• Law firms are considering delaying, shortening, or eliminating summer associate classes and are expected to make decisions in the coming days, sources familiar with the matter told Business Insider. 
• The prospect has caused unease among students at the nation's top law schools, many of whom have paid their tuition in hopes of gaining entry into the nation's most elite firms.
• On March 23, NYU School of Law sent an email to students who were searching for private-sector jobs, seeking to inform them about the ongoing employment situation.
• The email noted that some firms "may be preparing for delayed start dates or alternative working arrangements."
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Law firms around the United States are weighing the possibility of delaying, shortening, or eliminating summer associate classes and are expected to make decisions in the coming days, people familiar with the matter have told Business Insider. 

Four sources told Business Insider that law firms, including the largest,said that in light of the disruption of the novel coronavirus, they were looking at changing their approach to bringing on summer associates, or interns who law firms hire following their first year in law school to get their first months experience in the legal profession. 

The internships are generally considered a stable track to a full-time offer after students once they complete their second year in law school. 

The four sources were one consultant and three partners at different Big Law firms, all of whom declined to be named publicly.

"Demand is questionable and process is delayed," one said. "Some firms looking at reduced work weeks for reduced pay as a way to avoid harder choices."

Another said that many firms "should be announcing soon that they will be delaying/shortening or eliminating theirs." A third said that he had heard "virtual summer programs" being considered, though he wasn't sure how that would work. 

NYU addresses concerns

The prospect has caused unease among students at the nation's top law schools, many of whom have paid their tuition in hopes of gaining entry into the nation's most elite firms. 

On March 23, NYU School of Law sent an email to students who were searching for private-sector jobs, seeking to inform them about the ongoing employment situation, as the coronavirus continues to keep businesses closed.

"We recognize that the current situation is creating a lot of stress and anxiety for many of you as you navigate switching to remote learning while also managing your own personal lives and contemplating your summer and post-graduation employment, whether you have secured a position or not," the email seen by Business Insider said. 

The email then went through a list of questions — like, "I've accepted an offer, but I'm worried about the economy. Should I be?"— and NYU offered answers. 

In one answer, NYU said it had reached out to all law firms that had recruited at the school for summer associate classes and "the good news is they are continuing to prepare for their summer and entry-level associates."

But the email went on to state that some firms "may be preparing for delayed start dates or alternative working arrangements."

The school said that it had asked the firms to work with incoming associates directly, but "we ask for your patience since most law firms are focused on their short-term plans," including adjusting to client needs.

An NYU Law spokesman verified the contents of the email. Deans and professors at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School and Berkeley Law did not respond to a request for information about summer classes. 

Many big law firms including Gibson Dunn, Kirkland & Ellis, DLA Piper and Baker McKenzie, did not provide comment on how they were managing their classes, while others including Sheppard Mullin said they had not yet made a final decision.

An Irell & Manella spokeswoman said that the Los Angeles-based firm had not made any changes to its summer program, but that "we are continually monitoring the evolving situation and will make logistical adjustments, if necessary, based on circumstances that exist at the start of the program."

Law students disrupted

Several law students interviewed by Business Insider offered early signs about their summer prospects.

Kevin Frazier, a 1L at University of California, Berkeley, said that law firm meet-and-greet receptions had been postponed or cancelled, and that he was doing much of his recruiting outreach to firms via LinkedIn.

"When you think about law firm recruiting in general, it's all about, 'Do I want to spend 7o to 80 hours a week with this person, and that's hard to establish on Zoom," said Frazier. 

"I don't think our traditional model of on-campus interviewing is going to stand up well against COVID-19, especially in a hot spot like the Bay Area," he said. 

Frazier, who previously was the executive assistant to Oregon governor Kate Brown before becoming a legal assistant at Google, is seeking employment at a law firm with a focus on tech, venture capital and intellectual property. He has an internship lined up this summer at Cloudflare, the internet company.

One challenge he pointed to was that multiple law schools including his own had switched the grading system to credit, no-credit this semester, which makes it difficult for students to stand out. 

And even for those who did have legal internships intact already, there are worries about what kind of experience they would have once they were in the door.

"It's a question of, 'What is my workload going to be like and am I going to get to go into the office and receive any real one-to-one feedback and teaching, which is arguably the most important part of an internship," he said. 

Students change plans

Over on the East Coast, several students also expressed uncertainty about what's ahead. 

Catherine Katz, a 1L student at Harvard Law, had planned to land a legal internship in London, but given the international travel restrictions, she will spend more time promoting a book she just finished writing called the Daughters of Yalta.

The book, slated for a September release, focuses on the relationships Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Averell Herriman had with their daughters during World War II. 

"We are in the face of uncertainty," said Katz, who is still exploring legal internships. "Every day brings new challenges. But as an author I'm glad to be able to put everything I have into this book."

If you're a law student or practicing lawyer — or if you're working on Wall Street more broadly — we want to hear from you. Contact this reporter at csullivan@businessinsider.com, DM on Twitter @caseyreports, or Signal message at 646 376 6017.

SEE ALSO: Major law firms are weighing pay cuts for partners against unseemly staff layoffs as billings plunge

SEE ALSO: 'All hands on deck': Restructuring lawyers say a sudden collapse of revenues is accelerating work with the retail and energy sectors

SEE ALSO: Big Law M&A work is evaporating as coronavirus spreads, but some firms are about to make bank. Here are the winners and losers.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What's inside the Mariana Trench

• The Four Seasons hotel on New York's swanky Billionaires' Row will house medical workers for free during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a press release from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
• The governor's office said it would be the first of several hotels to house healthcare workers.
• The hotel is on New York's most expensive street, which is dominated by luxury skyscrapers and empty penthouses owned by billionaires.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Four Seasons hotel on Manhattan's Billionaires' Row will be used to house nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel free of charge, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday. Cuomo's press release said the hotel would be the first of several in New York to house healthcare workers at no cost. 

"The 350 room hotel will provide medical personnel currently working to respond to the coronavirus outbreak lodging free of charge," the governor's office said in the press release. In Chicago, empty hotel rooms are used to house coronavirus patients and those awaiting test results.

The hotel is on the swanky Billionaires' Row. Business Insider's Katie Warren previously reported that the area includes a set of eight ultraluxury skyscrapers along the southern end of Central Park, as well as Central Park South, which was the most expensive street in the city in 2019. Condos there start at about $3 million and can fetch upward of $60 million. The strip boasts record sales to billionaires, including the $238 million penthouse Ken Griffin purchased in 2019— but many penthouse units sit empty as billionaires add them to their portfolios. As of 2019, it was the most expensive street in New York City.

New York City has 30,811 positive coronavirus cases and 285 deaths, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. Doctors in New York City treating coronavirus patients have already been forced to reuse masks because of low supplies, and the governor issued warnings about running out of hospital beds and ventilators. New York City projected it would need 110,000 to 140,000 beds during the outbreak's peak — it has 53,000.

The New York Post reported that Ty Warner, the chairman of the company that owns the Four Seasons, offered up the hotel after listening to Cuomo during his press conferences. The hotel won't take reservations until April 15.

"Many of those working in New York City have to travel long distances to and from their homes after putting in 18-hour days," Warner said in a statement, according to the New York Post. "They need a place close to work where they can rest and regenerate. I heard Governor Cuomo's call to action during one of his press conferences, and there was no other option for us but do whatever we could to help."

The Four Seasons and the governor's office didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Chicago will start renting more than 1,000 of its empty hotel rooms to house coronavirus patients or those awaiting test results

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why fighting is allowed in pro hockey — and why the NHL has no plans to ban it

• Frito-Lay shut down its factory in Modesto, California after several employees showed signs and symptoms of the coronavirus. 
• The coronavirus is not known to to be spread through food or food packaging, but the plant shut down as a precaution.
• Employees will be paid for up to 12 weeks during the closure. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The popular snack, Frito-lays, shut its factory doors in Modesto, California after some of the PepsiCo employees showed signs of the coronavirus, Fox40 reported Tuesday.

