The 2022 SDM 100: Navigating the High Seas

By Karyn Hodgson, SDM Magazine

Facing headwinds on several fronts, SDM 100 companies in 2021 had to get creative to move forward. By the numbers it appears most of them were able to manage uncertainties and succeed — and some turned their sails to take advantage of new circumstances.

Every year SDM 100 survey asks a few open-ended questions such as, “What was your company’s most significant accomplishment last year?” “Describe the market for security systems sales in the past year compared with the previous year,” and “What issues and trends do you think will have the greatest impact on your business in the coming year?” This year, one particular phrase came up again and again in all three of those answer sections: supply chain issues and how they were dealing with them.

Click here to see the full list
 

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The U.S. Crime Surge
The Retail Impact

Buffalo Grocery Store Mass Shooting Fallout & Updates

How the Shooter Studied the Store to Plan His Attack
Store guard confronted Buffalo suspect during March visit, online account says

Shooter also planned to shoot up 'another large superstore' in addition to Tops

Two months before Payton Gendron allegedly killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, he was confronted by a security guard at the store during a trip on which he compiled detailed plans of the location, according to a document posted online last month by a writer who identified himself as Gendron.

The encounter with the guard at the supermarket was described within a 589-page document posted online on April 29. The document refers to the supermarket as “attack area 1” and describes two more Buffalo locations as other attack areas to “shoot all blacks” during an apparent reconnaissance trip that spelled out the travel paths to each one, timing needed for each shootout and the estimate that more than three dozen people would be fatally shot in all.

The document contains numerous photos of Gendron and uses a handle Gendron used on other social media platforms. The messages contain many images of his activities and reference several events in his personal life, such as a speeding ticket, that The Washington Post has confirmed.

Several images, including detailed sketches of the Tops store layout, were included alongside the written account of the March 8 visit. It noted that there were “many blacks” at the cashier’s area of the store. In all, 53 Black people and six White people were inside the store during the March trip, the account said. Police have said they are investigating the shootings as a racially-motivated hate crime.

The security guard involved in the confrontation during the March visit was one of two Black guards present and armed that day, according to the account, which noted the guards’ locations and movements. Authorities said a security guard fired at the shooter during the May 14 attack at the store, but that the suspect was protected by body armor and allegedly returned fire, killing the guard.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said in media interviews on Monday that authorities believed the gunman intended to continue his attack at additional locations, telling CNN this was based on “some documentation.”

Gramaglia told CNN that the suspect had spoken “about possibly going to another store,” after Tops, potentially turning his fire on “another large superstore.” “He was going to get in his car and continue to drive down Jefferson Avenue and continue doing the same thing,” Mr. Gramaglia said. washingtonpost.com nytimes.com

Gunman Targeted & Studied Security Guard Post & Camera Blind Spots
They Were at Tops When the Shooting Started. This Is How They Survived.
Much has been discovered and will be learned in the weeks ahead about the massacre and the man who the authorities say perpetrated it. But this is a story about the men and women who were at work that day at an uncommonly beloved supermarket — one that functions like a family — and what they did when that place became the scene of a massacre.

The store opened 19 years ago and became a neighborhood hub and gathering place in what had been a food desert. Regular customers greeted workers by name, and employees were known to hang out after their shift, catching up with friends.

This very community is what drew the gunman. An avowed racist, he selected this Tops after researching predominantly Black ZIP codes and drove hundreds of miles here from his nearly all-white hometown.

By the time Saturday arrived, the man knew the store — where the security officer usually stood, where the cameras had blind spots. He’d drawn a map of the interior and plotted his assault through the aisles. He’d been inside before, according to people who remembered noticing him, the white stranger. Ashley Marks, a cashier who likes to joke with customers, was sure she rang up his two Red Bulls days earlier.

On Saturday morning, he walked inside and fired, over and over. He shot women old enough to be his grandmother. Ms. Brown, the cashier with the new baby, was helping customers in the self-checkout lanes when the shooting began, and she dove between two taller cash registers. Beside her, a new manager named Chris took a bullet in the knee. nytimes.com

Suspect Kicked Out of Tops Night Before Mass Shooting Attack
Buffalo gunman was kicked out of Tops the night before mass shooting
Shonnell Harris Teague, an operations manager at Tops, told ABC News she saw the suspect sitting on a bench outside of the store for several hours Friday, the day before the shooting. He had camper bag on his back and was dressed in the same camouflage he wore Saturday, she said.

