Business 5/10/21

 

High-Impact Relationships: How CEOs Can Help The Business

Thor Ernstsson is a founder of Strata, the operating system for your professional network. 

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As a startup founder or executive, revenue is always top-of-mind. It’s not easy to make sales, particularly large deals with large companies. From generating leads to getting the paperwork signed, it takes a team effort. It’s not just on salespeople. Executives can help the business grow by tapping their network to find prospects and fostering their relationships with executive stakeholders at prospect companies. 

I’ve supported sales with dozens of Fortune 500 companies as a founder of two venture-backed enterprise software companies. I’ve learned ways to not only generate leads and help win deals in the short-term, but set our teams up with a healthy pipeline and repeat customers. 

People think of deals as feats to be conquered or won. Most teams focus too much on sales tactics and immediate next steps. But driving consistent revenue takes more than sales decks and follow-up emails. You need to build meaningful relationships with your prospects and your network. 

Here are three tried and tested, albeit counterintuitive, relationship management strategies for driving revenue as a startup founder or executive. 

1. Treat people like people.

Building relationships is essential in winning big deals. Of course, your product, marketing and sales strategies matter, but there’s more to it than that. 

Your prospects are not just companies or budget holders. Stop treating them like they’re just a record in your CRM that needs to be pushed to the next stage in your pipeline. Treat them like people. 

People have goals outside of whatever you’re selling. They even have interests outside of work. Get to know your prospects on a deeper level. 

At my previous company, we were working on a major deal with a Fortune 500 company that would make or break our quarter. I sat down with one of our executive stakeholders for coffee. We didn’t talk about the deal at all. I asked him about his career goals and about other projects he was working on. 

He told me that he was hiring an operations person and was having trouble finding candidates. So I introduced him to a fantastic operations person that I know who happened to be looking for her next opportunity. 

The product we were selling had nothing to do with operations, and I’m not a recruiter. It was a matter of getting to know someone better and treating them like a human being. 

2. Build meaningful relationships over time.

Executives at large companies are very thorough when making major buying decisions. They consider factors like budget, ROI and product features. But individual people make buying decisions based on more than just the numbers. 

People want to work with people they like and trust. They want to work with people who they will enjoy working with and who can be long-term partners throughout their careers. 

Use the lengthy amount of time it often takes to close large deals as an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with key stakeholders. 

Our team hosted a dinner where we invited twenty senior executives in our network, including several prospects. The night included a roundtable discussion on a topic relevant to everyone in the room. 

It gave our prospects an opportunity to expand their networks and to learn from peers. It gave us credibility and showed that signing a deal with us would lead to a great relationship to have over the long term. 

Look for opportunities to help your prospects beyond the deal at hand and build a genuine relationship. 

3. Make staying in touch a habit.

Your network is your best source for leads that are likely to buy. You might know someone who wasn’t ready to buy last year but could be in the future. By staying in touch, you’ll be the first person they think to reach out to when they are ready to buy. 

People often neglect their network because nurturing relationships doesn’t always provide immediate results. However, it’s been one of the highest impact activities over the course of my career and the careers of almost all of the founders and executives I know. 

Building any new habit is challenging, regardless of whether it's running or keeping in touch with your network. According to health psychology researcher, Phillippa Lally, it takes 66 days to develop a new habit to the point where it becomes “automatic.” 

There are a number of tools that help make the habit easier, but the hardest part is simply getting started. So start small. 

When reaching out to your network, the content of your message is not as important as most people think. It’s far more important that you reach out at all. You don’t have to write a novel. Send a funny meme or congratulate them on their wedding anniversary. 

Once you start getting in the habit of reaching out to people regularly, be more personal. Use what you know about them to reach out contextually. Say you know someone who loves yoga. Reach out to them to discuss a new Netflix documentary about yoga. 

Over time, you’ll start seeing results from your efforts and it will be an automatic habit.

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Business Broadband: Best Internet Service Provider In 2021

 © ZDNet

At home, an internet outage is an annoyance, but nothing more. Aside from interrupting whatever you're watching on Netflix, a brief break in online access for an hour or two is no big deal. At your business, on the other hand, even an hour-long outage can have serious repercussions on productivity and profits. 

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That's why, when you're looking for an internet service provider for your small business, you should look for more than just high speeds and low prices. Reliability is at the absolute top of the list, backed up by service level agreements that clearly spell out what you're buying. That's followed closely by support, which should be available 24/7 and knowledgeable enough to quickly handle problems so an outage doesn't ruin your day. 

Business internet providers offer a feature set that consumer cable companies won't touch, including upload speeds that are as fast as download speeds, a detail that matters for design firms that routinely exchange massive video and CAD files with remote business partners. Prices are, unsurprisingly, higher than corresponding consumer plans but typically include no data caps. Using dedicated IP addresses, you can keep a permanent high-speed connection to a branch office or run your own public-facing server. Neither of those scenarios are possible (or advisable) with a consumer-focused internet plan. And business internet providers typically offer attractive add-ons like email and phone service for a relatively small surcharge. 

For this guide, we've focused on large, nationwide internet providers in the United States. Depending on where your office is located, you might be able to find excellent local and regional options, but we don't have the space or the bandwidth to track down the hundreds of options in that category.

Premium services at premium prices  © Provided by ZDNet verizon-fios.Jpg

As one of two Tier 1 internet providers in this list (the other is AT&T), Verizon has more control over its network than competitors that have to purchase access from upstream providers. Fios is a fiber-based service that is available in three tiers, starting at 100 Mbps and going up to 940/880 Mbps, at prices ranging from $69 to $249 per month. The highest-priced plan include a single digital voice line for your business as well, and you can get additional discounts for bundling with Verizon Wireless plans or Fios TV. 

Verizon also offers Internet Dedicated Services, at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps, with the fastest connection costing $855 per month with a three-year commitment. For an extra charge, you can add 4G LTE wireless backup, which will keep critical services like point of sale systems running in the event of an outage. 

Unlike some of its competitors, Verizon charges additional fees for equipment and some services, so be sure to include the full list of charges when comparing prices. 

View Now at Verizon Business Best for those who want to create a custom package  © Provided by ZDNet at-t-internet.Jpg

As one of the biggest brands on the internet and a Tier 1 provider, AT&T offers a dizzying array of options, with broadband, wireless, and Dedicated Internet plans available for the choosing. Special terms and pricing are available for government agencies, schools, and libraries. 

Wired broadband plans start at $40 per month, with wireless backup available as an option. Wireless plans begin at $80 a month and top out at 100 Mbps speeds. Dedicated Internet access, offering speeds of up to 1 Tbps with traffic prioritization, will cost at least $550 per month and can run into the thousands of dollars monthly for a Gigabit connection. Although you can start your search online, getting a detailed price quote means filling in an online form or speaking with a sales rep. 