PepsiCo did not release the number of workers who showed symptoms but nearly 620 full-time workers are employed at the site in Modesto.

The employees who showed symptoms are under a 14-day quarantine, but the factory decided to shut its doors as a precaution even though COVID-19 is not known to be spread through food or food packaging.

The facility will be deep-cleaned in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirements while it's shuttered.

The employees under quarantine will continue to receive full pay. PepsiCo will also continue to pay the other workers from the factory in full for up to 12 weeks.

Other companies, including BMW, shut down their US factory production lines in South Carolina because of the coronavirus pandemic. Boeing's manufacturing plant in Washington shut down after one of its employees died from COVID-19.

SEE ALSO: Tito's Handmade Vodka plans to make its own hand sanitizer and will give it away for free

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How lava lamps are made at the 55-year-old factory where they were invented

• I tried a compressed workweek — which had me working 10-hour days for four days per week — and I did not like the unusual schedule. 
• I felt more stress and pressure to outperform the amount of work I usually do in a week, leading me to long for the weekends more than ever. 
• I found it difficult to set up meetings and to get help from managers because our schedules did not always align. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As companies continue to prioritize their employees' work/life balance, some – like Amazon— are shifting to a compressed workweek. 

During a compressed workweek, you work four days a week and have a three-day weekend. Some companies require employees to still work 40 hours a week. In that case, employees work 10-hour days for four days. Other companies allow employees to cut the hours down to 32 hours a week, so they work their usual eight hours for four days. 

For some, it's a dream setup, and companies are reportedly reaping the benefits too, citing increased productivity and decreased stress levels.

When I decided to test out the compressed workweek for two weeks, I was excited to see what this new schedule would be like. I must note that halfway through the first week of my experiment, I was told to work from home as part of the ongoing pandemic concerns, but I continued to work 10 hours for four days a week from home. 

At the end of my two weeks, I was surprised to learn that I prefer my usual schedule. Keep reading to find out why. 

FOLLOW US: Insider is on Facebook

Adding an extra hour to my workday seemed like it wouldn't be a big issue, but it was surprisingly difficult.

My hours are typically 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., so I usually work nine hours each day. Before starting this experiment, I thought adding one more hour to my day to reach a 40-hour week seemed simple. What could adding one more hour really do?

I was surprised to learn that it was much more difficult than I anticipated. When all of my colleagues went home (or signed off during the work-from-home period), I still had one more hour to go, and an hour never felt longer. It got to the point where I would dread the 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. time frame. By the end of the two weeks, it felt like the extra hour was the bane of my existence. 

It's also worth noting that my productivity often dropped during that last hour, and I felt I got nothing of worth done. This seems to be the case for most people. Recent studies found that the longer people work, the less productive they become. 

During the extra hour of work, I had no support system.

Another reason I hated working that extra hour was that I felt like a lonesome man working in a ghost town. When I was still working in the office, I was the only person there. All the desks were empty, which meant all my co-workers who often keep me sane during the day were gone. 

Additionally, this meant that my editor and manager was gone too. A couple of times I had a question that I needed to ask my editor, but I had to wait until the morning. This was a roadblock that I didn't anticipate and just further decreased my productivity. 

Obviously, this wouldn't be an issue if an entire company decided to transition into the compressed workweek. If everyone worked the same hours, then there would be the support system in place at all times, but this was not the case for me. 

Working just four days a week but turning out the same amount of work — and then some — was very stressful.

The Perpetual Guardian, an estate management firm in New Zealand, tried a four-day workweek but also cut hours down to 32 hours per week. As a result, the company found that the staff's stress levels were reduced by 7% throughout the experiment. 

During my experiment, I felt the opposite effect on my stress levels. With this new work schedule, I felt an even greater strain to prove myself, especially since I had read that, according to studies, people who work this unique schedule actually get 40% more done throughout the week. The expectation to meet my goals and exceed them was more apparent than ever.

Although I had the same number of hours, I had to constantly push myself to turn out more content than ever. It felt like a race against the clock every day, and it was extremely stressful.

I was surprised to learn that I worked faster but not necessarily smarter.

To try and reach my goals each day, I found myself working faster, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. At times, I would say I was rushing, making careless mistakes that I wouldn't have made if I wasn't under this new pressure to outperform my usual self. 

"Time is not money if that efficiency is not matched with effectiveness," Forbes wrote back in 2016."Racing through assignments only to deliver sloppy results not only costs businesses plenty of moolah every year, it could cost you your stellar reputation, health or (gasp) job if your great-balls-of-fire pace results in a doozy mistake, or compromises your well-being."

I found myself looking forward to the weekend more than ever before.

Like most people, I look forward to the weekend, but typically, I don't count down the days until Friday. I take that as a sign that I'm happy with my job. 

However, when I worked the compressed workweeks, I found myself calculating how many hours and minutes until my weekend started. It was most likely because I felt overworked and stressed, making me need my weekends more than ever before.

I envisioned myself enjoying the city and local bars during my new-found long weekends, but I spent most of the time relaxing at home recovering from the stressful week. Those three-day weekends no longer felt like a great privilege, but instead an absolute necessity. 

Trying to align my unique schedule with other companies that work normal hours was challenging at times.

Before I started the experiment, I decided I would take Fridays off and work the other four days of the week. But quickly, I realized that was going to be difficult. A company I needed to interview and meet with for a story could only meet on a Friday. I felt uncomfortable explaining that it didn't fit into my schedule, so I had to completely rearrange my week. I decided to instead take the Monday off and work the Friday. 

I think this is a sign of a larger issue within the compressed workweek. There are jobs and industries that work constantly with clients. If you're only available to meet four days a week and only on your schedule, then that might hinder the relationship. Even internally, you may have trouble scheduling meetings with people at your company who do not work a compressed workweek, or those who have a compressed workweek that doesn't align with yours.

It's not a great practice for all businesses, especially those in the industry I work in.

For journalism, the news is happening 24/7, so taking an extra day off each week may not benefit me in the long run. If news breaks on my beat while I'm off on Friday, I will miss it and that can hurt my credibility. My job requires me to hit certain benchmarks, and I felt I had fewer opportunities to reach those goals because I was missing a day of the week. 

Certainly, there are industries that this schedule may be perfect for, but some may actually hurt from a compressed workweek.

• Read more:
• How I pitched a 32-hour workweek — and got it
• 6 Arguments For A Shorter Workweek
• Finland's new millennial leader wants her country to have a 4-day workweek. Here's why the widely beloved schedule would never work in the US.
• A time-management expert says there's one important downside to the 4-day workweek, even if it does make you more productive

• The Senate's $2 trillion coronavirus economic bailout bill includes help for gig-economy workers, like Uber and Lyft drivers, who have seen their livelihood dissolve during the coronavirus crisis.
• For the first time, these workers would qualify for unemployment insurance.
• They would also qualify for the additional four months of extra payments this bill would provide to everyone who collects unemployment.
• It isn't clear exactly how much money a month drivers, contract workers, and freelancers could get, but they should qualify for a weekly payment equivalent to if they were a laid-off full-time employee.
• The maximum weekly amount varies by state, but the extra unemployment insurance would add up to a maximum of $600 more a week.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The email Business Insider received from an Uber driver was heartbreaking. St. Patrick's day was normally a hugely busy day for her. But this year, with the bars in her state shuttered, events banned, and a quiet airport, no one was out.

