NEW YORK, NY September 05, 2002 — Next week's anniversary of the terrorist attacks will find most New Yorkers at the same place they were a year ago: their jobs. At companies and organizations near the World Trade Center site, the workplace on that day could be an uncomfortable place. WNYC's Amy Eddings surveyed several organizations in Lower Manhattan to find out how they plan to handle the one year anniversary.

From the street outside World of Golf, manager Phillip Sokolowski and two other employees had watched the Twin Towers burn one block away. Sokolowski locked up the store and went home. He'd prefer to do the same thing next Wednesday.

Sokolowski: I would like to do that. I will be on vacation. Maybe subliminally, I chose to go on vacation from the 9th to the 13th. But um, for my other employees who were there with me that day, it would allow them to reflect in the way they would like to reflect.

The final decision, he says, is up to the store's owners. Most companies, from tiny coffee shops to the New York Stock Exchange, will be open for business. And some, especially small retail shops and restaurants, are choosing not to do anything out of the ordinary. But many businesses feel a need to acknowledge September 11th -- a day that is likely to stir up unwelcome feelings and memories for their employees. Human resources consultants say the key to memorializing September 11th is to offer employees a wide range of options -- even the option of not doing anything. Eileen Piccininni, of FEI Behavioral Health, says 70 percent of her company's 150 clients have asked for guidance.

Piccininni: That runs the gamut, in terms of, a CEO just sending a letter to employees, recognizing and commemorating this day and its significance in our history, to allowing employees take the option of taking some leave time or actually attending some type of public service.

Aon Corporation, which lost 175 people, will close its New York office for the day. Other companies with employee losses -- Cantor Fitzgerald, Marsh and McLennan, Fred Alger Management, Carr Futures, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Keefe, Bruyette and Woods -- will hold private memorial services. Some employers, such as the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, will offer free food throughout the day, and place televisions around the office for those who would like to watch commemoration ceremonies. Chairman Mel Immergut believes most of his employees will want to be at work, rather than at home.

Immergut: This was a horrible, but shared experience. And, certainly, the bonding that took place amongst the members of our Milbank Tweed family was intense in way we had never seen it before. Our feeling is, that, really, it makes a lot of sense in having that same sort of atmosphere and bonding, again, on this first anniversary.

For Ronnie Moskowitz, September 11th calls for an entirely different mood for her workplace. Moskowitz heads up the Washington Market School in TriBeCa, for children up to six years old.

Moskowitz: Numbers of our kids had birthdays on September 11th, so we want to create a school that shows that September 11th can be a good day. That kids can have fun on September 11th, that it's not going to be a miserable day forever and ever, and we're gonna have lots of things to do.

HR consultants say September 11th has changed the workplace. Surveys have found more on-the-job stress, and more concerns about safety. Martha Harrison, with the consultant, Harris, Rothenberg International, has also noticed a renewed appreciation for the workplace as a community.

Harrison: Obviously, after September 11th, people woke up to the fact that, not only do we spend the majority of our time together with our colleagues from work, but that you could literally spend your last moments with these people around you.

As one Marsh and McClennan spokesman put it, the company will be open for business on September 11th, but it will not be business as usual.

For WNYC, I'm Amy Eddings.