The prevalence of remote work, which grew substantially during the pandemic, is obviously not going away. In 2024, 65% of companies offer remote work arrangements. This includes hybrid work—some hours at the company and some remotely. It’s well established that employees prefer to have remote work options, with 66% believing it should be a legal right. So, if the nature of your business permits remote work arrangements and you’re onboard, it’s imperative to address cybersecurity concerns. Recognize the threats Don’t be an ostrich when it comes to the potential for being victimized by a cy ..read more

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, so it’s a good time to confront problematic driving actions and the policies and practices to combat them. After all, your business may be financially liable for accidents, whether the vehicle is owned or leased by the company or it belongs to the employee driving on company business. In addition to distracted driving, there’s drowsy driving, poor driving habits, and mechanical issues. (This is an update from an earlier blog.) Distracted driving The CDC reports that 9 people are killed each day in the U.S. because of distracted driving ..read more

Many people try incorporating the outdoors into office interior design, from adding different plants to using colors that mimic natural landscapes. Going through those efforts can be a worthy effort to improve the employee experience, but it’s also possible to encourage working outside. An outdoor workspace is far from conventional compared to working from home and while on vacation. That said, there are various benefits to taking a job outside, at least for a portion of the day. 8 Benefits of Encouraging Outdoor Work 1.   A New Environment Staying in one space for too long can be to ..read more

April 22 is Earth Day, which started in 1970 as a day to raise awareness of environmental issues. This year’s theme for Earth Day is “Planet vs. plastics,” with a goal of a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040. Whether you’re a climate change activist or just someone concerned about protecting the environment, Earth Day is a good time to think about the Circular Economy and how your business can benefit from it. What’s the circular economy? According to one source, “the circular economy is a model of production and consumption which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbi ..read more

While summertime won’t officially begin until June 20, 2024, it’s not too soon to begin planning for it. Running your business smartly requires planning and preparation. Here are 3 areas to be thinking about now so you can be ready when the calendar says summer. 1. Vacation and holiday planning Summertime is synonymous with vacations. Schools are out and the weather is conducive to play. From a business perspective, summertime requires some special planning with respect to time off. Vacation scheduling. As a general rule, most employees want to take their vacation days during the summer. A sm ..read more

Like December 7, April 15 for many is “a date which will live in infamy.” It’s Tax Day in most of the U.S. Calendar-year partnerships and S corporations were required to file their 2023 returns, along with Schedule K-1s for owners, on March 15, 2024, or obtain an extension. Now, the filing deadline for owners of these pass-through entities is approaching. Here are 5 last-minute reminders to help you meet your tax obligations and avoid penalties, interest, and IRS scrutiny. 1. Check your filing deadline. April 15th is the due date for the 2023 federal income tax return. But the deadline is Apri ..read more

Tax credits typically are claimed on tax returns and may be limited to the extent of your tax liability. New rules may allow you to get the benefit upfront or claim the credit even if you lack tax liability. The rules are confusing. Here are 5 things you should know to optimize transferable tax credits for which you qualify. 1. There’s a difference between credit transfers for consumer vehicles versus transfers for other clean energy credits If you buy a new or used clean vehicle, you can effectively “sell” the credit to the dealer. This immediately reduces what you’ll pay for the vehicle. It ..read more

Remote work arrangements, which became the norm during the pandemic, are here to stay. Five years ago, fewer than 5% of employees worked remotely, but today 58% have the option of doing so at least some of the time. For some businesses, workers may work remotely on a full-time basis. Other businesses may allow partial remote work, such as two or three days a week.  And some set remote policy on a worker-by-worker basis. Whatever arrangement a business decides to use, it’s essential that there are policies and practices in place to optimize the employee experience while helping the co ..read more

A blue zone is a region in the world where people live longer than average. The main blue zones are Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; Nuora Province in Sardinia, Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, and Icaria, Greece. Dan Buettner’s book The Blue Zone: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest explains how certain simple changes in one’s environment can lead naturally to behavioral changes and that this can help people live a decade or longer beyond the average life expectancy. It’s clear that the lessons from Buettner’s book can create a workplace that’s a blue zone, wh ..read more

Gig work is temporary or freelance work performed by an independent contractor on an informal or on-demand basis. Side hustles are work performed for income supplementary to a primary source that are not merely additional jobs as employees. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics refers to all such arrangements as “contingent work.” Whichever definition suits the situation, for those performing services it means being in business and operating as such. Overview of gig work and side hustles DoorDash, a leading platform for gig workers, estimates that in 2024, there are 76.4 million gig workers ..read more