"I sat for nine hours at the airport and only managed three passengers," she told Business Insider. "I am quite distressed about how I will pay my basic bills including car payment, car insurance, as my entire livelihood relies upon my having a vehicle."

She wasn't sick or in quarantine, so she didn't qualify for the company's sick-pay policy. She was technically classified as a contractor, so she didn't qualify for her state's unemployment benefits, either.

But now there's hope for her and the thousands of other US ride-hailing drivers, gig-economy workers, and freelancers who have seen their livelihoods crumble during the coronavirus pandemic.

A provision in the Senate's coronavirus stimulus bill, under a section called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, makes contractors, freelancers, and other self-employed workers finally eligible for unemployment insurance.

It isn't wholly clear yet how much money a week gig workers would qualify for, but the bill, which passed the Senate late Wednesday, says the amount should be equivalent to what they would have gotten from their state unemployment programs if they were a full-time employee who qualified for regular unemployment insurance.

Federal law says unemployment payments should be the same weekly pay as they would earn from their employer, capped by a maximum amount set by the state. The max amount varies by state. For instance, Florida's maximum is $275 a week; California's is $450 a week.

But the coronavirus stimulus bill also provides for four months of additional unemployment insurance, up to an additional $600 a week, for everyone who qualifies for unemployment, including gig workers.

The extended unemployment benefits in this bill attempt to protect workers "whether they work for small, medium or large businesses, along with the self-employed and workers in the gig economy," Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a press release.

The bill must now pass in the House of Representative before it reaches President Donald Trump's desk to become law.

• Read more:
• I'm a driver for Uber and Lyft — here's exactly how much I make in one week on the job
• The big list of free tech from companies like Microsoft, Google, and Cisco to help companies deal with remote work amid the coronavirus crisis
• The CEO of Support.com says he's ready to hire an 'unlimited' number of workers who were laid off amid the coronavirus crisis
• People violating shelter-in-place mandates can be fined or jailed: In Denver the fine is $999 per incident or criminal charges
• Amazon's sellers are worried that its surprise 'essentials-only' stocking policy over the coronavirus could put them out of business

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos reportedly just spent $165 million on a Beverly Hills estate — here are all the ways the world's richest man makes and spends his money

• Goldman Sachs is hiring for operations roles in Salt Lake City that require only a high-school diploma or GED certificate, according to job postings.
• Goldman typically hires through college-campus recruiting and laterally across the industry for experienced professionals.
• This "Alternative Staffing Model" was rolled out last year in Salt Lake City, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Business Insider.
• These hires perform traditional operations functions like trade processing and reconciliations.
• Salt Lake City is one of Goldman's many "high-value" locations, and the bank has been shifting roles out of hubs like New York to these lower-cost cities for years.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

You don't need a college degree to work at Goldman Sachs. 

The investment bank has posted job openings for roles in its operations division that require a high-school diploma or GED certificate. 

"Last year we rolled out an Alternative Staffing Model in Salt Lake City to meet demand around optimizing our coverage of financial exchanges for markets around the world," a Goldman spokesperson told Business Insider in emailed comments.

The "process-coordinator" roles are part of the firm's operations teams that support Goldman's various business lines, including sales, trading, and investment management. 

It's a new role, according to the job description, and while a high-school diploma is a basic requirement, an associate degree is preferred.

Process coordinators perform traditional operations functions like trade processing and reconciliations, according to the spokesperson.

Goldman opened its Salt Lake City office in 2000, where it staffs people across the majority of the firm's divisions. For years the bank has been moving roles out of high-cost hubs like New York and London to "high-value" cities like Salt Lake and Dallas.

But employees in these locations still support businesses in cities like New York, so their hours can skew early.

While the process-coordinator jobs are full time, the hours may be adjusted to be in-line with hub locations.

"As these roles have alternate working hours, often starting very early in the morning or later in the day, we've seen high demand from job seekers who need flexibility in their work schedule," the spokesperson said.

Process coordinators are hired through a typical interview process, which includes meeting with the leadership of the team, the spokesperson said.

Goldman Sachs has long been known for its rigorous interview process, and landing a job at the prestigious investment bank is not easy. Of the 1 million job applications the firm receives each year, it hires just 5,000 of them, an acceptance rate of 0.5%.

While many of these applicants are vying for roles in the firm's revenue-generating divisions, like investment banking or sales and trading, prospective hires across all divisions have to go through similar interview processes to get an offer.

For college grads, landing an internship or entry-level role is more about academics and culture fit. The bank is looking for curiosity and drive, Dane Holmes, the firm's former head of human capital management, previously told Business Insider. 

Lateral hires — usually midlevel employees with experience at other firms — need to demonstrate technical skills too.

The process-coordinator jobs fall somewhere in between. They aren't necessarily "entry level," as the firm is looking for previous experience in a "business process-oriented" role. But the move to waive the undergraduate-degree requirement is new for Goldman.

Typically, entry-level roles at Goldman are filled through college-campus recruiting efforts and its pipeline of summer analysts, many of whom are offered full-time roles before they return to school for their senior years.

And Goldman's employees have tended to come from top-ranked schools, according to LinkedIn data.

But Goldman's approach to hiring has been changing. In 2016, the firm stopped visiting colleges to conduct on-campus interviews, instead asking applicants to complete their first-round interviews via the prerecorded-video platform HireVue.

"As we've built offices in new cities and geographic locations, we've needed to recruit at more schools located in those areas. Video interviews allow us to do that,"Holmes wrote in the Harvard Business Review.

Editor's note: Shannen Balogh was previously an employee of Goldman Sachs in New York. 

SEE ALSO: Real estate experts say Wall Street will keep ditching New York for cheaper cities, and think the open-office craze has played itself out

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs just hired 2 senior recruiting execs focused on luring top talent from other firms —and it's a huge departure from the firm's traditional promote-from-within mentality

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs is about to move dozens of jobs out of pricey New York to Utah as Wall Street turns to cheaper cities

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WeWork went from a $47 billion valuation to a failed IPO. Here's how the company makes money.

• Managers may struggle to keep employees focused and engaged during virtual meetings.  
• Research from the Project Management Institute shows that distractions, like a lack of concentration and participation from remote employees, can hamper the success of a remote meeting. 
• To ensure success, managers can employ strategies like check-ins to evaluate employees' mental health and a set agenda to facilitate a smoother transition to remote work. 
• Join Business Insider on Thursday at 12 p.m. ET for our digital live event "Leading From Home," where we'll be talking with WorkBoard founder Deidre Paknad and Chatbooks founder Nate Quigley about how to lead remote teams amid the coronavirus crisis. 
•  Click here for more BI Prime content

As the coronavirus pandemic changes the US workforce, millions of people are logging into the office from home. This means more employees are also having their meetings virtually. 

But virtual meetings can be a challenge. A survey from the workplace research think tank Project Management Institute (PMI) found virtual meetings often aren't successful because of distractions (like social media notifications), lateness, and a lack of communication between colleagues.

"As the nature of work changes, so too must the structure and dynamics of teams – and this is true for virtual meetings," Brantlee Underhill, managing director for North America at PMI, told Business Insider. "The biggest mistake managers make is operating like it's business as usual. But this new normal requires different skills, more clearly defined roles and responsibilities and increased agility."

If managers want to hold more effective virtual meetings, experts say they should develop a plan that will help them get the most out of their employees. 

Here are tips that will help you become more effective at leading teams virtually, according to CEOs and management experts.

Have a clear agenda for the meeting

Having set goals for your team can make for a smoother online transition. In this case, experts suggest managers create a dynamic agenda or one that's built on a shared document on the fly. Jordan Husney, CEO and cofounder of the meeting tool Parabol recommends companies use a shared Google Doc, or a virtual workplace tool like Notion. 