View Now at AT&T Business Internet For best rates, you’ll need to sign a two-year contract  © Provided by ZDNet comcast-internet.Jpg

Comcast Business, unlike its consumer cousin, has no data caps, and it offers dedicated, round-the-clock support for business customers. But this is still Comcast, as you'll realize when you discover that the best prices require a two-year contract. Expect to pay $80 to $500 per month for download speeds starting at 35 Mbps and going up to 1 Gbps. In our review of Comcast Business pricing, we found that internet packages that bundled a single phone line were actually cheaper than the internet-only versions. For the first two years, at least. 

Comcast offers a slew of add-ons for business customers, including Wi-Fi options to secure your corporate network from the one you allow guests to use, as well as a backup option called Connection Pro, that provides a 4G LTE modem with battery reserve for up to 8 hours, so you can maintain connectivity in the event of an outage. 

If those speeds are too sluggish, you can get Ethernet dedicated internet, with symmetrical download/upload speeds up to 100 Gbps and two permanent IP addresses. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) router is optional. Be prepared to pay, though. 

View Now at Comcast Business Best for those looking for a low-priced bundle  © Provided by ZDNet spectrum-truck.Jpg

As expected from a division of cable giant Charter Communications, Spectrum Business plans come with a dizzying array of prices that vary based on contract length and whether you've bundled phone or TV service with your internet access. Speeds range from 200 Mbps to 940 Mbps, at prices from $65 to $250 per month with a 12- or 24-month contract. 

The entry level plan includes domain name registration and email service, with higher-priced plans bundling voice service as well. Add-ons include a $20-per-month Wireless Internet Backup plan, static IP addresses (1 for $15, up to 29 addresses for $60 monthly), and a variety of Wi-Fi options. 

View Now at Spectrum Business Fiber performance, if you live in their coverage area  © Provided by ZDNet frontier-map.Png

Frontier's network covers huge swaths of the United States, including the Southwest from California to Texas, the entire Southeast, and every state that borders the Great Lakes, including Illinois and New York. There are some noteworthy gaps in the coverage map, however, including the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Virginia/Maryland/D.C, and the upper Northeast from Massachusetts to Maine. 

Frontier's claim to fame is its 100% fiber-optic network, which allows it to offer upload speeds that are as fast as downloads, depending on the plan. That's the same network that Frontier's consumer customers use. 

Frontier's website focuses mostly on its consumer offerings and is thin on what it offers business customers, and the only way to get details on a business plan is to call their business sales line. That leads us to believe that the main difference is easier access to support lines. Still, if you're in Frontier's service area, it's probably worth a call to figure out whether their no-contract plans are right for your business. 

View Now at Frontier Business Internet No billing surprises, if you live in the right city  © Provided by ZDNet how-to-get-fiber.Png

Does Google have a nationwide network? Well ... Sort of. Google Fiber business plans are available to a large segment of the United States population, but only if you live in one of the 19 cities that are part of the network. You can expect to pay $100 a month for 250 Mbps service and $250 monthly for the 1 Gbps. 

On Google Fiber plans, upload and download speeds are identical (equipment permitting) and there are no hidden fees or data caps, nor is a contract required. The monthly price includes installation and required networking equipment, although you're welcome to bring your own router if you prefer.

View Now at Google Fiber What type of internet connection is best for businesses?

For most office-based small businesses, a regular broadband connection with wired access to each desktop or laptop PC is the best choice, and you can easily add wireless connectivity. Businesses that are more spread out, with common areas for customers and employees, might prefer an all-wireless option. Be sure to check the terms of service carefully, however, as some providers restrict access to bars, restaurants, hotels, and other establishments that serve the public. If you data needs are especially demanding, with employees routinely transferring large files or doing HD video streaming, a dedicated connection is pricey but probably worth it.

If you work from home, do you need business internet?

Home-based employees can use large amounts of data, sometimes enough to exceed data caps that are common with consumer internet plans. Paying for unlimited access is usually still cheaper than signing up for a dedicated business plan. Consider a business plan if you need fast upload speeds (most consumer providers limit uploads to a fraction of download speeds) or if you need to run your own server (which is prohibited under the terms of service for most consumer plans).

What internet speed is appropriate for business use?

Each tier of increased speed comes at a higher price, sometimes significantly higher, so it's important to sign up for only as much bandwidth as you need. For lightweight office use by one or two users plus point-of-sale transactions, even the most modest package will probably do. As you add workers, especially if they routinely transfer large files, you'll want to expand speeds significantly. Businesses that do intensive work with large files, such as graphic design shops and videographers, should get as much bandwidth as they can afford.

How we narrowed the field

We looked at national internet service providers that offer plans dedicated for business use, with support staff that are trained to work with business networks of all sizes. We encourage you to use your local business connections to see if a smaller regional option might be a smaller alternative. All of these plans include 24/7 support, options for dedicated IP addresses, email and security add-ons, and symmetrical upload/download speeds.

How to choose a business internet provider

Start by using the provider's online form to see if service is available at your address. If your business is located in space you rent or lease, you'll also want to check with the owner to confirm that you're allowed to do any work required as part of the installation. 

We recommend getting a detailed quote that includes all one-time charges as well as a firm estimate of monthly charges, including taxes and fees. If a long-term contract is required, be sure to find out what the monthly charge will be after the contract ends if you stay on a month-to-month basis. 

Finally, look at any available add-ons, including business phone service, email, wireless backup, and business Wi-Fi that uses secure authentication rather than a simple password. You might find that those options can provide some extra savings and give you a single point of contact for support. 

Real Estate: Big Office Complex In Pleasanton’s Hacienda Business Park Finds Buyer

PLEASANTON — A big office complex in Pleasanton has been bought, in a sign that investor interest in choice commercial properties is booming in one of the East Bay’s tech hubs.

Two real estate firms from Silicon Valley have teamed up to buy the office complex, which consists of three buildings in Pleasanton’s Hacienda Business Park.

An alliance of Menlo Park-based Spieker Investments and Palo Alto-based Keech Properties bought the office center through an affiliate called Spieker Keech Hacienda, according to Alameda County public records filed on May 5.

The real estate venture paid $58 million for Hacienda Terrace, which has addresses of 4301, 4305, and 4309 Hacienda Drive in Pleasanton, the county documents show.

Hacienda Terrace, a three-building office complex totaling 303,000 square feet at 4301, 4305, and 4309 Hacienda Drive in Pleasanton. // Google Maps

The seller was Embarcadero Capital, a veteran real estate firm that bought the three-building complex in 2011, the county records show.

The purchase was arranged through Brian Lagomarsino, an executive vice president with Colliers, a commercial real estate firm; and Eastdil Secured, a real estate firm.

The three buildings together total about 303,200 square feet, according to a marketing brochure that Colliers circulated. Each building is five stories high.

“Hacienda Terrace is comprised of three Class A office buildings in the heart of Hacienda Business Park, the premier Pleasanton office location,” the marketing brochure stated.

