Economy

Following the planned retirement of President and CEO Richard Burke, Worcester insurer Fallon Health on Monday named Manny Lopes as its next leader. 

Most managers will agree hiring and retaining talented employees is more difficult than it used to be. The labor market is tight, costs make it harder to offer attractive benefit packages, and of course, most professionals became well acquainted with remote work during the coronavirus pandemic and generally enjoyed it.

Schwartz, who has experience leading companies through the public listing process, has been brought in to guide the company’s legal and financial functions as it seeks to further expand its customer base.

Framingham Union Hospital now has more unionized employees, as the healthcare facility’s nurses voted to join the Massachusetts Nurses Association union.

Heywood Healthcare leaders have worked in the last several months to right-size its operations amid an ongoing bankruptcy, said co-CEO Rozanna Penney, but Monday marked a day of regeneration for the Gardner-based health system.

The Central Massachusetts Business Confidence Index rose slightly from 49.6 to 50 in December, indicating local companies have mixed views regarding prospective business conditions as they head into the new year.

As the number of job vacancies nationally nears 4 million, Central Mass. businesses push to find and keep workers.

The total number of unemployed workers in the Greater Worcester metropolitan area rose slightly in November.

Process Cooling Systems Inc., a Leominster-based provider of manufacturing-related water systems, is the latest Massachusetts company to give their employees a stake in the business that they work for. 

For the second consecutive month, Massachusetts unemployment numbers saw a slight increase.