"Most people are used to the concept of an agenda sent out before a meeting," Husney said. "But let's be honest with each other – this is hard." 

Keep it small

One step managers can take to make a meeting more organized is to keep it small. According to Underhill, when you're planning a virtual meeting a smaller team can help keep the call on task.

"Split a larger group into smaller, more agile teams to complete specific tasks," Underhill said.

But sometimes there's no way of escaping a large meeting, for example, business conferences or workplace town halls. In this case, it may be useful to use hand gestures to signal the start or stop of a discussion. 

"If you're in a large meeting, use a 'raise hand' or similar function and then speak," said Ben Christensen, cofounder and head of people at Handshake, a college networking and career platform. "It can help make a more inclusive conversation than trying to interject or interpret facial cues via video call."

Assign roles and responsibilities to employees

For a virtual meeting to run as planned, at the start of a meeting experts recommend divvying up action items among employees. This prevents multitasking and makes room for accountability, Husney said. 

"Virtual meetings are most effective when each team member understands how they are contributing to the larger whole," Husney said. "It also helps ensure greater transparency and total participation across the team and ensures every team member knows they have a voice and place."

Have a backup connection available

Technology is still not always reliable. Christensen advises managers have an alternative way to connect if your first method fails you.

"Have one backup for your meeting connection just in case," he said. If issues arise during a video conference, for example, the video freezes or the image is blurry, make sure employees can and know how to dial in for an audio call. 

Give everyone a chance to speak

According to Underhill, it is imperative to upgrade how you manage employees in an online setting. During a meeting, everyone needs to get a chance to discuss their ideas. 

Underhill said managers should monitor the chat to ensure everyone has a chance to participate and no one dominates the conversation.  

Make time to check in with your coworkers

When employees are working remotely, it's likely that employees will feel lonely and isolated, Business Insider reported. To fix this, Husney advises managers "make space for humanity." This can mean engaging more personally through icebreaker questions and check-ins at the start of a meeting. 

"It can be as simple as asking, 'What has your attention today?' or, 'How are things?'" Husney said.

These check-ins also double as a way to make sure everyone's mic is working. As a manager, scheduling time to listen to your employees not only shows compassion for their mental health, but it's important for your bottom line.  

"If somebody seems a little down, you can care for that individual at the moment," Husney said. "Remind yourself to reach out and schedule a virtual coffee just to chat."

SEE ALSO: 8 tips for nailing a video job interview in the age of coronavirus

SEE ALSO: A Slack etiquette guide to help you survive a messaging-obsessed office in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $360 million.

• The novel coronavirus pandemic has forced businesses to adapt to remote-work environments, and some companies have turned that into new products or changes to strategy to help others ease into the transition.
• Phone-booth maker Zenbooth switched from making booths to desks to help employees across the nation work from home.
• Office-technology provider Minim opened its customer base from internet providers needing WiFi support to going straight to remote workers.
• And other companies, like BioPure Services, PATHWATER, and ManufacturingChina.com, have scaled up production and sales to meet more demand.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

American ingenuity is never more prevalent than during a crisis. We saw the resilience of New York City businesses in the weeks and months after 9/11. 

Now, when the whole country is in the throes of dealing with COVID-19, many US companies large and small are responding with equal aplomb, rejiggering their business models to meet the new needs of the nation. Even manufacturers and suppliers, usually the hardest cog to turn within any economic engine, are making changes to support our new social-distancing, remote-work culture.

Launching a product to help the new work-from-home nation

Zenbooth, the Berkeley, California-based makers of single-, double-, and quad-sized office quiet booths for phone calls and focused work, made the decision to adapt to change by doing something they've never done before — producing a desk instead of a booth. 

The ZenStation height-adjustable desk, which runs between $500 and $700, is the company's first product in response to the surge in home workers, and they're currently canvassing their Bay Area neighbors to see how else they can be helpful. The company forecasts sales of thousands of units of the ZenStation as soon as its supply chain stabilizes. 

"Zenbooth's focus has always been about making work more comfortable. In the open office, the burning problem was privacy. At home, the first burning problem is ergonomics," Zenbooth Founder and CEO Sam Johnson told Business Insider. "Most people we know were dissatisfied with their setup, and this was causing pain and will later cause injury." 

And so it began with the ZenStation, which Johnson also viewed as low-hanging fruit because it was within the company's skill set.  

"The ZenStation was also something within our capabilities — we could get it to market fast," he said. 

When Johnson said "fast," he wasn't kidding around. Zenbooth developed and brought the ZenStation to market in just one week once California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his shelter-in-place order. 

"With Zenbooth, I tested a few ideas and then released the first concept within 24 hours, and sold a few within a couple of weeks, so I had the confidence we could do it again," Johnson, who funded his company entirely on the proceeds from these early sales, said. "We now have a talented team and relationships that enable us to move even faster."

The one hurdle Johnson does have to cross, however, is California's aforementioned shelter-in-place restrictions, which have obviously affected his own workforce. Johnson is looking at rolling production across the country as needed to support his work-from-home customers. 

"This is a moving target like no other. Last Tuesday, we shut down our manufacturing operations due to Berkeley City shelter-in-place restrictions. Those restrictions had an exception to the supply of working-from-home products and supply to other essential businesses, which we got advice we could work within," Johnson told Business Insider. Then, three hours after they put the product page up on Thursday, California released broad shelter-in-place restrictions. 

"We're in this for the long term, though, and we will work — safely  — with our suppliers in other states to be able to produce these as restrictions are added and then lifted," he added. "We're committed to balancing health at home with following the restrictions to enable community health." 

Johnson takes the occasion of the pandemic to make a larger point about the importance of ergonomics to overall well-being. 

"OSHA [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] states that ergonomic injuries have direct costs of between $15 to $20 billion per year, with total annual costs reaching $45 to $54 billion," Johnson said. "Well, we have heard from many who have suffered after working from home for one week with issues like neck strain, and with shelter-in-place restrictions, none of those people are going to see a doctor or physiotherapist anytime soon. We expect to see a 'whiplash' of injuries and claims after the coronavirus pandemic passes."

In addition to offering the ZenStation to the work-from-home audience, Zenbooth is selling their hero product to telemedicine and medical research companies that are in increased demand and need privacy to ensure confidentiality in their services. Johnson said he's examining other ways to make his company's capabilities useful in the context of this pandemic, for example, in the area of isolation rooms (often called airborne infection isolation rooms).

"If the opportunity arises to help save lives, we'll definitely jump at it. But otherwise, we'll be trying to help all those working from home," Johnson said.    

A tech company adapts by changing its audience

Going from office furnishings to office technology, Manchester, New Hampshire-based Minim had long been working with internet service providers to provide network security, parental controls, and WiFi management tools. Then the news of the coronavirus began to spread.

"When the news of COVID-19 broke, we realized that the same platform we provide to ISPs could be democratized for businesses and their employees to provide secure remote working environments," Nicole Hayward, Minim's cofounder and CMO/CPO, told Business Insider. "Our solution helps remote workers who are experiencing choppy video calls, slow speeds from kids' streaming at home, and worse — the rise of targeted hacking."

Minim for Remote Workers was rolled out in the matter of a weekend, and the company is now offering four free months of service to people globally, which includes a Minim router, a mobile app for the employee, and a web app for the employer. 

"On Thursday and Friday, March 12 and 13, we pulled together team leadership from all departments for a few work sessions. As marketing and product leader, I prepared a product launch template that we routinely use for new product and feature rollouts," Hayward shared. "We kept it concise and honed in on the immediate needs, such as the product workflow to enable four free months of services, and how to immediately get the message out to our partners." 