The Spieker Keech Hacienda alliance also obtained at the time of the purchase a $36.5 million loan from CRED REIT Holdco, according to the county documents.

The CRED REIT lender is one of the subsidiaries of The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund, a New York City-based financial services behemoth.

Hacienda Terrace, a three-building Pleasanton office complex totaling 303,000 square feet at 4301, 4305, and 4309 Hacienda Drive. Google Maps

Several large purchases of commercial properties have occurred in Pleasanton lately, with two deals occurring near Stoneridge Shopping Center and two in Hacienda Business Park, including the purchase of Hacienda Terrace.

Among the other large Pleasanton deals besides Hacienda Terrace:

— 10x Genomics paid $29.4 million for an aging shopping center at 1701 Springdale Ave. In February. The life sciences upstart wants to replace the retail site with a new campus for its fast-expanding operations.

— Workday paid $172.5 million for six office buildings on Stoneridge Mall Road, including the tech firm’s existing headquarters, in March. The deal solidifies Workday’s Pleasanton footprint.

— A Florida-based investor paid $97.3 million for a huge industrial and office complex on Hacienda Drive in April. The complex is suitable for large logistics operations.

The most recent large Pleasanton transaction, involving the Hacienda Terrace purchase, points to rising commercial property values for prime office buildings in Pleasanton.

At the time the Spieker and Keech alliance bought Hacienda Terrace, the assessed value of the office complex was $43.3 million, the county documents show. This also suggests that Embarcadero Capital harvested a profit through the deal.

ServiceNow, a tech firm; a Morgan Stanley financial services office; and Sorenson Media, a publisher, are among the tenants in Hacienda Terrace.

During its years of ownership, Embarcadero Capital instituted upgrades to the complex.

“Fully renovated common areas” and “improvements to building entries, main lobbies, and elevators” were among the revamps that Embarcadero Capital undertook, according to the Colliers brochure.

WORK AT HOME 5/3/2021

 

Four Work-From-Home Strategies To Embrace For Your Real Estate Business

Jarred Kessler is the CEO of EasyKnock.

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If you ask me, working from home is amazing. You can wear pajamas from the waist down, you have no commute and you can even sleep in. I understand that the process of reading on a train or after-work drinks with your co-workers has been lost, but there has also been much to gain. Pre-pandemic, the real estate industry was lagging in remote work opportunities, but we’ve shown we’re as adaptable as any industry out there. The fast-paced nature and culture of the real estate industry do present some unique challenges, though. Here is some of my best advice to keep your real estate business humming, even while you’re working from home.

Create A Designated Workspace

Your garage (or as we call it in my house, Le Garage) is not only a Covid-safe area, it’s also an often underused area that's perfect for a home office. As you work you can have fresh air coming in through the open doors, or you can purchase a moderately priced plug-and-play heating or cooling unit if you need a more temperate climate. In your detached workspace, take advantage of whatever direct light you can access. Regulated sunlight may reduce headaches, stress and drowsiness in workers, and possibly even increase worker satisfaction and combat anxiety. Adding a rug or carpet and inexpensive personal touches like proper work lighting can make it feel more like a room than a garage. If you don't have a garage, you might be able to construct a shed that is not connected to your house for the same use.

Creating a structure or space that can hold guests or have an office set up, all while maintaining space between your main house, can be a huge bonus. This could be cheaper than you think and, as a bonus, add more resale value than you might expect.

Don’t Think You Have To Sacrifice A Traditional Morning Meeting

Whether you’re in a more traditional real estate brokerage or a real estate tech startup, a lot of companies in this industry opt for a morning meeting to get everyone off on the right foot and up to date. The industry moves fast, after all. With the pandemic, it’s not as simple as throwing down a dozen donuts to draw a crowd into the conference room. But that doesn’t mean you should give up the morning meeting if you feel it’s important for your business.

Set a virtual meeting, but make sure that you keep it short and sweet by sticking to a simple meeting outline. Zoom fatigue is real, and you can help combat it in your staff by sticking to the essentials. You might also consider incentivizing morning meeting attendance and/or participation. For instance, budget to have a delivery service send some donuts and coffee for each staff member who showed up and made a contribution at every meeting over the course of a week.

Take Advantage Of Industry-Geared Virtual Networking Events

Conventions almost seem like a weird fever dream at this point. Did we really travel cross-country to conventions, stay in overcrowded hotels and sit in rooms packed with people to get the latest dish on the industry? Oh, yes, we did. Now, many of the same outcomes can be achieved through virtual networking events. We can get together online via video conference, chats or even virtual reality events and learn a lot of the same things and meet a lot of the same people.

At EasyKnock, we’ve even set up virtual events for our staff that aren’t necessarily work-related. For instance, we moved our holiday party to a virtual platform. It allowed us all to get together, celebrate and communicate so that we could connect and team build. Other team-building events go over great in a virtual environment, like office game night or virtual happy hour. 

Remember That Work And Life Are Separate

In the real estate business, it’s hard enough to manage some semblance of work-life balance, but this has been especially true during the pandemic. It’s so easy to just go do one more little thing when your desk is just across the house that you’ve been in almost 24/7 for a year or better. That’ll wear you down, though. No one can be “on” all the time. It’s important that your staff knows that, too, and that your company culture enforces the idea that downtime is a good thing and not something that’s going to set them back.

Set working hours and stick to them. When it comes to client contacts, it can be even harder to set aside work until the following day, but laying out your working hours ahead of time so that clients know when it’s appropriate to call and when it’s not can help. At the very least, make sure that you put it all away on occasion. Shut the door to your office and pretend it’s not there on the weekend so that you can spend time with your family and friends. We are in a new world and it can be exciting.

If you have the ability to upgrade your home and workspace and want to, this is a great time. If you are a little more challenged right now, there are small ways to make changes. At the end of the day, if it’s warm enough, there is nothing better than working in your backyard — all you need is a table, umbrella and Wi-Fi and you can connect with the whole office safely from your own home. The pandemic has forced us to adapt and change the way we handle business, and I think that it will change how we work from here on out, even when in-person interactions are safe again.

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How Working From Home Changed Our Kids’ Perceptions Of Work

 (iStock)

Years ago, a friend of mine, at the time a clothing designer for the snowboarding line of an athletic apparel company, was working from home. Her then 7-year-old-son saw her at her laptop, and asked what she was doing. She said she was working. “No, you’re not.” He was defiant. “You’re a professional snowboarder.” That is what he had understood her to be and, in an instant, a pretty cool profession became a disappointment.

Fast-forward to now, when the pandemic has forced many people to work from home. The concept of being in the same physical space among actual colleagues borders on anachronistic in 2021. For those with children, there’s been an additional adjustment. Before schools reopened in the Netherlands, where we live, my dining room table was littered with the school books and laptops of my three children, with my husband or me at the helm, trying to do our own work.

The pandemic changed everything about family life. These are the parts parents want to keep.

