I realize it's been quite a while since I taught - or was in school myself - but I'm distressed…
Morning Headlines 10/16/15
Cyberattacks Will Cost U.S. Health Systems $305 Billion Over Five Years, Accenture Forecasts
Accenture publishes a report predicting that the five-year cost of cyber attacks on US healthcare system will be $305 billion, resulting in six million cases of medical identity theft.
Theranos responds to a critical story published in the Wall Street Journal this week that claims Theranos only processes 15 of the 240 tests it offers on its own instruments, while the rest are performed with industry standard lab analyzers.
Cheap Solar Comes to Wisconsin
Epic is profiled by a local paper for having the largest solar energy system in Wisconsin, bringing 2.2 megawats of energy to the Verona campus.
DrFirst Secures $25 Million in Financing from Goldman Sachs
E-prescribing vendor DrFirst closes $25 million in equity financing from Goldman Sachs.
Strange – you missed the ‘other’ news about Nordic today…
http://www.isthmus.com/news/news/nordic-accused-of-sexual-harassment-retaliation/
Might be worth considering that there are two sides to every story. Email to Nordic employees from yesterday is below:
Some of you may have seen a report in The Isthmus about legal claims being brought by a former employee against Nordic. The report presents a totally misleading picture of Drew and the Company that we take strong issue with and are determined to not let stand.
Having worked closely with Drew for many years, these harassment allegations do not bear any resemblance to the person we know to be a strong leader with a clear vision, unparalleled dedication to our clients and passion for making Nordic a great place to work.
We can assure you that Nordic’s leadership team and the full Board of Directors stand firmly behind Drew and are extremely proud of his and the entire Nordic team’s impressive track record. In a short period of time, we have built a company that is widely admired in the industry and is recognized for being a great place to work.
Importantly, we are aggressively fighting these allegations and will have the opportunity to defend the company at an EOD hearing in Madison next week. Today’s media report does not tell the full story, takes specific comments out of context and there are many elements that Drew categorically denies. In fact, we believe the charges of harassment are contradicted by many documented instances in which the former employee spoke glowingly about Drew’s integrity and his leadership.
Nordic is committed to building a positive, respectful workplace environment for all employees and does not tolerate harassment of any kind. Since inception, we have had in place clear policies and procedures governing employee conduct, all of which are outlined in the employee handbook.
If you have any questions or concerns about this issue or our policies, please contact someone on the executive team directly. If there are any press inquiries, please do not respond but direct them to Eric.
What I don’t get is that Nordic came out and said the texts were real, now @BigGreen you are saying they are standing “firmly behind Drew”. Everybody can (and should) read through all the texts. Harassment or not, this is the CEO of a $100M company sending communications that are at best content for Howard Stern’s show, to a subordinate. Not sure what planet the Board of Directors lives on but on the face this doesn’t look like acceptable behavior for a CEO and clearly would create a locker room type environment at the highest levels. Time for Nordic employees to really ask themselves if they want to work in an environment like this (that goes to the top and is supported by the board). WTH? Maybe I am missing something. This story should also shed some light on what a scam the Modern Healthcare ratings are too.
@BigGreen- There are no doubt 2 sides to every story, so who knows if there will be consequences to Drew’s disgusting behavior. That said, when the president of a company uses company letterhead as some sort of twisted benefits clarification to continue to harass an employee about a compromising photo that he took is a pretty gross violation of a company’s vision for “building a positive, respectful workplace”- https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2455098/cruse-compensation-structure.pdf
Beyond the president’s completely inappropriate “sense of humor,” Nordic’s defense is that a direct subordinate of the president “enjoyed” the harassment and in her role as the VP of marketing spoke glowingly about the company’s president (presumably a core job requirement). It’s totally crazy.
I know a company needs a response to allegations, but exclaiming that the leadership team and board of directors is “extremely proud” of this guy after seeing the text messages and benefits letter is really messed up.
This is a sad company if they are going to act like the behaviors of their executives are acceptable when such damning evidence is there. I also find it funny that they announced a VP of HR the same day this came out. He did it and it was wrong and Nordic is a sad organization if they brush this under the rug
Just… lol at the ‘omg his comments were taken out of context’ garbage. In what context, exactly, would those texts be acceptable for a superior to send to a subordinate?