TENANTS

Businesses try to track employees

By Sacha Pfeiffer and D.C. Denison, Globe Staff, 9/12/2001

or the more than 430 companies that leased space in the World Trade Center, the question yesterday was not how their business operations would be affected by the massive tragedy. It was simply this: Who is dead and who is alive?

An estimated 50,000 people reported to work each day at the seven-building complex, best known by the 110-story twin towers - 1 World Trade Center and 2 World Trade Center - that have defined the New York City skyline since they were built in the early 1970s.

Up to another 140,000 people visited the complex daily, drawn by its scores of retail shops and restaurants, including the legendary Windows on the World, its fitness center, day-care facility, medical and dental offices, meeting space and function halls, hotel and rooftop observatory.

And yesterday, as the magnitude of the devastation became apparent, officials from some of the biggest names in corporate America scrambled desperately to track the whereabouts of their World Trade Center employees and field frantic calls from colleagues and family members.

Across the nation, calls to many large companies with offices in the World Trade Center - many of whom also witnessed the 1993 bombing - simply went unanswered. Other businesses left recorded messages notifying callers that their offices had been closed until further notice.

Within hours after the disaster, a simple, somber link appeared on the Web site for Morgan Stanley, the World Trade Center's biggest tenant with 3,500 employees working at the complex: ''A Note on the World Trade Center Disaster.''

The phrase linked to a two-paragraph statement saying the financial services company was actively tracking the situation.

Two hours later, Morgan Stanley issued a press release with an emergency contact number for employees. By 4 p.m., the company's chairman, Philip Purcell, issued a statement, posted on the Web site's front page, relating his concern and pledging to keep the company open and maintain operations. Purcell also promised clients their assets were secure.

Julie Hitchen, a media relations staffer working out of the company's uptown office at 1221 Avenue of the Americas, said, ''Our first thoughts are with the employees. That's all we're concerned about right now.''

Thousands of miles away, in Fort Worth, electronic retailer Radio Shack was also trying to deal with the disaster. Radio Shack has four stores in New York's financial district, including one in the complex. ''We are still in the process of confirming the safety of our employees,'' said Kay Jackson, Radio Shack's director of media relations.

Jackson said that the company was using the corporate hierarchy to get employee information. Store managers are checking on employees, calling them at home, and reporting up to the district managers, Jackson said. Then the district managers are passing the information up to regional managers and, in some cases, up to divisional vice presidents.

The company had accounted for nearly all the possibly affected employees, according to Jackson.

It was a long day for employees of Waltham-based Thermo Electron. Eight company employees and one consultant worked out of a small office on the 85th floor at 1 World Trade Center. Three people were in the office at the time, said Thermo Electron spokeswoman Caroline Grossman.

''One of our employees was just about to enter the building when he saw the plane hit,'' Grossman said. ''He called us and said that it looked like the impact was very close to our office.'' (The first plane hit the World Trade Center's North Tower near the 88th floor.)

According to Grossman, company officials spent most of the day frantically calling employee friends and relatives. The company also asked its travel agency to check whether Thermo employees were ticketed on any of the missing flights. (There were none.)

Richard Syron, the chairman and CEO of Thermo Electron, who was on the West Coast for meetings, phoned in and addressed a company meeting around mid-day. By 3 p.m. the company had located all of the nine workers.

''We have already started reviewing travel policies and safety policies,'' said Grossman, ''but that's secondary to the safety of Thermo employees. That's for another day.''

Network Plus, a network communications provider based in Randolph, Mass., maintained a office on the 81st floor at 1 World Trade Center. ''We had about 40 people assigned to the office, and there were 21 people in the office at the time,'' according the Bob Cobuzzi, the company's vice president and CFO.

Cobuzzi said that New York-based employees first called the office reporting that it felt like an earthquake. ''They started evacuating, and then we lost contact with them,'' he said. ''We've been calling them ever since, communicating by cellphone and pay phones.''

By 5 p.m. yesterday, Cobuzzi had contacted all but four of the company's employees.

Other companies, I/B/E/S International, part of Boston-based Thomson Financial, which recently left its offices on the 18th floor at 1 World Trade Center, were counting their blessings.

According to a Boston spokeswoman for Thomson Financial, I/B/E/S moved to 195 Broadway about two months ago. ''There are other Thomson business units that are located at the World Trade Center,'' she added, but she was unsure of the status of those employees.

Christopher F. Graham, a partner at the law firm of Thacher Proffitt & Wood, which had 200 employees at 2 World Trade Center, said the attack would have little or no effect on the law firm's operations because the company maintains offices in several other cities and because all its business files are backed up by a computer at a remote location.

Graham also noted that, for these reasons, the firm's activities were only marginally affected after the 1993 terrorist bombing.

''We were out of our World Trade Center offices for five weeks and there was almost no impact on our operations,'' Graham said, speaking from the firm's offices in White Plains, N.Y.

In the meantime, Graham said, the firm's primary concern is locating the 200 employees scheduled to report to work at the World Trade Center. Those employees include Graham, who said he missed yesterday's attack only because he was late for work. ''That was just luck,'' Graham said.

Bruce Blythe, CEO of Crisis Management International, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that helps companies deal with disasters, reported ''voluminous calls'' to his office.

The company, which is retained by many large corporations to deal with crisis situations, has about 20 clients affected by the disaster, Blythe said. He declined to name the companies, but said several of them had employees in the Trade Center complex.

Blythe, however, did share the advice he's been giving out all day: ''The first thing that companies should do is account for everybody,'' he said. ''It's important to take an assertive approach. Start a phone tree. Contact the families, because they might not be able to reach you.''

Communication during the next few days is also crucial, he added. ''I've been telling my clients to get people together, even if it's in a hotel ballroom in New Jersey,'' he said. ''Have a meeting and explain what happened and how the company has been impacted. Let employees know what to expect. Allow for questions, concerns, rumors.''

He said businesses should also anticipate employees who may look to blame management. ''Companies should be prepared to hear people say, `Why did we open up an office in World Trade Center when it is an obvious target?' That's going to happen, so you have to be prepared for it.''

Matt Carroll and Michael Rezendes of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Material from Bloomberg News was also used.

This story ran on page A9 of the Boston Globe on 9/12/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.