It was disruptive, but it was also interesting to see the work my children are doing and to observe how they work.

At the same time, my children have been equally observing what my husband and I do during the day — which, as with my friend’s son years ago, has exposed some misconceptions. While they have always had some understanding of what my husband and I do for a living, our working life before covid was a fraction of how they experienced us. How has watching us work every day impacted how they perceive not only our careers, but careers in general?

The situation that can benefit everyone, says Kimberly A.S. Howard, associate professor of counseling psychology and applied human development at Boston University. Howard says by age 4, children can begin to form ideas about various occupations. “There’s the opportunity, when work is happening at home, for the work to be more obvious to children, and for parents and adult caregivers to have real conversations about their work,” Howard says via Zoom. “When parents say, ‘this is how I spend my day and this is why I do it, this is what motivates me, this is what benefits come from it,’ kids can apply these ideas to other careers.”

My children have seen me working from home since their birth, at different levels of cognition. When he was about 3, my son (now 10) came into my office while I was writing an article. I made an attempt to trigger his interest, but he seemed unmoved. “What is it you think my job is, actually?” I asked. “Your job is to point at squares,” he said. To type.

“Younger kids are very focused on the concrete,” Howard says. “What is observable. The physical act is touching the keyboard, but what is it that you’re providing? It’s not until later that they begin to understand what these concrete steps represent, and that can be facilitated by conversation. We can explain that.”

My husband works in logistics for a multinational company that manufactures contact lenses. Before the pandemic, our children saw him leave the house for work — “ in their minds, a place filled with a mysterious air of “otherness” in relation to his home life. It was a place where he had a large, tidy office with a jar of chocolates and a warehouse with robots, where he knew people we didn’t, and which we only visited when Santa Claus paid his annual respects.

Before covid, my children believed his father was a scientist who made contact lenses, together with robots. They now understand that their dad spends most of his days in calls with colleagues, talking about things like SKU numbers. They get that their dad is part of a long chain that makes it possible for peopleto get contact lenses, but that’s less interesting. Such revelations can be disillusioning for young children thinking about careers at a stage when, according to Howard, ideas of jobs are characterized by “fantasy and imagination.”

And excitement. A study published in 1995, “Occupational Portrayals on Television,” examines how television dramatizes and sensationalizes careers for children. “Medical professionals are shown in hospital settings (as opposed to outpatient settings)” the researchers write. “They treat pathology more than they engage in prevention […].” And violent crimes such as murder are very common for television police, “whereas most real-life crimes are nonviolent and related to property.”

Children have been getting more firsthand glimpses at the often-mundane reality of their parent’s jobs, such as Leo Vijendran, 15, whose father works in the Netherlands for the European Space Agency. Turns out, at-home space exploration isn’t as gripping as you might think. “I noticed that he was always in meetings,” Leo explains via email. “I knew my father was not an astronaut, but it still surprised me how little physics he used in his job. It isn’t what would come to mind, when one thinks of working on missions to space.”

Kai Levin, 16, of Vancouver, British Columbia, admires his dad’s job as a corporate video producer but admits it feels less “cool” lately. “Before, he got to travel all around the world and make videos,” Kai says via Messenger. “But now he is at the living room desk when I wake up. He’s still at his desk when I come home.” His sister, Lauren, 12, concurs that her dad’s job seems a little less glamorous lately. “He doesn’t go anywhere,” she says, also via Messenger. “He used to dress really sharp for the office, but now he just wears sweatpants and housecoats.”

It helps to remind children that working at home means many of us are working differently than we are accustomed, Howard says. Valentina Gultlingen, 14, who lives in the Netherlands, says after a year of doing schoolwork online, she definitely does not want a future job sitting in front of a computer. Her mother, a project manager, works from home. “I don’t know how she does it,” Valentina says. With online learning, she misses the academic and social benefits of bumping into other students between classes. “

More positively, the pandemic has given children exposure to a broader range of jobs than they may have had previously, Howard says. “It trains their eye to see that this is an interconnected world,” Howard says, “and to develop an appreciation for a wide range of occupations, not just those that have been historically associated with prestige. Everyone is functioning for a purpose and we need to recognize how important it is that all of these roles are being occupied.”

As for my children, they are still in the stage of discovering what they love to do, sometimes connecting those interests to potential careers. My youngest daughter (7) wants to be a farmer because she likes the outdoors and loves animals. My older daughter (9) is curious and determined, and is always teaching herself a skill — from knitting to acrobatics — but doesn’t want these things to be jobs; she just wants to be good at them.

My son wants to be a professional footballer, preferably for Manchester United. I’m encouraging him to strive for athletic excellence, but talking to him about other football-related jobs for non-players, such as becoming an athletic equipment engineer, a physical therapist, or to work as a sports journalist — you know, to type.

Tracy Brown Hamilton is an Irish/American journalist living in The Netherlands.

Join our discussion group here to talk about parenting and work. You can sign up here for the On Parenting newsletter.

More reading:

Parents want to keep working from home post-pandemic

6 ways parents can deal with work-from-home interruptions

The pandemic has parents working harder than ever — and kids get to see it

Most Americans Want To Keep Working Remotely Or At Home As Part Of Work Schedule

After a year of lockdowns that left many working Americans working from home or remotely, a large proportion of the U.S. Workforce may not be eager to start working outside the home as restrictions ease across the country. 

Twenty-six percent of Americans who are employed either full or part time say their ideal working situation would be to work outside the home. But that doesn't mean most want to work solely from home either: just 19% say this is their ideal work situation. Instead, the most popular option is to have some sort of combination, chosen by 41% of working Americans. Another 14% would simply rather not work at all.

The hybrid preference seems to be widespread, cutting across age groups, and it is the top choice of Americans who are employed both full and part time. There are some differences by gender: though both working men and women prefer a mix, men are twice as likely as women to prefer working outside the home, and by two-to-one, men would rather work fully outside the home than work fully from home or remotely. More women would rather work from inside the home or remotely all the time than only work outside of the home.

This poll was conducted by telephone April 13-18, 2021 among a random sample of 1,011 adults nationwide.  Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Glen Mills, PA.  Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard landline and cell phones.

The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone.

 Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers. The data have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The error for the sample of Americans who work full or part time could be plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The margin of error includes the effects of standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

5/2/2021 Home Business

 

Ann Arbor Reconsidering Proposal To Ban Some Types Of Home-based Businesses

ANN ARBOR, MI — Working from home has become the norm for many people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s prompting Ann Arbor officials to consider new regulations for operating home-based businesses.

It’s been a topic of discussion at recent city meetings and the Planning Commission voted April 6 to recommend City Council approve new rules banning several types of home-based businesses, such as machine shops, metal working, recording studios, body piercing/tattoo parlors and furniture refinishing.

The commission also recommended types of home-based businesses to permit, such as computer repair, marijuana cultivation, hair salons, therapy/counseling, personal fitness training, architecture and accounting/tax preparation.

