Quake Put Damper on Work

For all their pluck, Bay Area workers did not accomplish much in the weeks after October’s massive earthquake.

Companies surveyed by William M. Mercer Meidinger Hansen, a benefits consulting firm, reported that employees were afraid to commute to their jobs and use office elevators, easily flew off the handle, had trouble concentrating on work and were falling asleep in meetings. “Very little work got done,” most employers agreed.

And that just covered the workers who showed up. “At least one employee took early retirement on the spot, rather than return to work,” according to the Mercer study of 39 companies employing 120,000 Bay Area residents.

While a majority of employers reported signs of emotional distress among their workers in the three weeks after the Oct. 17 quake, fewer than half had taken steps to improve workplace safety, upgrade disaster plans or provide employees information about earthquake preparedness, the study found. One company brought in a geologist to talk to workers; three arranged direct help for employees hit hard by quake damage. Only two firms did nothing at all.

Planning to Move? Try Malta

The weather may have been rotten, but the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta still hopes to capitalize on the worldwide publicity it received during the recent Bush-Gorbachev summit there. And California is the chief target.

“People before were asking, ‘Where is Malta?’ ” said Joseph Vella Bonnici, manager of investment promotion for the government’s Malta Development Corp. “At least now they know where it is.”

To lure foreign investors, Malta offers a package of incentives similar to those provided by some other European countries, including such goodies as a 10-year tax holiday and reduced tax rates for foreign managers.

The government is most interested in attracting electronics firms, which could use Malta as a jumping-off point to market in Europe. So Bonnici said the development agency plans to open a promotion office in California sometime next year. By then, the image of President Bush trapped aboard a Navy ship for 10 hours by high seas may be forgotten.

Microwave, Mexican Style

When it comes to microwaveable snack food, Mexican-style food is much more popular than ready-to-eat frozen hamburgers or packaged croissant sandwiches--especially in California. A recent study by the Los Angeles office of Selling Areas Marketing Inc. finds that Americans spend 60 cents per capita on frozen burritos and only 30 cents per capita on frozen hamburgers. However, Californians spend two to three times the national average on frozen Mexican food products.

Those reports did not go unnoticed at Four ‘n Twenty, the Tustin-based subsidiary of an Australian company. It began to distribute a two-ounce, beef-filled pastry called “Aussie Snacks” in April and plans to add a taco-flavored pastry to its line. The product will be introduced in Los Angeles and San Francisco early this year, said Craig Lesly, general manager.