Thomas heads EPB customers relations
EPB on Friday promoted Karen Thomas to vice president of customer relations, filling the vacancy created with the retirement earlier this year of Kathy Burns after 49 years with the city-owned utility.
Like her predecessor, Thomas has spent her entire career with EPB since she joined the utility at age 18 after she graduated from McKenzie College with an associate of accounting degree. Thomas helped with the launch of EPB Fiber Optics more than a decade ago and helped restructure the EPB customer relations team to an around-the-clock organization.
“In her new role, Karen will lead many critical efforts as we strive to be continually more responsive to our customers,” EPB President David Wade said after EPB directors confirmed her appointment. “Providing outstanding customer experiences matters more than ever as our industry undergoes rapid change.”
American Airlines to end 1st class cabins on 777 jets
American Airlines has announced it will no longer have first-class cabins on international flights.
Instead, the airline said it will replace its first-class seats with more business-class seats.
American Airlines CEO said the move is to keep up with what the customers “most want or are most willing to pay for.”
Vasua Raja, chief commercial officer for American Airlines, said passengers are avoiding first class and buying less expensive business-class seats.
“First class will not exist on the 777, or for that matter at American Airlines, for the simple reason that our customers are not buying it,” Raja said in an announcement of the company’s third quarter results.
GM white-collar workers return to the office in 2023
General Motors Co. has informed its white-collar workforce they have to return three days a week to the office starting at the end of January.
Specific details of how they return will be worked out between leaders and their teams.
The move comes after backlash from workers when an abrupt alert was sent out last month telling employees they would be required to go back to the office later this year after more than two years of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The employee reaction led GM to push back the return until next year, without specifying a date.
Employees affected by the change were upset because the move went against a previously introduced “Work Appropriately” model that gave teams the flexibility to work from home, a lab, an office or wherever they can do their best work. GM noted the model was not a “policy” when it was implemented.
“After engaging with teams and listening to feedback, GM leaders are in the process of sharing the next steps of our Work Appropriately evolution with employees as we create a flexible model with a more regular in-person cadence across the company,” GM spokesperson Maria Raynal said in a statement Friday.
The Detroit automaker and other companies have used the flexibility of remote work to hire outside of Michigan and allow employees to work where they live. The employees that GM hired or designated remote will stay remote, the company previously said.
Atlanta to buy 41-story office
The city of Atlanta will spend $39 million to buy a 41-story downtown office tower from Georgia’s state government, saying the city will redevelop the aging building to include mixed-income housing and other uses.
The state has owned the 2 Peachtree Street building for about 30 years. It was the tallest building in Atlanta when it was built in 1968 for the First National Bank of Atlanta, which eventually became part of Wells Fargo & Co.
The state has been emptying the tower of government tenants, moving some into vacant offices around the state Capitol. Some state agencies downsized after concluding during the coronavirus pandemic that remote work meant they needed less office space.
The state budgeted $45 million earlier this year to move out of 2 Peachtree. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England said then that it would cost more to renovate the building than it was worth. Georgia spent more than $100 million on an earlier round of renovations.
Dickens said the site is prime for affordable housing because it’s next to the the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s Five Points rail station.