new urgency.Whitebox Real

EstateLLC, a commercial real-

estate agency in Dallas with

about 14 employees, reopened

the lunchroom Nov. 9, after

much debate, allowing one per-

son in at a time.

“The protocol is you must

wear a mask everywhere un-

less you are actually putting

your food in your mouth in the

breakroom,” Whitebox Presi-

dent Grant Pruitt said. Work-

ers will return to dining at

their desks or in their cars if

they abuse the privilege, he

added.

pandemic. But some entrepre-

neurs say small businesses

have an edge in responding to

the coronavirus because they

are more nimble and better at-

tuned to employee concerns.

“It’s easier, mostly because I

own the whole company,” said

Eric Ripp, chief executive of

PPI, an electronic health-re-

cords company in Verona, Wis.

“There are no dissenting

voices.”

When Mr. Ripp announced a

new work-from-home policy in

March, he told employees to

clear out by that Friday; the

following Monday, he said,

their keycards would no lon-

ger work.

Mr. Ripp makes weekly vid-

eos for his roughly 80-person

staff; in June, he called each

employee to check in. “I was

pretty surprised how unified

the message was from employ-

ees,” he said. “They all wanted

the ability to work from home

after this is over, but not full-

time.” He plans to make an-

other round of calls this week.

Mr. Ripp allowed a handful

of employees to return to the

office, but last month pushed

back the date when others will

return to April 30, from Jan. 1.

With cases rising, he is consid-

ering delaying their return fur-

ther, to June 30. Four employ-

ees have contracted the

coronavirus outside work.

A single case of Covid-19

can be a blow to a small com-

pany. Employees are cross-

trained, but having just one

person out sick for two weeks

“would really be a challenge

for the whole organization,”

said Ray Liss, chief executive

ofLiss Technologies Group,

an Omaha, Neb., provider of

utility submeters and billing

services to the apartment in-

dustry.

Mr. Liss sent 10 of his 11

employees to work from home

last spring and reconfigured

the production manager’s job

to also include printing and

Continued from page B1

Virus Tests

Small

Companies

BUSINESS & FINANCE

At Ramsay Signs, employees get a friendly reminder the first time they are caught without a mask, then a stern warning from supervisors.

A third offense triggers a formal write-up indicating that workerswill be suspended without pay if they don’t follow company rules.

MASON TRINCA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (3)

THE TICKER|Market events coming this week

Target is expected to report higher earnings on Thursday. A store in New York City’s Herald Square.

RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS

Monday

Empiremanufacturing

October (previous) 10.5

November (expected)

12.1

Earnings expected*

Estimate/YearAgo($)

Aecom 0.57/0.79

Palo Alto Networks

1.33/1.05

Tyson Foods 1.19/1.21

0.16/0.11

Tuesday

Business inventories

Aug. (previous) up 0.3%

Sept. (expected) up 0.5%

Capacity utilization

Sept. (previous) 71.5%

Oct. (expected) 72.2%

Import price index

Sept. (previous) up 0.3%

Oct. (expected) 0.0%

Industrial production

Sept. (previous)

down 0.6%

Oct. (expected) up 0.9%

Retail sales

Sept. (previous) up 1.9%

Oct. (expected) up 0.5%

Retail sales (ex. autos)

Sept. (previous) up 1.5%

Oct. (expected) up 0.7%

Earnings expected*

Estimate/YearAgo($)

Aramark (0.37)/0.68

Home Depot 3.05/2.53

Kohl’s (0.45)/0.74

Walmart 1.18/1.16

Wednesday

Building permits

Sept. (previous)

1.553 mil.

Oct. (expected) 1.54 mil.

EIA status report

Previouschangein stocks

in millionsof barrels

Crude-oilstocks up4.3

Gasolinestocks down 2.3

Distillates down 5.4

Housing starts

Sept.(previous) 1.415mil.

Oct., expected 1.45 mil.

Mort. bankers indexes

Purch., previous

down 3%

Refinan., prev. up 1%

Earnings expected*

Estimate/YearAgo($)

Copart 0.70/0.65

Keysight 1.46/1.33

Lowe’s 1.98/1.41

Nvidia 2.57/1.78

Target 1.60/1.36

TJX 0.40/0.68

Thursday

EIA report: natural-gas

Previouschangein stocks

in billionsof cubicfeet

up 8

Existing-home sales

Sept. (previous) 6.54 mil.

Oct. (expected) 6.47 mil.

Initial jobless claims

Previous 709,000

Expected 710,000

Leading indicators

Sept. (previous) up 0.7%

Oct. (expected) up 0.6%

Philadelphia Fed

survey

October (previous) 32.3

November (expected) 21

Earningsexpected*

Estimate/YearAgo($

Berry Global 1.22/0.90

Intuit 0.42/0.41

Post Holdings 0.78/1.39

Ross Stores 0.61/1.03

Williams-Sonoma

1.54/1.02

Workday 0.67/0.53

Friday

Earnings expected*

Estimate/YearAgo($)

Foot Locker

0.57/1.13

Helmerich & Payne

(0.78)/0.38

* FACTSET ESTIMATES EARNINGS-PER-SHARE ESTIMATES DON’T INCLUDE EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS (LOSSES IN PARENTHESES)  ADJUSTED FOR

STOCK SPLIT NOTE: FORECASTS ARE FROM DOW JONES WEEKLY SURVEY OF ECONOMISTS

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