Americans & Small Businesses Moving To Continue Remote Working- Interview
What Will This Mean for the Economy in 2021?
Americans and small businesses are moving full steam ahead to continue actless payments and remote working amid Covid concerns.
As the new economic year gets underway
and businesses feel the pain and learn lessons from last year’s coronavirus pandemic, small business and consumers are planning for 2021. That’s according to the results of the annual JPMorgan Chase Business Leaders Outlook survey.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses and Americans overall shows that half believe their personal values have changed due to the pandemic, with an increased focus on health and expectations that the increased amount of quality time they’ve now become used to spending with family and friends, will become permanent.
The pandemic has also had a profound impact
on shifts to how and where people work. On average, 78% of small businesses have had all or some of their employees working remotely since the start of the pandemic.
When it comes to midsize businesses, 71% have shifted some or all their workforce to work from home, with many not planning to change their employees’ arrangements over the next six months.
Top of mind considerations for small and midsize businesses
include saving for a cash buffer and creating contingency plans in an ever-evolving landscape. According to the results of the survey, 20% of small businesses expect to offer more contactless payment options, while 12% of companies expect to pivot their businesses to nearly a 100% e-commerce presence in the year ahead.
Similarly, the midsize businesses also reported significant changes to their operating models and strategies due to the pandemic, with 65% having built up their cash reserves, 56% increasing the use of online banking and treasury tools, and 53% preparing their businesses for similar events in the future.
Small and midsize business leaders
continue to take actions to prepare for potential cyber-related threats, such as malware/ransomware. The three most common actions taken were:
· Prioritizing employee education and training
· Developing proactive countermeasures
· Purchasing cyber insurance
Join me in a recent interview with Jim Glassman,
Head Economist for JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking, who was able to discuss the 2021 Business Leaders Outlook report, outline expectations for small and midsize businesses in the new year and explain how economic trends will impact businesses, employees, and communities.
See the entire interview here:
For more information, go to jpmorganchase.com/businessleadersoutlook
More About Jim
Jim Glassman is the Managing Director and Head Economist for Commercial Banking. From regulations and technology to globalization and consumer habits, Jim’s insights are used by companies and industries to help them better understand the changing economy and its impact on their businesses.
Jim’s work with the firm—combined with his independent research on the principal forces shaping the economy and financial markets—has earned him regular features in the media and as an economic commentator. He is also a long-standing participant in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters and the National Association of Business Economists’ (NABE) panel of macroeconomic forecasters.
From 1979 through 1988, Jim served as a Senior Economist in the Research & Statistics and Monetary Affairs departments at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC. While there, he analyzed and forecasted inflation, labor market developments, the Federal Reserve’s operating strategies, and interest rate markets, and he developed monetary and reserves projections. He joined Morgan Guaranty in 1988 and Chemical Bank in 1993, which, through a combination of mergers, became JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jim earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University.
Interview courtesy: JPMorgan Chase
