Information and Resource Center
Updated daily, our COVID-19 Information and Resource Center provides links to articles, charts and documents for guidance to leaders of companies of all sizes.
We all continue to adapt our businesses in response to COVID-19, and we want to share any updates or actions that will aide others with their journey. The team at LXCouncil has been monitoring and gathering resources in the spirit of innovation and teamwork for all of our members as well as anyone in need of insights. We’re in this together, and we’re here to assist.
Please take advantage of these resources to support your creative thinking, communications, and actions.
Recent Information
• Small-Business Owners: Special Pandemic Tax Breaks
• Virginia Adopts COVID-19 Workplace Safety Standards (Coronavirus and the Law)
• Forecasting the Impact of COVID-19 from Market Strategy Group
• Updated PPP Loan Information
WASHINGTON—the U.S. Small Business Administration, in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, posted a revised, borrower-friendly Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness application implementing the PPP Flexibility Act of 2020, signed into law by President Trump on June 5, 2020. In addition to revising the full forgiveness application, SBA also published a new EZ version of the forgiveness application that applies to borrowers that:
• Are self-employed and have no employees; OR
• Did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%, and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees; OR
• Experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19, and did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%.
The EZ application requires fewer calculations and less documentation for eligible borrowers. Details regarding the applicability of these provisions are available in the instructions to the new EZ application form.
Both applications give borrowers the option of using the original 8-week covered period (if their loan was made before June 5, 2020) or an extended 24-week covered period. These changes will result in a more efficient process and make it easier for businesses to realize full forgiveness of their PPP loan.
• Click here to view the EZ Forgiveness Application.
• Click here to view the Full Forgiveness Application.
• SBA Approving Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs): What You Need To Know
For more information: Forbes article SBA Approving Economic Injury Disaster Loans
• IRS Statement June 2020
Attachments: Bal Due Notices & 1052-A insert
• Summary of changes to PPP Loans June 2020
• Client Alert: Employer Considerations for Remote Workers During and After COVID-19 from Shumaker Attorneys at Law
• Indoor Air Quality-Re-Occupancy of Office Spaces
Some tenants may be asking about active and passive filtration systems, there should be some caution in implementing these in existing systems, since achieving effectiveness may be challenging (and in some cases; harmful) depending upon the characteristics of the existing system.
Recognizing that occupancy rates may be reduced due to higher remote working percentages, which in turn results in lower required air-flow rates, then the existing systems may be able to accommodate the reduced air flows associated with HEPA and high MERV passive filters.
• How to “Re-engineer” Your Business for Safety
Harvard Business Review article
A wave of process or product innovation driven by safety concerns can create benefits that go beyond safety. Importantly, it can help uncover and unleash the kind of growth and efficiency opportunities that will essential to offset what is likely to be a challenging environment for many companies.
• SBA Form 3508 PPP Forgiveness Application
• How to Accommodate At-Risk Workers from Allen Smith, J.D.
• Creating Workspaces that Flex with the “New Normal” from CORT
• The Safe Six Checklist accompanies the Recovery Readiness by Cushman & Wakefield
Financial & Sales
• Paycheck-Protection-Program-FAQs updated 5/13/2020
• Client Alert from Woods Rogers about PPP Loans
• SBA Announces Safe Harbor for PPP Borrowers
• PPP Loan Forgiveness Tracker form download (in Excel)
• Information regarding PPP Loans:
1. S corporation shareholders are employees, so they must be paid via payroll wages for PPP forgiveness. Profit distributions do not count for PPP forgiveness on S corps.
2. There is a stipulation for partnerships or LLCs filing as partnerships, where “Guaranteed Payments to Partners” (which are basically partnership distributions) can be included just like wages for PPP.
3. There is also a calculation for LLCs acting as sole-proprietorship’s, where a portion of their distribution or profits are allowable.
• PPP Loan Borrowers Should Document Loan Justification Helpful article regarding how to document for your PPP loan from our alliance partner Woods Rogers.
• PPP Loan Tracking Spreadsheet to help track your PPP Loan expenses and checklist of documentation required. The spreadsheet download when you click the link.
• Why Economic Forecasting Is So Difficult in the Pandemic
Harvard Business Review article
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, we’ve seen pervasive uncertainty manifest in a sudden and massive divergence in macroeconomic projections. The short answer to why there is so much divergence is because no one knows for sure what is going to happen. Digging deeper, three key factors are causing forecasters particular difficulties.
• Sales Tips during COVID-19
How to build a bridge to your customers and move from the mindset “When Can I Sell Again?” to “How Do I Sell Now”? Accept that the world has changed and let go of the old ways of selling. Being innovative and utilizing technology like a online CRM and Virtual Meeting software is essential for communicating and adjusting your business to survive and thrive.