She added, "It helped that the team was very bought into the vision; everyone contributed to the launch plan and collaborated through the weekend into the wee hours. By the time we hit Monday the 16th at about noon, we had a totally new signup path, a new section of our website, new SKUs on our ecommerce site, an automated journey, helpful handouts, an internal FAQ to help our customers, and more." 

Hayward noted that getting the word out around the new offering was a critically important consideration surrounding the launch. 

"One of the biggest challenges was ensuring that multiple leaders read our communications before they went out — to ensure we are hitting the right message and tone during this challenging time," she said. "To that end, we published a heartfelt letter to our community from our CEO, and our first sign-ups were friends and locals in the Manchester and Boston area. We are also thankful to have great investors and advisors to help us get the word out."

While it's still early in the launch journey of Minim for Remote Workers, Hayward is optimistic about its success.

"We're still assessing target adoption," Hayward said. "But, we're really hoping that businesses will step up and take on this responsibility to support their employees. It's such a big paradigm shift for many, and remote workers shouldn't be burdened with the added stress of not being able to get work done over their WiFi. Not to mention, there's an incredibly high risk to corporate data if a single employee's network is compromised. VPN won't even help there."

Other companies scale up to meet increased demand for atypical products and services 

"It's doing the education piece for us,"BioPure Services President Brandon Kinder said of the impact coronavirus has made on his business, which provides hospital-grade disinfection services to homes and businesses across the Southeast. "We've now experienced how quickly something can go from a few folks in China to right here in our backyard in a matter of weeks. Germs connect us all, and we're seeing the need to change the standard of clean."

With their chlorine dioxide-based spray treatment that's on the EPA's approved list of effective treatments against COVID-19— among a lot of other nastiness — BioPure Services found itself suddenly with overflowing demand during this time of extreme economic duress. Kinder said his business has increased 75% over one month, with inquiries for services from all over the country. 

"Any time you set a goal of trying to change the way something has traditionally been done education is a huge piece of that, but now I'm getting a barrage of calls, emails, and voicemails more than I can answer, and that's good," Kinder, who has increased his workforce by 50% in order to handle the influx of inquiries, told Business Insider. 

Kinder acknowledged that people had a bit of a hard time understanding the importance of his service prior to the onset of the pandemic. "Our mission statement since we began this journey has been 'to change the standard of clean.' People are realizing that they may have been fooled — they can't clean for appearance or clean for smell, it's really about the germs. Well, we're a germ-control company, and our messaging just happens to align really well in this situation."

Kinder's business, previously generally commercial in nature, has also seen a considerable uptick in residential customers looking to increase sanitization while sheltering in place and working from home. 

Fremont, California-based PATHWATER, which manufactures its own aluminum reusable water bottles then bottles both sparkling and still water, has experienced a 300% growth in sales over the last month. 

"Even with the pandemic, the majority of our country still has access to clean drinking water. PATHWATER bottles are aluminum, which are 100% recyclable in a closed-loop system, so we hope the influx of people purchasing our sustainable alternative to bottled water will at least help keep a fraction of plastic waste out of landfills over the next few months," Cofounder and CEO Amer Orabi told Business Insider.

Orabi said that his company has benefited greatly from its use of technology while under California's shelter-in-place orders and observing social distancing.  

"Operating during shelter in place is definitely a challenge, especially from an operations standpoint. Aside from our team, our second biggest asset is technology," Orabi said. "We utilize technology in every part of our operations/fulfillment. Virtual meetings, automated order processing, and a good communication platform are all ways to increase efficiency in a remote work environment."

To meet the increasing demand for bottled water, he added, the company has ramped up its production capacity by increasing efficiency and yields. "Almost all of our PATHWATER production processes are fully automated with a limited need for human involvement. Again, technology is a big difference maker for businesses in a situation like this," he said.

In fact, PATHWATER has increased production by 250% in order to meet demand, and has also made a commitment to give back and help the hard-hit San Francisco region where the company is based. 

"We are grateful that PATHWATER hasn't been affected by COVID-19 like so many other companies and industries, and to show our support during this difficult time we are giving back to our community by donating 100,000 bottles to local food banks in the Bay Area," he said.

Ron Berkes, who connects his clients with Chinese medical supply goods manufacturers through his company ManufacturingChina.com, is fielding a similar barrage of calls and emails.

"I just got a request for up to one million masks per day, up to five million masks, from a customer buying for South African medical interests, straight through my LinkedIn," Berkes told Business Insider. "I even set up a special website to accommodate the special medical-related inquiries I've been getting, so that I can handle these requests and not lose track of what people need and what they're asking for." 

Berkes, who'd previously overcome a delay in shipments from his Chinese suppliers when factories throughout the country were shut down for weeks to forestall the spread of COVID-19, said he has also been able to get clients he provides with non-medical goods to place larger orders in the interest of not running out of supplies.

"Honestly, the logistics in China can be a challenge even when there is not a pandemic," Berkes told Business Insider. "So I am always hedging to get my clients to order sooner or more product then what they typically want. In this case, ordering 30 to 50% more inventory has been a good decision, because we could see a lot more delays in the future."

Johnson concluded, "It's sad that there has been so much political rhetoric about protecting American jobs in manufacturing over the past couple years. This will be a historical lesson that you're better off investing in the health and safety of your people rather than tariffs and walls. Many companies simply won't survive this without innovating."

With that in mind, this country's manufacturers and suppliers are proving that American ingenuity is, at root, both good business and good for us.

SEE ALSO: 5 tips for leading a team that's scattered across the globe if you've never really done it before, from CEOs who've managed remote employees for years

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $360 million.

• To combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reduced the state's workforce to only those who are "essential."
• Alongside healthcare workers and reporters, New York's sanitation workers were deemed essential by the state.
• We shadowed two sanitation workers in NYC— one of the filthiest cities in the US— early one morning to see what the job was like.
• These sanitation workers wake up at 3:30 a.m. and pick up trash from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• After five years on the job, the average salary for a sanitation worker is about $77,300, and after 22 years, sanitation workers are eligible for pension, according to the New York City Department of Sanitation. 
• Sanitation workers must be very cautious when handling trash and the collection truck on New York City streets, but they also enjoy the simple pleasures of the job, like watching the city wake up each morning.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: 25 recession-proof jobs for anyone worried about the next economic downturn

We arrived at the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) at 5:30 a.m. on a Thursday.

This is where sanitation workers meet each morning before their routes.

Workers in different garages take roll call, where they get assigned the route for the day. Supervisors also make announcements.

DSNY divides up the entire city into 59 districts, which separates the five boroughs into zones for cleaning and garbage and recycling collection.

Source: DSNY

DSNY runs 7,400 truck routes a week across the city.

Source: DSNY

Sanitation workers must get to their garage sites by a little before 6 a.m. Many of them wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. to get dressed and make it to their garage on time.

Source: DSNY

You must be 21-years-old when appointed to be a sanitation worker, but there's no age cap so long as you can pass the physical exam.

Source: DSNY

Sanitation workers — both collectors and supervisors — wear different shades of dark green uniforms with a reflective vest on top.

Source: DSNY

Most sanitation workers wear sturdy shoes without steel toes, which can sever your foot if run over by a car.

Source: DSNY

There are about 7,800 uniformed staff members within the sanitation department. It is the third-largest city agency after the fire and police departments.

Source: DSNY

While we didn't see any women at the garage, there are currently 268 female uniformed staff members.

Source: DSNY

This includes Sanitation Workers, and ranking officers like Supervisors, Deputy Chiefs and above.

Source: DSNY

The two sanitation workers we followed for the day were Kevin Greenan and Mike Squiciari. Greenan had been on the job for about 20 years, and Squiciari for about 33 years.

