By Joseph Appelbaum, Potomac Companies, Inc.

Many employees do not understand the benefits that their employers work hard to offer them. According to a 2018 report, 50 percent of employees surveyed said they understand their benefits, compared to 77 percent understanding in 2015. In the 2018 State of Employee Benefits survey, 37 percent of respondents indicated their employer provided no education on benefits. Granted, benefits and health insurance has become more complex in three years, with regulatory changes, increased high deductible health plan (HDHP) implementation, and the changing individual mandate. This increased complexity, however, can be mitigated through rigorous employee education and judicious use of human capital management technology. When employees do not understand benefits (and perks, such as career development and recognition programs), they tend not to “appreciate their value” and are more likely to seek employment elsewhere. 

By Jennifer Owens, Arlington Community Foundation
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​It is no secret that business leaders are wired to look for opportunity in every challenge. But ‘challenge’ does not begin to capture the magnitude of what our community, and communities around the globe, are enduring today. All business leaders - corporate and nonprofit - are having their skills and mettle tested. Still, as this crisis unfolds, we are seeing many examples of the creative and nimble ways that our corporate community is working hand in hand with our nonprofits to clear obstacles and support the people most in need in Arlington. Here are just three of the many examples of the power of solutions-oriented partnership and collaboration that are improving lives in Arlington today:

By Hannah Dannenfelser, ​Arlington Community Federal Credit Union & Todd Ihrig, ​Avantax Investment Services

​Crisis situations often shine a spotlight on the best aspects of our society.  Simultaneously, these situations also highlight where we have room to improve and opportunities to fill gaps.  As with many previous crises, our first responders and health care professionals continue to step up and put others before themselves.  We have seen tremendous acts of kindness and generosity and we are all sacrificing in both small and big ways in service to the community health.
 
We know that this situation has put an entire segment of our community at risk.  In a 2018 survey, the Federal Reserve found that nearly 40% of American adults could not come up with $400 in an emergency.  It isn’t hard to imagine that many of these same adults are being directly affected by a Covid-19 pandemic that, for them, is quickly turning from a broad global crisis into a very personal financial crisis.

By Maggie Richardson, Phoenix Bikes

At Phoenix Bikes, a dynamic nonprofit bike shop in south Arlington, 2020 has been about growing organizational impact. Our mission is to educate youth, promote bicycling and build community, which we accomplish through free youth bike mechanics programs, volunteer opportunities, and events. As the year began, we were juggling new ambitions as well as changing staff dynamics. Our Education Program Manager, Raymond Duran, had just taken on a management role after Natalie Slater, Youth Programs Assistant, came on board. 
 
With more capacity to tackle bigger projects, the youth programs staff and Executive Director Emily Gage were eager to take our youth programs to the next level. The central question was “What comes after Earn-a-Bike?” 

By Alexander Chamandy, ​Envescent

Businesses are adapting to a new world, where working remotely is a necessity for safety and continuing to stay productive. Remote work has major implications for security, both because home networks and systems tend to be less secure, and because the threats targeting remote workers are significantly on the rise.
 
In the last couple of months, since the coronavirus pandemic began to hit, we’ve observed, and other researchers have documented, a 667% increase in attacks. These attacks include phishing, malware, remote hacking efforts and related threats.

By David Griffin, ​Griffin & Co. Marketing, LLC

A large majority of bloggers publish content to help with their Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which can be a tricky thing. For starters, search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, AOL, DuckDuckGo and more are constantly changing their algorithms - and those algorithms are what match people's queries to your content. 
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In addition, it seems like everyone is blogging and yours will just get lost in the mix. It can be overwhelming - in fact, some blogs tell you not to even try. Visit sites like Worldometers and you can see that over 4.5 millions blogs are published daily worldwide. Here's the catch, though, how many of those blogs are geared toward your target audience? How many of those articles have to do with what you are selling? Are they even in the same location as your business?

By Dr. Annie DePasquale, ​Family Doc Annie - Weight Loss Coaching

Our lives have been turned upside down.  We have been ordered to stay home.  Our daily routines have been completely altered.  Many of us are trying to work from home.  Others are trying to educate their children at home.  And still others are looking for new jobs that they can do from home. 
 
To call this time stressful would be an understatement.  We fear for so many things - from how to safely get groceries to how to keep our payroll going because of slowed business.  How are we to deal with all of these worries?

By Janet Kopenhaver, ​ Embracing Arlington Arts

In January, Embracing Arlington Arts posted a blog about the economic importance of arts and culture in Arlington and proving that a healthy and vibrant arts scene positively impacts the County’s bottom line. A logical continuation of that discussion is how can our County’s private sector companies partner with arts organizations to ensure this success? The answer: in more ways than you might think.
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Of course, the first response is to sponsor and/or donate to these non-profit organizations and yes, that is much appreciated, much needed and much requested. But there are several other ways to help these arts organizations grow and thrive.

By R. Douglas Taylor, Jr., Bean, Kinney & Korman

​The ongoing coronavirus public health crisis has pushed the U.S. economy into an uncharted economic downturn, with lightning speed.  By some estimates, the country’s gross domestic production is expected to shrink by anywhere from 12.4% to as much as 40% in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Resulting workforce management questions are numerous, including employee wage and continuation of benefits requirements for employees who are furloughed or subject to a layoff.
 
By “furlough” we typically mean that an employer requires an employee to take unpaid leaves of absence, usually of a limited duration.  In other words, the employee won't work or work reduced hours, and they won't get paid (except for time worked), but they'll still technically be employed with the employer. A layoff is generally a temporary or permanent discontinuation of employment.  If permanent, a layoff effectively terminates the employment relationship.  It may trigger payment of unused PTO and can be a COBRA qualifying event.

By Ann Rosser, Finding Resolution Consulting 

How are those new year’s resolutions going now that we are a couple months into 2020? Have you made the changes that you wanted to or did life get in the way and bog you down? Are there still changes that you want to make in 2020? How about a new career, better life balance, help your team get better results, become a better communicator? Here are seven ways to help you incorporate change this year.