But after several residents complained the proposed changes are too restrictive — particularly the ban on home recording studios and metal working/machine shops — the commission voted April 20 to take a step back and reconsider.

The home-based business ordinance is now due back on the commission’s agenda May 18 before it could advance to City Council, and officials are welcoming more input.

Ann Arbor musician John Churchville was among several residents who spoke at a recent meeting, telling commissioners he has worked from home the last year, doing virtual shows from the music studio in his basement.

“I’ve gone in one year from 50-plus gigs a year down to one in the last year, and I work in my home studio, and it is — I would consider — a recording studio,” he said.

He’s also a music teacher and has spent a decade teaching students how to set up home recording studios, he said.

“I have students who have music on Spotify who have won national awards creating music with their laptops in home studios,” he said, urging city officials to reconsider prohibiting home-based businesses like recording studios.

Planning officials continued to discuss the issue in committee this week. Rather than list specific types of home-based businesses to permit and prohibit, they’re now leaning toward just having standards for all home-based businesses to follow, said Sarah Mills, Planning Commission chair.

That includes restrictions on size, hours, noise, dust, odor, vibrations, outside storage and customer trips.

There are current restrictions stating a home-based business can have no more than one non-resident employee and officials are considering keeping that.

They’re also considering keeping language from the draft approved April 6 stating mechanized equipment can be used only in a completely enclosed building.

The April 6 draft also included regulatory exemptions for certain types of home occupations, including artists, sculptors, composers and crafters not selling their products on the premises, home offices with no client visits and phone answering/messaging services.

As for deliveries to home-based businesses, officials considered limiting them to the hours of 8 a.M. To 8 p.M., but they’re now backing away from that, given that a home-based business can’t control, for example, when Amazon delivers a package.

Still, client visits would be limited to 8 a.M. To 8 p.M. Under what’s being discussed, Mills said.

She expects the next ordinance draft to allow up to four client visits at a time, but no more than about 20-24 client visits per day. That would be an increase from the current limit of 10 business-related vehicle trips per day.

Existing city code states no more than 25% of a home can be used for a home business. Officials have proposed keeping that, though allowing them to be bigger — potentially up to 2,000 square feet, though no bigger than the home — if in an accessory structure such as a garage. But there could be no outside storage of goods or heavy equipment.

Officials emphasize the rules would apply to people running operations from which they earn income, not hobbyists.

Brett Lenart, the city’s planning manager, explained the impetus for updating the rules for home-based businesses at the Planning Commission’s April 6 meeting.

“This was brought to my attention sort of in the context of, I’ll say, a crazy year perhaps, and specifically a year where a lot more people are probably working from home,” he said.

The existing city code lists some types of occupations that may or may not be approvable as home-based businesses, but there’s ambiguity, Lenart said, explaining his reason for proposing longer lists of specific types of permitted and prohibited home-based businesses to be more clear.

Other proposed changes aim to address questions that have come up regarding enforcement of rules for home-based businesses. For example, the current code allowing up to 10 business-related trips per day doesn’t really distinguish between customer visits and deliveries, Lenart said.

Mills said she can’t speak for the full Planning Commission, but she doesn’t think there are any specific types of home-based businesses the commission wants to ban at this point, though it would be tricky for some to meet the proposed standards.

The city’s move to revisit the ordinance didn’t come about because of complaints or problems about specific types of home-based businesses, she said.

“It was more that, in this move to work from home, people had questions and some of the standards were vague, and the list of enumerated occupations that were allowed don’t cover all of the things that people may be doing from home now,” she said.

In the process of trying to modernize the ordinance, officials took a model example from the American Planning Association, Mills said.

Commissioners said they’ve heard loud and clear from the public the ordinance needs more work, they made a mistake in voting on it earlier this month, and they welcome more input.

For example, though home dentist offices are not allowed under current city code, they could be under changes now being considered, Mills said, adding it would be helpful for the commission to know how residents feel about that.

Ann Arbor resident Julian Carpenter told commissioners he has started a small specialty manufacturing company in the city and has an industrial property for it, but he works with several people with home-based machine shops.

“And they, across the board, are contributors to the community and the economy of this area,” he said, adding they’re very respectful and their home-based operations are quiet.

“Most people don’t even know that they have any equipment in their home to make things,” he said. “And these are old physics professors from the university, extremely specialized machinists from the industry who have a different career now. But as a manufacturer in the area, I and our other partner companies use these home machine shops occasionally and regularly for one small job here, one small job there, and they are a larger part of this community and economy than you might think.”

Ann Arbor resident Michael Flynn, owner of FunExhibits.Com, said he makes “amazing and fun” toys and art exhibits for museums, using metalworking tools to make prototypes in his garage before his products are sold around the world.

“In Ann Arbor, there really should be a haven for inventors,” he said, cautioning against enacting any regulations that could shut down such home-based operations.

The existing city code states these occupations “may qualify” as allowable home-based businesses: accountant, architect, artist, author, consultant, tailor, individual musical instrument instruction, individual academic tutoring, millinery, preserving and home cooking. And it explicitly prohibits only “vehicle repair or painting; office, medical or dental.”

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Smyrna Relaxes Rules For Home Businesses

Owners of Smyrna home businesses no longer will have to seek signatures from their neighbors before the city will approve their businesses - unless they reside in an apartment.

This change and a few others were approved 7-0 in April by the Smyrna City Council.

A few apartment complexes within Smyrna do not allow home businesses to operate in the complex, according to Community Development Director Russell Martin, Planner I Caitlin Crowe and Business License Officer Kelly Moon in a memo.

However, other apartments prefer to be informed of incoming home businesses to their complex, they added.

“Either way, it is advantageous to keep the apartment radius letter requirement,” the memo said.

As for homes that are not apartments, “by continuing to require the radius letter signatures, many citizens have stated an invasion of privacy and have questioned the rationale behind obtaining their neighbor’s signatures,” they added.

Other changes are to allow one-chair beauty salons and emergency consultations and treatments in the home by physicians, dentists and lawyers.

“Code enforcement cannot prove if an interaction is an emergency or not,” the memo added.

As of January 2019, 21 percent of home occupations are internet sales; and 76 percent are considered administrative, including construction, catering and mobile car wash, Martin, Crowe and Moon said in the memo.

Currently, home business licenses are handled administratively through Business License Officer Kelly Moon and do not go in front of the Mayor and Council at any point since 97 percent of the businesses are administrative or internet sales - whether new or a renewal, the memo added.

Information: SmyrnaCity.Legistar.Com/calendar.Aspx

How Small Businesses Survived The Pandemic

Many found ways to turn their local customer base into a national one.

May 2, 2021, 7:38 PM

• 7 min read

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As in-person experiences, such as shopping and going out to eat, were halted for a significant amount of time during the pandemic, small businesses had to find ways to survive.