The two don't normally work together, but Squiciari's usual partner was out for the day. Since they have seniority, the two get more flexibility to pick the routes and schedules they want.

We began in the Spring Street Garage on the west side of Lower Manhattan, and our route included parts of Soho and Greenwich Village.

We drove behind the garbage truck alongside DSNY chief Keith Mellis for safety reasons. Chief Mellis oversees all five boroughs and began with the department as a sanitation worker in Harlem 33 years ago.

At the time we left for the job, it was pitch black outside, but we saw the sunrise as the day went on. Chief Mellis said one thing he loves about sanitation work is watching New York wake up.

DSNY picks up the trash of residents, schools, and non-profits. Restaurants and businesses must pay for private trash collection.

The metal that breaks down and pushes trash to the back of the vehicle is called a "hopper."

Hoppers can be dangerous as they break down garbage quickly, and trash can quickly get sprayed outward.

So sanitation workers must stand to the side of the hopper as they load trash into the vehicle.

One sanitation worker in Brooklyn died after dumping trash that contained acid. The acid sprayed outward after it got sucked into the hopper and got on the sanitation worker's skin.

Source: The New York Times

Sanitation workers must pass a civil service exam — which includes both a written and physical portion — before getting hired.

Squiciari, whose coworkers nicknamed him "Mikey Arms," is a bodybuilder and trainer. He says part of what allowed him to stay on the job for 33 years was his physical fitness and time spent in the gym.

"If you plan on taking this job, try to be young and take care of your body," Squiciari told Business Insider. "Eat healthy and exercise. That's what I've been doing, and I've lasted 33 years doing this job in all different weather conditions. Thank God I feel great."

Greenan, meanwhile, plans on retiring soon because he'll be eligible for pension.

Sanitation workers hired before 2012 are eligible for pension after 20 years of service. Sanitation Workers hired after are eligible for pension after 22 years of service.

Source: DSNY

This isn't the only perk of the job. Squiciari and Greenan both find the early hours —which are from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. — to be pretty ideal for their lifestyles.

"I have two boys, and I was able to pick them up at school. I was probably the only father there," Squiciari told Business Insider. "And I can go to the gym after work and I'm still home by 5 p.m."

"Getting off at 2 o'clock in the summer, you can go to the beach," Greenan told Business Insider.

"The only hard part is getting up in the morning. When my alarm clock goes off I wanna throw it out the window," he continued.

Greenan also enjoys the simple pleasures of the job. "I like to walk. A lot of guys get in the truck between each stop, but I just walk everywhere because I like it," he told Insider.

Greenan and Squiciari also get paid higher salaries because of their seniority.

The entry-level salary for a sanitation worker is about $37,600. It increases with time and after five years, the average salary is about $77,300.

Source: DSNY

Chief Mellis and Squiciari had started with the sanitation department at the same time. They are two of just three members left from a start class of around 1,000 workers. Most workers leave after they can qualify for pension.

Source: DSNY

Squiciari, Greenan, and Chief Mellis say one of the best parts of being a sanitation worker is the camaraderie.

Sanitation workers spend a lot of time together, as shifts can sometimes be 12-hours long. During that time, they get to know each other like family, they said.

Squiciari said he still keeps in contact with a few old sanitation workers who have since retired, and many of them do meet-ups or come back for retirement parties.

Another fun part of the job, they said, is getting to know the residents, supers, and store owners who live along their route. Greenan and Squiciari both recall watching kids on their routes grow up.

We saw Squiciari greet one of the supers who worked along the route.

Squiciari and Greenan confirmed rats greet them along the route too. Our least favorite part of the day was seeing the rats.

They come out in early mornings and at nights, and if the area is restaurant-dense, entire families surround the garbage.

An important part of the job is keeping an eye out for bikers.

Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg instated bike lanes in much of the city during his 2002-2013 tenure, sanitation workers have to pay extra attention to their blind spots so that they won't run into bikers.

Source: DSNY

Increased technology has aided sanitation workers over the years. All current DSNY collection trucks and salt spreaders have GPS trackers, and many have cameras in the back to give drivers better visibility.

Source: DSNY

DSNY also operates one of the cleanest garbage collection fleets in the country.

Source: DSNY, Waste Dive

DSNY reduced its use of unleaded fuel by nearly half since 2005. Today, the entire diesel fleet runs on biodiesel fuel.

Source: DSNY

The amount of trash on the roads vary by month. May tends to be one of the busiest months, due to spring cleaning.

Source: DSNY

And the summer tends to be heavier for trash collecting than the winter.

Source: DSNY

Monday and Tuesday have the most trucks on the road, as the sanitation department operates less on weekends.

Source: DSNY

In 20 years of sanitation work, Greenan said one thing stays the same.

"Garbage never ends. All those baskets you saw me do — if you drive around right now, they're probably half full already," he told Business Insider.

"But I don't mind," he says, "more work for me."

• Luisa Zhou is the creator of the Employee to Entrepreneur system, which teaches people how to leave their day job and start their own six-figure-plus business working for themselves.
• She says that you can start your online business today, despite the novel coronavirus crisis, by explaining what you do, selling a solution, and talking to people about what service you want to provide.
• Zhou also says to lead with free content to get clients on board, like through a YouTube channel or social media.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

"Is it OK to sell right now?"

I'd just gotten off a coaching call with some clients — men and women building their own online businesses — and this was the top concern on everyone's mind.

I get it. No one wants to seem insensitive or be called out for being too "salesy" with everything going on in the world right now.

Want to know how I responded?

I said, "The point of a business is to provide a service that others are willing to pay for. Let me emphasize this: You are providing something that people want to pay for to help make their lives better. When you come from that place, you're being of service — not exploitative, negative, or insensitive."

In short: Yes, it's absolutely OK to sell right now.

If you've been wanting to start your own online business but have been holding back because you're afraid that now might not be the right time, here are four tips to help you get started today:

1. Explain what you do

This is one of the most common mistakes that I see aspiring entrepreneurs make. They come up with a fancy-sounding description that sounds good but doesn't have much substance.

In other words, it's not clear what exactly the point of their service is.

No matter what's going on in the world, this stays the same: If people don't understand what you're selling, how will they know whether or not they want to buy it?

Try using this simple statement instead:

I help [describe the people you help] get/have/be [describe the result you help with].

2. Sell a solution

A popular piece of motivational advice is to make sure you "charge your worth" as a new entrepreneur. 

Here's the unfortunate truth: Your clients don't care about paying you your worth.

They care about the "worth" of the solution you provide. In other words, what result are they going to get from hiring you? 

If you're selling a service (like coaching) or an information product (like an online course), as the majority of my students do, what result will a client get from using that service or info product?

For example, if I hire a health coach, I'm not hiring them because I'm so excited about having 12 weekly calls with them. I'm hiring them so that I can lose weight. In this example, that weight loss is what I'm really paying for. 

Instead of trying to sell people on your worth — which is a tough sell at any time, let alone during a pandemic — talk to them about what their life is going to look like after they hire you and get the results you or your product help them with. And what that is worth to them.

3. Talk to people

People like to buy from people and companies that they know, like, and trust. That kind of relationship isn't formed from you just sharing emails, blogs, and social-media posts.

So what does it take to build that kind of relationship? You need to talk to people, help them, and show them that you're someone who knows what you're talking about (when it comes to your business).

And yes, while this is trickier to do with social distancing, it's not impossible.

It can be as simple as finding out where your prospective clients spend their time online — whether that's in Facebook groups or on LinkedIn, Instagram, or some other forum — and spending some time there yourself to answer their questions and share helpful advice (related to the service that your business provides).