He entered the store that evening, but he appeared to be bothering customers so she asked him to leave, which he did, Teague said. The next day she was fleeing out the back door of the store as the gunman shot people in the aisles.

"I see him with his gear on and his gun and how it was all strapped on. ... I (saw) all the other bodies on the ground," she said. "It was just a nightmare." democratandchronicle.com

Victims of the Tops Mass Shooting
Tops identifies associates wounded in shooting at Buffalo, N.Y., store
Four of the victims were store employees, including a security guard who confronted the shooter and was killed, The Buffalo News reported. The Buffalo Police Department has identified the alleged shooter as 18-year-old Payton Gendron and taken him into custody. He was arraigned on first-degree murder charges on Saturday.

Store associates wounded in the shooting were Christopher Braden, 55, of Lackawanna, N.Y.; Zaire Goodman, 20, of Buffalo; and Jennifer Warrington, 50, of Tonawanda, N.Y., Tops reported on Monday. The security guard killed in the shooting — Aaron Salter, 55, of Lockport, N.Y. — was a retired Buffalo Police officer that hired by Tops through an outside agency, Allied Security Co., the supermarket chain said. supermarketnews.com

Workplace Violence Prevention & Response
Timely Article Following Buffalo Mass Shooting

Understanding Workplace Violence Prevention & Response
Each year, an average of nearly 2 million U.S. workers report having been a victim of violence at work, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). And the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the number of annual workplace homicides at about 400.

What can employers do to protect their workers from becoming victims of workplace violence? The ultimate goal is to deter disgruntled insiders or nefarious outsiders from violence by making your company a hard target. A secondary goal is to make sure your company and workforce are prepared for violence so you can minimize casualties and respond quickly in the event of a violent incident. If you can save a life—or many—the return on investment will be well worth it.

Compliance

The federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act includes a general duty clause requiring employers to "furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees." According to OHSA's Enforcement Procedures and Scheduling for Occupational Exposure to Workplace Violence, "employers may be found in violation of the General Duty Clause if they fail to reduce or eliminate serious recognized hazards.

How To Prepare for Workplace Violence

Preparing for any type of workplace violence is key. Larger companies with robust security departments have the advantages of resources and trained personnel who manage the security effort. But for smaller companies with little or no security measures in place, the responsibility often falls on the general counsel or the head of human resources. See How to Prepare Your Workforce for Violent Incidents.

As the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group points out in Workplace Violence: Issues in Response, there is no one-size-fits-all plan that employers can download and implement. Every employer will need a plan that is tailored to its particular circumstances and that considers company culture, physical layout, resources, management styles and other factors.

Create a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan: shrm.org

Buffalo mass shooting: What we know about the alleged gunman

Buffalo shooting: how white replacement theory keeps inspiring mass murder

Biden to visit Buffalo following mass shooting: What to expect

Click here to see more of the Daily's coverage of the Buffalo mass shooting


California Crime & Progressive DA Recall Efforts
 
CA Gov. Funding 'New Responses to Retail Theft'
Abortion, inflation & crime: How Newsom would spend record-setting CA surplus
Newsom’s January budget plan committed $285 million to public safety programs that included new responses to retail theft across California. latimes.com

Crime Top Issue in CA Recalls
California DAs Face the Voters

On June 7, voters will cast ballots for district attorney in every California county except Los Angeles.

Occurring during the summer primary when voter turnout is typically low, the off season elections could nonetheless determine how far the criminal justice pendulum swings in a moment of pandemic-stewed uncertainty. sfchronicle.com

Mayor Picks SF DA Boudin's Replacement If He's Recalled
Who would replace S.F. Progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin if he’s recalled?
But unlike the recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom, voters won’t get a say in Boudin’s potential replacement. That power falls on Mayor London Breed, a moderate Democrat who has exchanged barbs with Boudin and other progressives over the city’s criminal justice strategies. If he’s removed, Breed will likely choose a successor who will roll back some of the policies intended to keep people out of jail, but that are held up by critics as too permissive to criminals.