“We were gearing up to offer wine tastings, cocktail making and cooking classes in people’s homes, but when the pandemic hit, it upended our entire business model and plans,” Michael Wolkon, co-founder of Night Inn, told ABC News. “So then we started in June of 2020 offering virtual wine tastings to individual groups at home, as well as corporate clients who wanted to do virtual happy hours across the entire country.”

Night Inn, founded by Wolkon, Rena Ogura and Ryan Lane also turned these virtual tastings into a way to give back to an industry that was so badly hit by the pandemic by hiring bartenders and sommeliers who were laid off.

“They're really excited about this opportunity to completely work on their own time and make an additional income stream,” Wolkon said.

People dine in plastic tents for social distancing at a restaurant in Manhattan on October 15, 2020, in New York City.

More importantly, they found that their virtual experiences were giving people the togetherness they longed for as they were separated for months.

“We love the idea and the feeling of community that you can have just by being in a private space with the people you care about," Ogura said. "What the online model demonstrated to us and what we've heard from our guests is that this has been one of the very few ways in which they've felt truly connected and truly together with their families."

“We have our professional from California talking to people in New York," Lane added. "And that family in New York has cousins out in Denver, and it brings everyone together just from one sitting. It was one of the hidden gems from virtual that we discovered."

Night Inn continues to help industry professionals like restaurateurs, bartenders and sommeliers as they plan to expand to in-person tastings and experiences with a COVID-19 protocol set in place.

Jeanette Mulvey, editor-in-chief of CO—, a publication by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said she has seen this trend happen over time with online and e-commerce sites.

“The pandemic has allowed many small businesses to shift from local-only to serving a national audience. I’ve seen this over and over again where businesses -- out of necessity -- moved to e-commerce and grew a national customer base,” Mulvey told ABC News.

Eliza Blank, founder and CEO of The Sill, a plant delivery business that also offers educational workshops, never expected something like the pandemic to happen. She knew adjustments needed to be made from how she initially founded the business in 2012, she said, and felt she needed to utilize its online space more to build a sense of a community that the pandemic had taken away.

Blank moved The Sill's workshops online, and she found that people were "craving a connection over something that was a shared experience."

“We were able to offer this community not only the plant products that they needed and craved, but the platform to then connect with each other and have that shared experience when so many of us became socially distanced and weren't really engaging socially in real life,” Blank told ABC News.

“The upside of the online experience is that you are able to connect with people who you wouldn't naturally connect with,” Blank added. “Whether it was to beautify their space, to nurture or take care of something, to bring the outdoors in or, quite frankly, just like as a hobby, people were using this as a way to also cope with all the spare time we had in quarantine."

Even as things slowly return to normal, the businesses are still working to find more ways to innovate, and they also plan to maintain the changes they had to make in order to keep their businesses alive.

“The pandemic forced businesses to innovate and evolve more quickly than they normally would," Mulvey said, "but those that did it successfully will come out with more robust and resilient businesses."

5/2/2021 Triple Your Sales

 Warning to New Online Business Owners: Innovation = Starvation https://www.stoneevans.com/warning-to-new-online-business-owners-innovation-starvation/

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4 times out of 5, the answer is a resounding YES. Maybe you’ve heard this

4/28/2021 NY City Job Loss

 

$60 Billion And 89,000 Jobs Lost – The Crushing Impact Of NYC Tourism's Collapse

New York City $60 Billion and 89,000 Jobs Lost – the Crushing Impact of NYC Tourism's Collapse A new report from the state comptroller's office projects visits to New York City will not reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025 Published 22 mins ago• Updated 22 mins ago NBC Universal, Inc.

The COVID-driven collapse of New York City's tourism industry wiped out 89,000 jobs and about $60 billion worth of economic contributions, which could take years to recover, a stark new report from the state comptroller found.

While it's not news to anyone that people stopped visiting the city during the pandemic, the report paints the most grim picture yet of just how bad it really was.

Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.

The comptroller's office said the industry's economic impact was just over $20 billion in 2020, versus $80 billion-plus in 2019, as roughly two-thirds of the city's tourists disappeared.

Employment in the industry fell by almost a third, costing those 89,000 jobs -- many of them held by younger, lower-wage workers, immigrants and those without college degrees.

News

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And for those arguing that New York City is already "back," the comptroller's office had a pessimistic forecast for when the industry would rebound.

"Visitors and their spending are not projected to reach pre-pandemic levels before 2025. Employment is unlikely to rebound fully before visitor spending," the report said.

The comptroller's office said the city needed to move past vaccinations and safety measures and formulate a promotional plan to encourage tourists, including business travelers, to come back in earnest.

Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $30 million campaign, the city's largest ever, to promote tourism and draw visitors back.

Copyright NBC New York This article tagged under: New York CitycomptrollertourismNYC tourism Weather Forecast

People Like Having Jobs

(Bloomberg) -- If you follow the discussion on Twitter (or frankly among a lot of people in markets) you’d think that the big economic issue facing people right now is rising inflation. Gas prices. Lumber prices. Grain prices. Home prices. Yes, they’re all up a lot, and obviously this is a reason for concern, particularly if it continues unabated. 

But of course, rising costs aren’t the only things happening right now. The job market is also bouncing back at a much more rapid clip than almost anyone expected a year ago, or even a few months ago. And the rapid recovery in the job market makes people happy.

You can see it clearly in the latest Consumer Confidence numbers, which have surged to their highest level since the pandemic began. If you look at the Labor Differential measure — which looks at the gap between consumers who view jobs as plentiful vs. The percentage of survey respondents who view jobs as scarce — it’s soaring alongside the reopening of the U.S. Economy.

 © Photographer: Joe Weisenthal/Bloomberg Wolf Image

There’s no question that the rising price of various goods is a source of consternation for people. But when you look at what really matters for how people feel about the economy, the resurgence of the job market is the overwhelming factor.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.Com

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Will There Be Enough Good Jobs?

Globalization and new technologies have deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots in advanced economies. So Olivier Blanchard, the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and the Robert Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at MIT, and Dani Rodrik, a professor of political economy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, convened a group of leading economists—many of whom are current or former policymakers—for a conference on inequality in October 2019.  When they edited the papers from that conference into the book Combating Inequality: Rethinking Government’s Role, they concluded that we do, in fact, have the tools to reverse the rise of inequality.

Laura D’Andrea Tyson, PhD ’74, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, was one of many MIT alumni and faculty at the conference. The following excerpt is from her chapter on technological change, income inequality, and good jobs.

Almost daily, there are examples of how new technologies are transforming work, triggering changes in the quantity and quality of jobs. Surveys reveal deep concern among workers about the implications of these changes for employment, wages, and living standards. Behind this concern is a fundamental question: Will there be enough jobs in the future?

