When the economy is steady, it’s natural for business leaders to focus on things that directly add value to their organizations, such as increasing sales. Unfortunately, some leaders make the mistake of not planning for the rainy days ahead. This lack of long-term thinking has left many companies struggling to sustain themselves through the global economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Remote work has been the norm in many New Jersey businesses for some years now; as of 2019, the Garden State was already one of the top 15 states where one could easily find remote jobs.

However, other businesses were far from prepared when they were suddenly ordered to send their employees home in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For millions of employees around the world, remote work is something they’ve been used to for years. Indeed, some businesses work exclusively with remote teams. But as the sudden onslaught of COVID-19 restrictions demonstrated, the experience was far from smooth for a lot of businesses and their employees.

It’s likely that a lot of businesses here in New Jersey and the rest of the country won’t be welcoming their employees back to the office until next year. Many conferences and conventions are shifting to virtual events, and video conferencing is now something most of us are familiar with.

To slow down the spread of COVID-19, many companies in the United States were forced to adopt a remote work setup. In Morris County alone, there are more than 7,500 confirmed cases as of this writing, which means a lot of businesses will be letting their employees work from home for a few more months.

First came the coronavirus pandemic, which forced companies all over the world to shift to remote work. Then came security experts’ warnings that cybercriminals would take advantage of the situation, given that many of the devices used at home don’t have strict security measures that office devices have.

Kraus Marketing in Morristown, Kessler Foundation in East Hanover, and Citrin Cooperman & Co. LLP in Livingston are three New Jersey businesses that have one thing common. Can you guess what it is?

All three belong to the list of New Jersey’s Best Places to Work 2020. Kraus Marketing is a small-sized business in the advertising/PR/marketing industry, Kessler Foundation is a mid-sized nonprofit organization, and Citrin Cooperman & Co. is a large accounting firm.

The coronavirus pandemic forced many companies all over the world to mandate 100% of their staff to work from home. Now that countries are easing restrictions, it will be difficult for businesses to go back to the way things were.

In an April 2020 online survey conducted by the Conference Board, 77% of the respondents expect that more employees will choose to work from home at least thrice a week post-pandemic.

If you’re a New Jersey business owner, you need to be judicious in your investments, especially these days.

At the end of 2019, the outlook wasn’t optimistic for the Garden State’s economy, with many experts fearing that New Jersey wasn’t prepared should a recession happen in 2020. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has all but guaranteed that local businesses will be struggling in the coming months.

Even before the global pandemic hit us, the trend toward remote work was already on the rise. Two kinds of remote workers fueled this trend: regular employees whose companies allow them to work from home several times a week, and individuals who strike out on their own as freelancers.