ICE raids are making CEO focus on employees even more important
- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on the impact of ICE raids on CEOs.
- The big story: Israel attacks Iran and oil surges.
- The markets: Down on Middle East fight.
- Analyst notes from Convera, UBS, and Deutsche Bank.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. I spoke with a C-suite leader of a large retailer this week who shook his head when I asked about the ICE raids and protests. “I understand and support our laws,” he said. “What I don’t understand is why we have to be so vindictive and cruel in applying them.”
Therein lies the challenge for CEOs in speaking up right now as some fear that seemingly innocuous statements might put a target on their backs. We do hear from those who are already wounded, like Gary Rohwer of Glenn Valley Foods whose plant is operating at 30% capacity after federal immigration officials arrested half his workforce, despite him clearing them through the government’s own E-verify system. Even those who haven’t been raided may be feeling an impact from the crackdowns. More than a million foreign-born workers have dropped out of the labor force since March, according to the St. Louis Fed. One leader in the construction sector told me that one of his workers quit because they’re worried a raid might harm an undocumented sibling who’s staying in their home.
For Scott Boatwright of Chipotle, whose workforce is 52% Hispanic, the answer has been to focus on his people. As he put it during a recent Leadership Next podcast: “All of our team members go through the E-verify process. But it’s not lost on me that I could have team members within the organization that could have family members that are affected one way or another. I think it’s important for us as leaders in the organization to ensure we are connecting with all of our people, and just a mental check-in to say, ‘Hey, how are you doing? How can we help? How can we support? I know you may be going through a challenging time.’”
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com