COVID-19 Weekly Digest (January 13, 2021)
The COVID-19 pandemic may have an economic impact far beyond last year and the two or three following. The World Bank's recent report projects global economic growth to slow to 1.9% per year from 2020-2029. Before the pandemic, growth was projected to be 2.1%, down from 2.5% over the previous decade. According to the bank, investments in infrastructure, diversifying economies, and supporting the employment of women may help mitigate or reverse that slow growth.
At the individual level, improving your leadership skills and becoming a better person can come through reading books. To get started, this article in Forbes recommends 21 books to make 2021 your best year yet.
STIMULUS UPDATES
Economic Impact Payments
The IRS has a new set of Frequently Asked Questions covering the latest round of payments. They have also updated the Get My Payment tool so taxpayers can get information about how their payment was sent and the date that it was sent. If you received your first payment by direct deposit, you most likely have already received it, provided that your banking information has not changed. Some people who received their earlier payment via paper check will receive their payment by prepaid debit card, and some who got debit cards will receive paper checks in this round of payments. You can also find more details on the IRS website.
If you're eligible for payment but don't receive it by the end of January, your only option is to claim it as a Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2020 tax return. If you're eligible for a more significant payment than you received, you can claim the difference on your 2020 tax return.
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
The new round of the PPP opened on Monday, January 11, 2021. This article in the Journal of Accountancy has full details on eligibility and requirements for forgiveness. Starting on Monday, January 11, first-time borrowers can apply, and on Wednesday, January 13, second-time borrowers can apply. These initial rounds are available only through community financial institutions. At some unspecified date in the near future, the program will open up to all other participating lenders. The program will be open through March 31, 2021.
First-time borrowers can receive up to $10 million, while the second round of loans is limited to $2 million. In the second round, borrowers must have already spent all the funds they received previously and must have experienced at least a 25% reduction in gross receipts in at least one quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Loan amounts will be forgiven as long as at least 60% was spent on payroll. Additional expenses are now eligible, including amounts spent on personal protective equipment and workplace modifications to comply with COVID-19 safety regulations, as well as property damage due to looting in 2020 that was not covered by insurance. The SBA will also be providing a simplified forgiveness application for loans under $150,000.
LIVING WITH THE PANDEMIC
Small business challenges
Even with the unemployment rate still at 6.7% and initial claims for unemployment down sharply from a peak of seven million in March, manufacturers are struggling to find enough people to keep their operations going. Executives and janitors are being asked to staff assembly lines. Some companies are requesting that employees cancel upcoming vacations, and starting pay is being boosted to keep making the products. Some employees have been lured away by e-commerce jobs that pay more, while others have family obligations that make a return to work difficult. Other employees are wary of workplace practices that they feel may increase the likelihood of COVID-19 transmission. Another cause of absenteeism is the surge of cases in many parts of the country, which keeps infected workers and workers in close contact as well as the workers who test positive for COVID-19 and must go into quarantine.
Working from home
For organizations that provide creative work, Slack and Zoom can pose a double-edged sword. While they make remote work possible, they can also hinder people from doing their best work when their best focus time is interrupted. This article in Fast Company describes the strategy that a PR and marketing company used to handle unneeded distractions:
They set rules for when responses were expected with different types of communications:
Slack messages were to be answered within a day
Texts within an hour or two
Phone calls were only used when an immediate response was needed
They split their workday into blocks for uninterrupted creative work and meetings.
The result was a decrease in stress and internal conflicts with an increasing inefficiency.
The future of the office
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, work began to shift from central offices or complexes to satellite offices, co-working spaces, and remote workers in home offices. That trend was accelerated, and the post-COVID-19 world may mean that some offices will become residences and that more residential areas will accommodate workplaces.
Tech trends for 2021
Many of the tech tools that made our lives easier in 2020 had been around for some time but became more widely used when we had to stay home and wanted solutions with less personal contact. Here are four tech trends for 2021 from the New York Times:
Chatbots and augmented reality will improve the online shopping experience.
Improvements in Wi-Fi technology will make it easier to connect our multiplying devices without drops in performance.
New radio technologies that pinpoint locations of objects may lead to additional ways to pay without contact.
Tech apps will virtualize our work environments and improve self-care.
Some of this tech may lose popularity when (and if) we return to some semblance of "normal," but the tools that make our lives easier and better over the long run will likely stick around.
Remote leadership
Leading a team remotely is different from in-person leadership. Zoom happy hours with 40 people staring at each other can't replace the sense of belonging that comes from casual connections at the water cooler or in the office break room. The remote world gives introverted leaders an advantage because the small group connections or one-on-one conversations they feel more comfortable with are better at fostering camaraderie than big online meetings with the whole team.