But he also has plenty of support from the city's progressive arm. sfchronicle.com

In Case You Missed It: SF's Economic Elite Is Gunning for Chesa Boudin

LA & SF DAs Facing Recalls - Voters Have Had Enough

 

COVID Update

581.8M Vaccinations Given

US: 84.3M Cases - 1M Dead - 81.3M Recovered
Worldwide: 523.3M Cases - 6.2M Dead - 493.3M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 358  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 767
*Red indicates change in total deaths

COVID Cases, Hospitalizations & Deaths

The Return of NYC's Mask Mandate?
NYC moves from 'medium' to 'high' COVID alert level: officials
New York City has moved from a "medium" COVID-19 alert level to a "high" alert level, the five boroughs' health commissioner said Tuesday. The city's health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, made the announcement in a statement released Tuesday morning.

While officials have not imposed any new mandates, the city is urging New Yorkers to wear “high quality” masks in public indoor settings and “crowded outdoor spaces,” the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a press release.

New Yorkers should “consider avoiding higher-risk activities (such as crowded indoor gatherings) and any gatherings should be limited to small numbers,” the release added. The city is also continuing to advise New Yorkers to get vaccinated and boosted, the release noted.  ny1.com

Post-COVID Return to Work Failing to Gain Traction
At Tech Companies, the Rebellion Against the Return to the Office Is Getting Serious

Companies requiring in-person work are facing pushback. Those with looser policies find that flexibility makes recruitment easier. ‘I will find somewhere else to work.’

After months of return-to-work starts and stops, many tech companies, including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., are telling remote workers it’s finally time to come back for good, or at least show up part of the week. Employees who fled the Bay Area and other high-cost tech hubs earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic—or who just prefer to work from home—now face hard choices: move back, try the super commute, or hold out for a concession or new job elsewhere.

How the emerging power struggles play out will be a telling indicator of how much leverage remote-work converts in other sectors have as more employers call staff back to offices. A competitive job market, plus the relative ease with which businesses adjusted to work-from-home over the past two years, has emboldened many professionals to try to say goodbye to offices permanently.

Two-thirds of the workforce said they would find a new job if required to return to the office full-time, according to a survey of more than 32,000 workers by ADP Research Institute. Of those who quit their jobs in 2021, 35% cited wanting to move to a different area, according to the Pew Research Center. wsj.com

Managers, Be Ready
Remote work or back to the office? The calculation just shifted again

Managers who rely on old assumptions about how jobs get done are going to be badly disappointed.

Here's what's happening: many knowledge workers have now spent plenty of time working remotely and have proved (to themselves at least) that they can be as effective at home as they are in the office.

What's more, that shift to remote working has improved the work-life balance for many (but not all) by giving them a bit more flexibility. This has not gone unnoticed.

On top of that, cutting out all that travel is good for both their bank balances and the environment. And as the cost of living squeeze continues, all of this will be at the front of workers' minds when managers ask them to be back in the office full time. zdnet.com

As NYC eyes high COVID alert upgrade, city to distribute 16.5M COVID tests

 

Solution to the 'Great Resignation'?
Employee Health May be Key to Addressing the 'Great Resignation'

Better healthcare options are a top reason employees are looking to leave their jobs.

Two-thirds of employees (66%) say they are thinking about changing jobs next year or have begun or recently completed a job change. Looking at the top reasons employees who were thinking of leaving their jobs gave, 38% said better benefits were a top reason while 36% wanted better healthcare options. Work/life balance was another concern for 36% of those surveyed. And money topped the last at 50%

More than 3 in 4 (78%) of human resources leaders say their organization has been impacted by the "Great Resignation," and 90% believe they will have to improve benefit packages and increase wages. And yet, over seven in ten (72%) human resource leaders surveyed also say it is likely there will be a recession that will impact hiring in the next year.