The history of technological revolutions indicates that the likely answer is yes. Technological change drives productivity growth, and that fuels the demand for labor. There is no evidence of a long-run trade-off between productivity growth and employment growth. Many existing jobs are changed or destroyed by changes in technology, but many new ones are created. In the long run, there is no “technological unemployment.” The productivity benefits of technological change, however, can take decades to arrive, and there is considerable dislocation for workers during the transition from old jobs to new ones, with significant unemployment along the way. For many, the destruction of jobs, industries, and even communities has consequences that can last a lifetime.

History also reveals that technological change tends to increase income inequality, widening the gaps between those whose jobs are displaced and those who assume new ones. During the last half-century, technological change has been both labor-­saving and skill-biased, meaning it has tended to produce jobs that require higher-skilled workers. Digital technologies have reduced the demand for middle-skilled workers performing routine tasks. (Most “middle-skill” jobs require at least a high school diploma or its equivalent.) They have also increased the demand for workers with higher skills performing technical and problem-­solving tasks. Accordingly, labor markets have become polarized and “hollowed out” in the advanced economies: middle-skill jobs have declined as a share of total employment while both high-skill jobs and, to a smaller extent, low-skill jobs have increased as shares of total employment (see chart). Skill-biased technological change has been a factor behind widening income inequality and the falling share of labor income in total national income. Given the current trajectory of technological progress, these trends are likely to persist.

Job polarization between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s Percentage change in share of working adults in low-, medium-, and high-skill groups by country. OECD figures represent 18 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

SOURCE: OECD STAFF CALCULATIONS BASED ON LIS, ECHP, AND EU-SILC

A major question is not whether there will be enough jobs but whether there will be enough good jobs—jobs that provide middle-class earnings, safe working conditions, legal protections, social protections, and benefits (e.G., unemployment and disability benefits, health benefits, family benefits, pensions). The slow growth of pretax incomes for the bottom 50% of earners has been the main driver of increasing income inequality over the past half-century. Access to good jobs—as well as to education and health care, so people have the knowledge and good health required to work—is key to lifting these incomes and making technology-­enabled growth inclusive.

Several types of policies could make good new jobs more likely to be created in the United States. These include taxes on labor and capital that affect business investment decisions; R&D policies that can direct technological change and influence both the pace and extent of new technologies’ adoption by business; training policies that enable workers to gain new skills; direct labor market interventions that provide benefits to temporary and contract workers; and measures that strengthen workers’ voice in business decisions.

Rethink tax policies

Tax policies influence businesses’ decisions to invest in new production technologies. In the United States and other advanced economies, labor is taxed at a much higher rate than the physical capital and knowledge capital required to produce goods, encouraging investments that use capital and save labor. A reduction in payroll and other employment-related taxes would moderate this bias. So would an increase in taxes on capital, including corporate income. Recently, the US corporate tax rate was cut dramatically. Proponents argued that the cut would increase business investment and that this in turn would increase employment and wages. As technology becomes more labor-saving, however, business investment in physical and knowledge capital becomes less likely to create good jobs, and the new US tax law does nothing to offset that effect.

Another issue is that as capital has become more mobile across national borders, many multinational companies have been able to make their profits “stateless” for tax purposes by shifting them to locations where they have little or no real economic activity and pay little or no tax. Stateless corporate income erodes the tax base and reduces the capacity of individual countries to raise revenues for infrastructure and social protection programs. It also exacerbates the tax disadvantage of labor, which is far less mobile than capital. In their recent book The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman discuss the consequences of stateless capital income for income inequality and suggest national remedies as stopgap measures in the absence of an international agreement to tax such income. In the long run, given the magnitude of cross-border capital flows, such an agreement is essential.

As technology becomes more labor-saving, however, business investment in physical and knowledge capital becomes less likely to create good jobs.

In the US, taxes on capital income should also be increased by raising the rate on capital gains (which are now taxed at a lower rate than personal income) and by eliminating the carried-interest loophole. Both the preferential capital gains rate and the carried-interest feature of current tax law have encouraged technology investments favoring capital and profits over labor and wages. They have also fueled the “financialization” of the US economy and increased income inequality.

Reductions in payroll taxes and other direct taxes on labor, even if offset in part by higher taxes on capital, would leave less government revenue available to fund health care, education, and benefits for workers—all key components of good jobs. A national carbon tax should be used to offset this revenue loss. Lower taxes on labor to promote employment, and higher taxes on carbon to discourage carbon use, are a wise recipe for a future of good jobs and a sustainable environment.

Revise R&D policy

Technological change and adoption of new technologies depend largely on the incentives of those who fund R&D and those who invest in and deploy the resulting technologies. Companies, particularly those with substantial market power, have strong market incentives to invest in innovations that generate private returns to capital rather than societal benefits in the form of good jobs. The result is a “tragedy of the commons” bias against investment in job-­creating technological innovations.

In the United States and other advanced industrial countries, R&D receives substantial public support through direct government funding and tax policies. Although government (mainly federal) is the major funder of basic R&D in the US, the business sector is both the largest funder (67%) and the largest performer (72%) of overall R&D. Most business R&D focuses on product development for private returns rather than on basic science for social returns. As the time horizons of US companies have shortened, business R&D has become more focused on shorter-­term and lower-risk development. While the R&D tax credit, which was introduced in 1981, has been effective in encouraging companies to invest in R&D, most of that credit goes to large companies, many of which also have large amounts of stateless income sheltered around the world. Business R&D is heavily concentrated in five sectors, accounting for 83% of total R&D but less than 11% of employment.

Federal R&D funding for defense has been a major factor in the development of the aviation, computer, and internet industries, and federal funding for health care has been a major factor in the development of the pharmaceutical/biotechnology and medical technology industries. Federal R&D funding and related tax incentives have also played important roles in encouraging businesses to invest in new green technologies. So it’s clear that government funding and tax incentives can influence and “direct” technology trajectories.

New government programs and tax credits should be introduced to nudge R&D toward innovations that complement human skills in sectors with growing demand, such as health care, education, and technology itself. Allocating a share of federal R&D funds to foster labor-augmenting innovations in the health-care system is an option worth considering. Another option is a new federal R&D program to foster investment in “intelligent infrastructure” to adapt to climate change. Such investment would generate good jobs and fund necessary adaptations (e.G., port reconstruction, flood prevention, and fire prevention through the installation of underground electricity grids). At the macro level, we should significantly increase federal funding for R&D and infrastructure, two public foundations of long-term economic growth. The social returns on these investments far exceed the government’s long-term borrowing costs. Government spending in these areas should be treated not as operational expense but rather as investment, and should be included in a separate capital budget. Without a change in budgetary rules, government spending on them will continue to decline relative to the growing needs of the economy.