This has always been important, but it is even more relevant right now. No one can say that you're being "salesy" or "insensitive" when you're spending time talking to people, offering a lot of help for free, and then simply letting those who want to know more about hiring you how they can do so.

I'll use myself as an example. I've been hosting daily weekday Facebook livestreams to help people who want to grow their online business right now. On these livestreams, I teach, answer questions, and talk with attendees (who chat with me through the comments). And if relevant, I will mention a course or program I have that might be helpful.

4. Lead with free content

Speaking of being of service, one of the best ways to stand out from your competition and begin building trust with prospective clients (especially if you are just starting out) is to share helpful free content.

Again, this in itself is not a new strategy. However, this is a great time to be following this advice, as people who are forced to stay at home right now are spending a lot more time on social media and YouTube to search for distractions and entertainment.

And this doesn't have to be complicated. You can get started today by recording videos on your laptop and sharing posts on your own social-media accounts. (That's exactly how I started and how I advise all of my students nowadays to start as well.) 

Remember the livestream I showed you above? That was recorded with just my laptop — no fancy studio or camera equipment. And because the content was so useful, I also downloaded the video and shared it on my YouTube channel.

It doesn't matter that it's not "perfect." What's way more important is that you get started.

If you've been thinking this pandemic is a wake-up call that life is too short not to follow your dreams or your job isn't quite providing the security you had envisioned, the good news is you don't have to wait until this is over to start your own business.

And if you follow these steps, you'll be able to leverage the increased interest people have for fresh digital content right now to connect with more prospective clients, drive more engagement for your business, and set your business up for long-term success.

Luisa Zhou is the creator of the Employee to Entrepreneur system, which teaches people how to leave their day job and start their own six-figure-plus business working for themselves. She's been featured in Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Success magazine, and more. Get her free blueprint for building a profitable online business that frees you from the 9-to-5.

SEE ALSO: Everyone told us running a venture-backed business with a fully remote team was impossible. We're now a multimillion-dollar company with 50 employees — here are 4 hard truths today's leaders must accept about remote work.

DON'T MISS: 5 small businesses that pivoted to help their communities and customers during the pandemic — and boosted their bottom lines

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $360 million.

• Microsoft has handled the coronavirus crisis internally by mandating that most employees work from home, streaming company-wide town halls from executives' homes, expanding benefits like paid leave for parents, and even delivering food and medications to employee homes.
• Letty Cherry, Microsoft's head of employee communications, explained why Microsoft was careful not to make any rash decisions during the crisis – which initially read to some employees as inaction– and what's ahead for the company.
• Some employees initially said Microsoft's response was insufficient. According to four employees who spoke with Business Insider, that sentiment appears to have changed.
• Even one of the employees who initially said they were disappointed with Microsoft's response said now "respect for leadership is at the highest."
• Cherry told Business Insider that working remotely hasn't had a major impact on productivity or the company's roadmap, but at least one team has been working under relaxed deadlines, according to an employee. Microsoft declined to elaborate on that point.
• Click here to read more BI Prime stories.

As the coronavirus crisis started to worsen in the area of Washington state where Microsoft is headquartered in early March, the company on the outside appeared less concerned than its peers.

Some employees even called the company's initial response "disappointing," compared to steps taken by competitors including Salesforce, which quickly instituted a ban on non-essential business travel to help protect its employees amid the initial outbreak in the US. 

But inside the senior leadership team, Microsoft executives worried about making rash decisions that could be replicated elsewhere in the industry. As one of the very few trillion-dollar companies in the world, what Microsoft did would be studied and repeated — even, or especially, if it reacted quickly and rashly. 

Letty Cherry, Microsoft's head of global employee, leader and culture communications, said the company monitored the situation in the regions where it operates, and didn't want to take drastic action that could disrupt local or global markets before it had a full grasp of the situation. 

"When Microsoft goes down, others follow," Cherry said.

The sentiment about Microsoft's response, too, according to four employees who spoke with Business Insider, appears to have changed after Microsoft enacted a broad work-from-home policy, and offered other benefits such as continuing to pay hourly workers during the crisis, and extending paid leave for parents who can't work from home while their children aren't in school. The company has allowed at least some people to bring home office PCs, monitors and even ergonomic chairs.

Even one of the employees who initially said they were disappointed with Microsoft's response said now "respect for leadership is at the highest." Business Insider is not naming the employees because they are not authorized to speak publicly about company policies.

The company has also relaxed deadlines for at least one team in the company's massive cloud organization, an employee said. On that point, Cherry told Business Insider that working remotely hasn't had a major impact on productivity or the company's roadmap, and there's been no need to "slip dates of anything so far." Microsoft declined to elaborate.

'It evolved really quickly'

It didn't take long for the situation to change, and with it, Microsoft's response. 

"It evolved really quickly," Cherry said.

In early March, Microsoft's internal response to managing the coronavirus outbreak – the one in which some employees said they were "disappointed"– included asking employees to discuss with their managers any travel concerns. Some Microsoft employees at the time expressed concerns that the company's response was insufficient, and worried the policy left discretion up to managers instead of employees themselves.

Microsoft, Cherry said, made decisions based on the science at the time. In a March 2 memo reviewed by Business Insider, Microsoft told employees "global health authorities have communicated to us that the risk to the general public outside of Mainland China and those specific affected regions is presently low."

Cases in the Seattle-area region climbed, and Microsoft soon after shifted to a work-from-home policy for most employees. By March 4, Microsoft has asked most employees in the Puget Sound region and San Francisco Bay Area to work remotely until March 25, which has since been extended.

Transitioning to working from home

Microsoft has more than 150,000 employees globally, including nearly 90,000 in the U.S. and nearly 54,000 in the Seattle area. Microsoft already allowed a majority of employees some flexibility to work remotely — indeed, the company makes plenty of software fit for this exact purpose, including the Teams chat app, collaboration tool Sharepoint, and enterprise social network Yammer.

Microsoft's senior leadership team – including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy Kurt DelBene – now meets daily, including on weekends, to discuss the company's coronavirus response. Microsoft operates in 190 countries, and has enacted policies for each of them based on the local situation.

From those meetings, Microsoft has organized food delivery and medical help for employees. Groups of employees have, for example, dropped off food at an isolated employee's doorstep or picked up their prescriptions. This is coordinated through a Microsoft crisis management team, which includes security experts, human resources and communications employees, who were in place before the coronavirus crisis.

DelBene has emerged as a leader in the company's coronavirus response. DelBene sends out emails to the entire company about the crisis between one and five times per week, mostly about global standards for the company, and then will offer individual guidance about each location, such as San Francisco and Seattle.

What Microsoft has learned – and what's ahead

Microsoft last week held an all-remote employee town hall for the first time, in which executives such as Nadella, DelBene, Hogan and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood streamed from their homes. More than 35,000 employees watched the live version, and around 38,000 additional employees watched a recording, in a record for Microsoft.

Business Insider obtained audio of the meeting, in which Nadella asked employees to do their part to address the coronavirus crisis — whether or not it's in their job descriptions.

"I wish I could give you certainty," Nadella said, according to the audio. "There is so much that is unknown, but now is the time for each of us to lean in Microsoft, and each of you are part of the critical infrastructure of every country where we operate."

In the beginning, Microsoft relied a lot on managers to field employees questions, such as its initial policy asking employees to discuss travel concerns with managers. Cherry, who runs employee communications, said the company realized it was placing a sizable burden on managers to keep their employees informed, so it decided to increase communications from Hogan.

The company may need to "re-prioritize resources," she said, such as making sure Teams chat app runs smoothly, and making sure it has the critical infrastructure and data center support to handle the increase in users.

Microsoft in a note to customers recently said it could be faced with capacity constraints as demand for its cloud services continue to grow — especially as more people work from home amid the coronavirus crisis. 