"While there has been significant attention on low pay, lack of flexibility, and disrespect at work as main reasons driving the 'Great Resignation,' our findings suggest employee health programs play a major role as well," said Jay G. Wohlgemuth, M.D., senior vice president, R&D and Medical, and Chief Medical Officer, Quest Diagnostics, said in a statement. "Employers are taking extraordinary measures to attract and retain talent, and healthcare benefits, access and affordability are areas of focus they can't afford to overlook to compete for workers." ehstoday.com

Retail & Fast-Food Workers Strike
‘I cannot survive on $260 a week’: US retail and fast-food workers strike

Workers who bore the brunt of the Covid pandemic at billion-dollar companies such as Dollar General, McDonald’s and Wendy’s are leading a surge in action

Workers in America’s fast-food and retail sectors who worked on the frontlines through the dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic are continuing a trend of strikes and protests over low wages, safety concerns and sexual harassment issues on the job.

The Covid-19 pandemic has incited a resurgence of interest and support for the US labor movement and for low-wage workers who bore the brunt of Covid-19 risks.

The unrest also comes as corporations have often reported record profits and showered executives with pay increases, stock buybacks and bonuses, while workers received minimal pay increases. Workers at billion-dollar corporations from Dollar General to McDonald’s still make on average less than $15 an hour while often being forced to work in unsafe, grueling conditions. theguardian.com

Baby Formula Manufacturer Reaches Deal with Feds
Abbott reaches agreement with FDA, could restart plant within 2 weeks
The baby formula manufacturer at the heart of a nationwide formula recall said Monday that it has reached an agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration to enter into a consent decree, a legally binding agreement that would require the company to take certain steps in response to violations found at its Sturgis, Michigan, facility.

If a court approves the agreement, the company says, it could restart the site within two weeks. It would first resume the production of its specialty metabolic formulas EleCare and Alimentum, followed by Similac and other formulas.

After Abbott restarts the site, it will take six to eight weeks for the products to reach store shelves, it said. The Justice Department said Monday that it had filed the proposed consent decree in federal court.

Abbott said it submitted a corrective action the FDA on April 8. But even before this formal response, it had been working on improvements, including reviewing and updating education, training and safety procedures for employees and visitors and updating protocols regarding water, cleaning and maintenance procedures at the facility. cnn.com

Walmart & Amazon Brand Formulas Planning for Long-Term Shortage
Maker of Walmart, Amazon store-brand baby formulas sees shortages through rest of 2022
Perrigo Company PLC, which makes store-brand baby formulas for retailers, including Walmart Inc and Amazon.com Inc, expects shortages and heightened demand to last for the "balance of the year," Chief Executive Murray Kessler told Reuters in an interview.

The Biden administration this week has come under increasing pressure to address a baby formula shortage, which has roots in a February recall of some formulas by one of the nation's main manufacturers, Abbott Laboratories.

Perrigo's formula manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Vermont are now running at 115% of capacity, Kessler said. At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Perrigo is focusing on four items, the store-brand versions of Similac Pro Sensitive and Pro Advance and Enfamil Gentle Ease and Infant, Kessler said. reuters.com

Retail Sales Up for 4th Straight Month
U.S. Retail Sales Grew 0.9% in April as Inflation Remains High
U.S. shoppers increased retail spending in April for the fourth straight month, taking on higher prices with inflation close to its highest level in four decades. Retail sales—a measure of spending at stores, online and in restaurants—rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9% in April from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Retail sales aren’t adjusted for inflation. That means that while consumers have continued to spend more, they are likely getting less due to rapidly rising prices. In April, consumers spent more at bars and restaurants, on vehicles, furniture, clothing and electronics. However they pulled back on spending at grocery stores, on home improvement and sporting goods.

Receipts at gas stations also dropped as pump prices pulled back briefly from a sharp run-up related to the war in Ukraine. Gasoline prices have since risen again, hitting a record high this month. wsj.com

McDonald's begins selling 850 Russian restaurants
McDonald's was the first American fast food restaurant to open in the Soviet Union. It's the largest Western corporation to leave Russia over the Ukraine invasion.

Nestlé is flying baby formula into America as shortage continues

Urban Outfitters brings ‘buy now, pay later’ to the U.S.

REI names its first-ever chief supply chain officer


Quarterly Results

Walmart Q1 U.S, comp's up 3%, e-Commerce up 1%, Total company revenue up 2.4%
   Sam's Club comp's up 10.2%
   Inter. positive comp's, net sales down 13%, negatively affected by $5B in divestitures
   Global Advertising business up 30%

Warby Parker Q1 revenue DTC up 10.3%