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Prior to the George Floyd incident, the thought of safety would rarely have occurred when executives visit a company as part of the vetting process for both sides. Clearly, the concern for safety has changed in many cities.  My wife and I use to do date nights to Minneapolis Uptown area on a monthly basis, but the George Floyd riots changed this part of Minneapolis permanently. Buildings are still boarded up and many of the restaurants we frequented are no longer around. The primary reason we now stay clear of many parts of Minneapolis is that we don’t feel safe.  Murder rates are at all-time historic highs and all other crimes are way up.  Historic police exodus in Minneapolis and other cities impacted by racial justice unrest and Minneapolis identifying as a sanctuary city with a large influx of illegal immigrants, has only exacerbated the problem of increased crime.

Looking at cities that are hot spots for crime (Chicago, New Orleans, and New York City), we questioned three financial services firms on whether they are concerned for the safety of financial advisors that visit their home office and whether they intend on relocating their home office due to high crime rates.  These due-diligence visits consist of a dinner out with management and a day of meetings the next day.  We asked a recruiter of a firm in New Orleans about their concerns.  Their response was:

“There is no plan to change our home office location.  Like other major cities across the country there are always challenges for safety and we take that very seriously.  When scheduling HOV’s with prospective advisors, we book our advisors at 4–5-star hotels that are located in safe areas nearby our office as well as schedule private transportation between the airport & hotel, holding dinner at highly regarded restaurants.”

Midway through 2022, New Orleans leads the nation in murders.  As much as this firm may try to protect visiting prospects, they can’t prevent candidates from wanting to venture out and explore the French Quarter after dinner, in which case, all safety assurances are off.  This is problematic in many cities, requiring you to figure out where’s the decreasing number of safe places where you can let your guard down.

We asked the CEO of a Chicago firm the same questions and his response was,

“Our home office is located in the West Loop area of Chicago which is very vibrant, growing, hip and safe area of the city.  We have had zero issues with crime or anything even close to it.  Our home office employees enjoy coming to the office.  So no, we have no intention of moving the home office.  If anything, we are looking to expand here in downtown Chicago.”

Normalcy bias aside, according to Niche, the issues with crime in the West Loop year to date July 2022 are not zero but rather their statistics show this:

Crime in Chicago is enough of an issue that many corporations have left including:

Boeing

Citadel

Caterpillar

Aldi’s

Whole Foods

The CEO of McDonalds has recently sounded the alarm, saying, “The rising crime is hurting his ability to recruit quality executive candidates.” The number of safe neighborhoods is decreasing as high crime areas expand.  The Magnificent Mile and the North side,  which use to be safe places to shop at high-end stores or see a Cub game, have had their perception of safety ripped away with most all categories of crime increasing dramatically.

For New Yorkers, crime has had a prolonged upswing, but has amplified since the George Floyd riots with YTD July 2022 stats the following:

Robbery +37.2%

Felony Assault +17.8%

Grand Larceny +40.6%

Felonies +29%

In a discussion with a recruiter for a firm based in New York City, the conversation was frank and direct.  He explained,

“If I were an advisor, I wouldn’t visit New York.  It’s not safe!  Rent/Lease prices are still crazy high and you don’t see anyone around so we have plans to move our office to another borough and then eventually go to Florida.”

Moving from New York City to Florida is a common trend for finance-related firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citadel, Arch Investments, and Blackstone that have made the move to Florida for less crime, better climate, lower taxes, and no draconian COVID regulations and mismanagement of those regulations.

What are your options regarding corporate visits and safety?  During COVID, firms did virtual tours and Zoom calls as an alternative to in-person visits.  The increased issue with flight delays and cancelations has further taken the shine off in person visits so doing a Zoom call with the departments that matter to you is a viable alternative.  If you choose to do an in-person visit at a company that is located in a higher-crime city, avoiding venturing outside the safety of your hotel after dinner would be most prudent.

If you do venture out, take the advice that the Los Angeles Police Department is now giving residents in Los Angeles, which is to not wear high-end jewelry in public or expensive clothing that draws attention to you.  Expensive watches can be especially risky to wear.

We’ve always been proponents of in-person visits because meeting people in person, seeing the facility, and eating a meal with management brings things to the surface you don’t get on a Zoom call. Unfortunately, as the ‘rule of law’ is increasingly suppressed in the name of equality, many cities are shifting from centers of commerce to centers of chaos.  Because of this trend, you can’t assume safety as we once did in urban locations.