Policies to develop worker skills

Although labor-saving and skill-biased technologies are destroying middle-skill jobs and occupations, they are increasing higher-skill ones at an equal or faster pace. However, there are considerable gaps between the skills required for the disappearing jobs and those required for the new ones. In response, governments are introducing new education and training programs with a focus on “non-elite” postsecondary educational venues such as community colleges. In the US, community colleges are the most important provider of skills at scale and are particularly important for vocational education and training for first-generation, low-income, and minority students. There are substantial wage and employment benefits to completing a community college degree and lesser but still positive returns from certificate programs. Expanding funding for community college education and making it more affordable for low-income students should be key priorities for states seeking to create good job opportunities for their citizens. As of 2020, 17 states—both Republican and Democrat controlled—have implemented some form of tuition-free community college program, and several other states are working on similar legislation.

Apprenticeships combining classroom and on-the-job learning are another valuable model for skill development. Workers receive a skill-based education that often places them directly in well-paying jobs, and employers benefit by recruiting and retaining a skilled labor force. 

Germany and Switzerland are well known for their successful apprenticeship programs, and the idea is gaining attention in the United States. The US Department of Labor recently introduced a website and programs to encourage apprenticeships through information sharing, technical support, and small grants to employers, individuals, and educators. Several states are also introducing apprenticeship initiatives. Colorado has launched apprenticeship programs based on the Swiss model in several industries. Now 28 states have joined Colorado in the Skillful network to develop training approaches that combine classroom learning with workplace experience. Programs take a variety of forms—apprenticeships, targeted certification programs, technology “boot camps,” and on-the-job classes—and aim to develop new skills in the 70% of the US workforce without college degrees.

Other countries are experimenting with different approaches to lifelong learning. Singapore has made a SkillsFuture Credit of S$500 available to individuals over the age of 25 for continued education. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Germany is studying “individual learning accounts” modeled on Singapore’s approach. An option for the United States would be tax-advantaged “lifelong learning and training accounts,” funded by individual contributions matched in part by government funds. Government funding for individual learning accounts should be limited to programs that are certified for quality and designed with employer input; they should yield recognized credentials and provide portable skills.

Protecting “precarious” workers

The social protections associated with standard full-time employment are essential features of “good jobs.” Many of these protections are absent for workers in various types of so-called “precarious” employment, including self-employment and work that is part time, temporary, on call, and/or done for multiple clients or businesses and through platforms. Even in Europe, where workers in standard full-time employment have legally mandated access to generous social protections that are not required for full-time workers in the US, many workers in precarious and gig jobs have little or no coverage. The same is true for the growing number (an estimated 57 million) of gig workers in the US.

In Europe, several countries have created new intermediate categories of employment that extend some social protection rights to gig workers. In 2019 legislation, the state of California took a different approach, making it difficult for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. The latter are covered by protections and benefits mandated by federal and state laws (including minimum wages), while the former are not. Providing gig workers previously classified as independent contractors with these benefits is likely to increase labor costs between 20% and 30%.

Individual security accounts (ISAs) that move with workers from job to job are a promising policy to extend benefits to workers with multiple precarious employment relationships. An ISA would be established for each worker, and each business hiring that worker would be required to contribute an amount for his or her benefits prorated for the number of hours worked. Workers would be able to accrue benefits even when moving among multiple employers and projects. They would also be able to make tax-advantaged contributions to their accounts. Several states are now designing portable benefit systems, and to head off other regulations, some platform companies are supporting this approach.

Worker voice and worker interests

The share of workers who belong to unions or are otherwise covered by collective bargaining agreements has declined significantly in the US and other advanced industrial countries. At the same time, in many industries, product market competition has eroded, concentration has increased, and there is growing evidence of monopsony power. Under these noncompetitive conditions, individual companies can dictate the wages and other terms of employment for their workers. In such cases, unions can provide an important counterweight to employer power, resulting in higher wages and more employment.

The US system of labor relations and corporate governance is out of balance, with too much power for employers and too little power for workers. US labor law needs to be changed so that workers are more free to organize by company, by industry, and by region and so that companies can experiment with work councils and other institutions to give workers a voice in company decisions. In a 2019 statement by the Business Roundtable, the CEOs of many of America’s top companies explicitly identify their employees as stakeholders and commit to compensating them fairly in pay and benefits and offering them training and education for new skills. The statement is silent, however, on unions and worker voice. Strengthening both is essential for an economy in which more Americans can find good jobs and a foothold in the middle class.

During the last 50 years, unions have atrophied in the US for several reasons. States and companies have taken many steps to discourage unionization, including misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Under US federal law, independent contractors cannot form unions—a position recently affirmed by the National Labor Relations Board. Current US law also prevents the formation of work councils or other organizations to represent worker interests in nonunionized firms, and it hinders new forms of worker advocacy at the industry and company levels.

Excerpted from Laura D’Andrea Tyson’s chapter “Technological Change, Income Inequality, and Good Jobs” in Combating Inequality: Rethinking Government’s Role, edited by Olivier Blanchard and Dani Rodrik. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright © 2021.

The notes for this chapter were omitted here for brevity. But a full list of references follows.

References

Acemoglu, Daron, and Pascual Restrepo. 2019. “Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 33(2): 3–31.

Autor, David. 2010. The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the U.S. Labor Market. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress and The Hamilton Project.

Autor, David H. 2019. “Work of the Past, Work of the Future.” AEA Papers and Proceedings 109:1–32.

Autor, David, David A. Mindell, and Elisabeth B. Reynolds. 2019. “The Work of the Future: Shaping Technology and Institutions.” MIT Work of the Future Task Force Report, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

Bastani, Spencer, and Daniel Waldenström. 2018. “How Should Capital Be Taxed? Theory and Evidence from Sweden.” IZA Discussion Paper 11475, Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn. Http://ftp.Iza.Org/dp11475.Pdf.

Benzell, Seth G., and Erik Brynjolfsson. 2019. “Digital Abundance and Scarce Genius: Implications for Wages, Interest Rates, and Growth.” NBER Working Paper 25585, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. Https:// www.Nber.Org/papers/w25585.

Berger, Bennet, and Guntram Wolff. 2017. “The Global Decline in the Labour Income Share: Is Capital the Answer to Germany’s Current Account Surplus?” Bruegel Policy Contribution 12. Https://bruegel.Org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/PC-12-2017-1.Pdf.

Brynjolfsson, Erik, Andrew McAfee, and Michael Spence. 2014. “New World Order: Labor, Capital, and Ideas in the Power Law Economy.” Foreign Affairs 93(4): 44–53.

Business Roundtable. 2019. “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” https://opportunity.Businessroundtable.Org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BRT-Statement-on-the-Purpose-of-a-Corporation-with-Signatures-1.Pdf.

Campaign for Free College Tuition. N.D. Https://www.Freecollegenow.Org/.

Chancel, Lucas. 2019. “Ten Facts about Inequality in Advanced Economies.” Powerpoint presentation at the Peterson Institute for International Economics conference “Combating Inequality: Rethinking Policies to Reduce Inequality in Advanced Economies,” Washington, DC, October 2019. Https://www.Piie.Com/system/files/documents/2019-10-17-s1-chancel-ppt.Pdf.

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