Worcester Business Journal

6 2 021 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com ECONOMIC FORECAST 2021 WBJ reader's survey Do you believe the change from the Trump presidency to the Biden presidency in 2021 will have any impact on your business? Minor league baseball's Worcester Red Sox are set to begin their inaugural season in Worcester in April of next year. Will the team's arrival help your business? Will your company allow employees to work from home in 2021? Do you plan to hire additional staff next year? The coronavirus has expanded work from home options for many companies. Do you anticipate any change in your use of office space in the next year or when your lease expires? Will you have more or fewer employees than you began the year with? How has the coronavirus pandemic impacted your company revenues during 2020? What do you expect your per-employee healthcare costs to do in 2021? Yes, a positive impact 32% Yes, a negative impact 37% No real impact 31% No, it will have no impact 77% Yes, indirectly 17% No, it will hurt us Yes, directly 4% 2% Yes, we've been allowing it for years. 21% Yes, we started doing it in 2020 and will carry it forward. 27% Yes, although we plan to scale that back in 2021. 27% 6% No, we've never allowed it. 19% No, we are stopping the practice next year. More employees 17% The same 54% Fewer employees 29% We plan an expansion of our office space. We plan no changes in our office space needs. 52% We plan on reduc- ing our office space when our lease comes up 17% We own our building, so it's not a variable for us. 28% 3% We plan an expansion of our office space. 3% Remain flat 14% Increase 1 to 5% 39% Increase 6 to 10% 31% Increase more than 10% 13% 3% 6% 11% 13% 34% 15% 18% Increase more than 20% Decrease between 11-20% Increase between 11-20% Increase 1-10% No change Decrease more than 20% Decrease 1-10% 2012 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 '19 '20 31% 33% 44% 38% 32% 40% 49% 41% 51%

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