• Payment Protection Program Loans (FAQ’s)
Frequently asked questions
• The CARES Act: A Comparison of SBA Loan Programs Under EIDL and PPP document:
This chart is a guide to determine which Small Business Administration loan program best fits your company’s needs and strategic objectives, from Fox Rothschild LLP.
• For the Application for Borrowers courtesy of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
• AICPA Coalition Recommends Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Applicants Use Gross Payroll Article
• COVID-19 Business Survival Guide (MD)
• Coronavirus Relief Resources for US Business Owners from UBS:
This is a summary of key details related to business owner relief as part of “Phase III.” There is also information on the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program as well as other relief programs.
• 5 Ways to Stimulate Cash Flow
Harvard Business Review article
Business leaders have rightly focused on the most urgent issues regarding Covid-19, such as the safety of their employees and customers, and the security of their supply chains. The critical next step is to try to keep cash flowing by managing near-term revenue and expenses.
Messaging & Employees
• Best Workplace Practices Beyond COVID-19 Planning for the Employee’s Return to Work Webinar by SpencerFane. Click here for the handout to accompany the webinar.
• HR Digital Posters required
Information on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
• The Key to Building a Successful Remote Organization? Data.
Harvard Business Review article
For a virtual organization to function, geographically dispersed teams need the ability to communicate effectively. But that’s only half the story. Decision-making has to be delegated and decentralized as well — and that means using data to shake up your culture.
• Crisis Communication
How to Answer an Unanswerable Question by Ron Carucci
• COVID-19 Messaging Checklist:
When the world is overwhelmed by global pandemic, and it’s difficult to focus on other issues, what does your business need to say? What do you need to prepare? Here’s the most up-to-date messaging and communications advice we have compiled after talking with public relations and marketing firms around the world. Created by: Uncork-it, Inc.
• Webinar: COVID-19 Messaging for Businesses
Information overload is a reality for everyone right now. When should you speak as a business, and when should you stay silent? What should you be saying to your stakeholders? The answers are changing daily.
This webinar presents the phases of communication you need to be aware of, and update you on the most recent best practices for now—with a look forward to tomorrow’s communication needs.
• Business Survival Tactics 4/15/20
Mark Ford has been writing and publishing since 1962. He has written more than two dozen books on business, entrepreneurship, and wealth building (several of which were New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers).
• Working from Home Report Communication Kit
COVID-19 has affected the lives of millions around the globe, and it has also disrupted the businesses of those people as well. As the workforce transitions to remote work and joins together to flatten the curve, personalities are now together 24/7. This can bring up a whole new set of conflicts. The various documents in this folder will help business owners and employees operate well in new conditions. Created by TTI Success Insights.
• COVID-19 Business Survival Guide (MD)
• Your Employee Tested Positive for Covid-19. What Do You Do?
Harvard Business Review article
All leaders are trying to find their footing right now. You are probably shoring up your business plan, situating your team, and juggling your own constellation of remote working arrangements — possibly alongside your spouse and children. On top of that, you will face a test you probably couldn’t have imagined a few weeks ago: When one of your employees tells you they have tested positive for Covid-19. If you haven’t dealt with that already, you almost certainly will.
Insights
• Recovery Readiness
by Cushman & Wakefield. A How To Guide for Reopening your workplace
• Montgomery County, VA Reopening guidelines for any company located in this area this guide has a lot of useful information to help with re-opening your business
• 8 Questions Employers Should Ask About Reopening
Harvard Business Review article
Employers face a whole new set of questions as they consider how to reopen the workplace after weeks or months of restrictions. As always, employers must remain nimble, and play close attention to local conditions and changing guidelines and practices.
• Rebuilding after a crisis, podcast with Donald Miller and Joel Peterson
After any crisis, there comes a time to rebuild. But it can be hard to know where to begin. On this episode, Joel Peterson is sharing foundational strategies for building a healthy business. He used these strategies to grow JetBlue Airways, and now you can apply them to your business. If you’ve been wondering how you’re going to rebuild after the COVID-19 crisis is over, this episode is for you.
• CEO Insights! April 15, 2020
• Creating Value: Leadership, Relationship and Creativity Exercise
• CEO Insights! April 6, 2020
• CEO Quick Insights: To Lead In a Smart, Informed, and Confident Way
• The “Scary Times” Skills Worksheet – to use with the “Scary Times” Success Manual.
Dan Sullivan’s “Scary Times” Success Manual gives 10 strategies that will allow you to keep the focus on opportunities for growth and progress when the world around us gets more turbulent.
• TED Talk Philanthropist and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates offers insights into the COVID-19 pandemic
Discussing why testing and self-isolation are essential, which medical advancements show promise and what it will take for the world to endure this crisis. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers. Recorded March 24, 2020)
