And We Pivot

Rick McCartney, Publisher

Healthcare was the topic we’d planned for this edition long before COVID-19 took over the headlines and disrupted our lives and our businesses. These will prove to be some of the most interesting times of our generation.

At In Business Magazine, we decided to pivot quickly to remain the respected resource for our business community with this Special Issue: COVID-19 edition. Our readers (who are chiefly business owners and managers) want information and access now. They want to know that they can rely on accurate and relevant information to build (or rebuild) their companies and provide for their people.

Therefore, we will rely on technology to get information into our readers’ hands as it is happening, adapting our website to this unfolding crisis. We have created seven new categories to better inform in the wake of this pandemic: COVID-19 Biz News, Stimulus, Webinars & Virtual Events, Offers, Policy Changes, Safety and Medical Care.

RaeAnne Marsh, Editor

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Our lives, our employees’ lives and our businesses will go on. So we at In Business Magazine will continue to provide in-depth articles and information on business, best practices, opportunity and more. The COVID-19 special section is 10 pages crammed with focused content to help businesses cope and strategize — and see how they are helping others to do the same.

This edition’s featured story — originally planned to be the cover story — is about employee wellness. It’s a topic many businesses address and have made part of their benefits programs. But simply putting it in a package does not ensure employees get actual benefit from it. “Healthcare: Wellness Matters More than Ever” spotlights six Valley employers to look at how they take their commitment to the next level to ensure employee engagement as well.

Other content in this edition spans our usual wide range of topics, from a Briefs article on video trends in business to the By the Numbers feature on the rise of a new customer service experience, from a Startups article on a business incubator designed around the unique needs of military veterans to a Legal feature on employers’ retirement plan requirements under the new SECURE Act, and from an Assets article on smart security measures to the Roundtable feature on mentoring.

It has always been our stated and earnest goal to serve the Greater Phoenix business community and be the resource to help it thrive and grow. Enjoy this special issue.

Editor’s Note: Absent competent leadership at the top, the business community stepped up early on with information on how to handle changes to normal operations that they could see looming. We have several articles in the regular pages of this magazine that address concerns kindled by COVID-19.

But this special 10-page section grew out of the outpouring of information, the sharing of expertise, as the pandemic’s impact spread.

Here, along with safety guidelines from the CDC, are legal parameters in employment and HR, articles on leadership, marketing, cybersecurity . . . all the usual concerns of normal business activity, but written for the unusual times we are now working through.