"Microsoft is actively monitoring performance and usage trends to ensure we're optimizing service for our customers worldwide, and accommodating new growth and demand," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a response to a request about the note. "At the same time, these are unprecedented times and we're also taking proactive steps to plan for these high-usage periods."

The company earlier this month disclosed two Seattle-area employees contracted COVID-19 but recently declined to provide an update about whether there are additional cases among its workforce.

While Microsoft is hopeful things will go back to normal, Cherry said, the company is preparing for the long haul.

"We're all open to the fact that we may be at work in a month, or we may be working from home for many, many months," she said. "[It's given us a] slight hope to see what's happening in China, to see people are starting to heal and rebound from COVID-19."

Are you a Microsoft employee? Contact this reporter via email at astewart@businessinsider.com, message her on Twitter @ashannstew, or send her a secure message through Signal at 425-344-8242.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: People are still debating the pink or grey sneaker, 2 years after it went viral. Here's the real color explained.

• Many companies have stepped up in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, increasing worker benefits, donating to nonprofits, and helping to ensure supply chains of critical commodities. 
• But that's not enough, said Andrew Kassoy, CEO and cofounder of B Lab, the nonprofit that administers B Corp certifications to to businesses that meet high social, environmental, and legal standards.
• The novel coronavirus shows that "companies need to be governed in a different way," said Kassoy, who's calling for broader fiduciary rules for companies and investors. 
• This article is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The novel coronavirus has sent shockwaves through the US economy, the healthcare system, and individual households dealing with unemployment, job insecurity, and fear.

In the midst of this, many companies have stepped up to offer more worker benefits, made massive donations of supplies, and donated millions of dollars to nonprofits.

But that's not enough, said Andrew Kassoy, CEO and cofounder of B Lab, which administers B Corp ratings to for-profit companies that meet high social and environmental, public transparency, and legal standards. B Corp is championed by companies including clothing company Patagonia and food company Danone. 

"There's a lot of great stories and I don't want to discount any of that," Kassoy told Business Insider. "I think lots of the things that you've seen about companies saying they're going to provide sick leave to workers who have stayed on the job but then get sick — that is awesome. It's also not systemic." 

While it might get some workers through several weeks of being sick, it's not addressing underlying problems in the economy that need to be fixed, according to the CEO. These problems include the lack of secure jobs in the gig economy and the prevalence of low wages.  

In 2018, 8.5% of Americans, or 27.5 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year, according to the US Census Bureau. Nearly three in 10 US adults have no emergency savings, according to Bankrate's 2019 Financial Security Index. 

"It's not addressing that underlying idea that companies need to be governed in a different way. Like they actually need to have a broader set of fiduciary duties if we want business to play a more positive role in society," Kassoy said. 

B Lab is part of a growing the movement for "stakeholder capitalism," the belief that companies should be accountable to not only their shareholders, but to their workers and communities in which they do business.  

According Kassoy, the US government could expand its definition of fiduciary duty to encourage businesses to operate less on short-term profit and on long-term sustainability. 

"If companies in the first place had a set of governance responsibilities to their stakeholders, not just their shareholders, like to their workers and their communities where they do business, then it might reduce the number of those specific policy issues that need to be addressed by the government," he said. 

Kassoy believes there is bipartisan support for expanding the scope of a company, and investors' fiduciary responsibilities. Shareholder primacy, according to the CEO, encourages companies to take measures such as outsourcing jobs or deny worker benefits to keep costs low. 

"I think [government leaders] recognize that shareholder primacy is a source code error in business that causes it to do lots of these things, that then, in a moment of crisis, makes them have no resilience," he said.  

The novel coronavirus pandemic, according to Kassoy, is a chance to rethink the way companies are governed. 

"We saw some people recognize this during the financial crisis the last time around," he said. "And I think, you know, this, this puts it in maybe different, but also more stark terms, how not resilient the economy is, and how much differently business and the capital markets could behave." 

SEE ALSO: The vast majority of recently surveyed employees at McDonald's, Subway, and Pizza Hut report a lack of access to paid sick leave. A closer look at some of the nation's top retailers and food giants paints an overall grim picture.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you shouldn't judge yourself for having coronavirus anxiety, according to a therapist

• While many industries have seen dramatic reductions in their workforces as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, most of Wall Street is still at work, albeit from home.
• But the coronavirus pandemic and tough market conditions could still impact Wall Street workers, especially when it comes time for bonus pay.
• While bankers and investment professionals often rake in six-figure salaries, annual bonuses can far exceed base comp for top performers.
• Bonus pay on Wall Street could fall by as much as 40%, according to compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates.
• From getting creative with non-cash bonuses to limiting executive pay, here are some of the things that HR execs on Wall Street could when it comes time to talk compensation.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The coronavirus pandemic is having a huge impact on the US workforce. Employees across industries including airlines, hotels, restaurants, and retailers have been laid off or furloughed. But while weekly jobless claims have spiked to a record 3.3 million, those who are able to work remotely have been less impacted so far.

Wall Street, for one, is still at work, albeit from home. But employees of banks and investment firms could still feel the impact of the pandemic and the recent economic downturn. A "perfect storm" of the coronavirus pandemic and challenging market conditions could mean a hit to Wall Street employees' pay, according to Alan Johnson, managing director of compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates.

While bankers and investment professionals often rake in comfortable six-figure salaries, annual bonuses can far exceed base comp for top performers. But those bonuses are tied both to individual performance and a pool determined by how their division or firm itself is doing. 

Overall incentive-based pay, or bonuses, could fall by as much as 30% to 40% this year, according to Johnson. The consulting firm regularly forecasts compensation expectations, and it arrived at this prediction through talking to clients and doing its own analyses, Johnson said. 

"In the [2008] financial crisis, bonuses went down by 50% or more," Johnson said, "so 30% to 40%, or 35% in the middle of that range, is a significant drop but not as severe as the financial crisis." 

"But this is a big deal," said Johnson. 

To be sure, Johnson's prediction of a fall in bonuses can be attributed to more than the coronavirus pandemic. 

"There's just less revenue to go around," Johnson said. Between pressure from clients to lower fees and new, lower-cost products like ETFs gaining in popularity, many financial services firms like asset managers and hedge funds have struggled to find revenue growth.

"There is compression of revenues, and then other things become more expensive," Johnson said, from technology to developing new products to paying top talent.

"For the generic financial services firm that's doing a good but not great job, there's just less money available for compensation, particularly for average people," Johnson said.

In a recent presentation to the Financial Markets Total Rewards Group, an audience of senior financial services HR professionals, Johnson gave advice to Wall Street firms on how to manage costs and make smart decisions during uncertain times.

From keeping base pay stable and competitive to getting creative with incentive-based pay, here is some key advice Johnson gave Wall Street's HR execs.

Keep base salaries stable

In the presentation, Johnson cautioned that for financial services firms, now is not the time to reduce base salaries.

"Cutting salaries is usually what companies do when they're going to go bankrupt," Johnson said. 

"This is an industry where salaries really aren't that high," Johnson said. Base pay usually accounts for a small portion of an employee's total take-home pay, which typically includes cash and stock bonuses and other compensation.

So cutting base pay likely won't save a financial institution that much money, Johnson said.

But cutting base pay could have a big impact on morale, Johnson said. And for companies that aren't approaching bankruptcy, it likely won't save enough money to be worth the potentially damaging messaging. 

Get creative with incentive pay

Given the challenging economic conditions and the impact of the coronavirus, firms need to consider "out-of-the-box" solutions, Johnson said in the presentation. 

Whether that be deferred compensation that gets paid out over a period of years opting for stock-based compensation as opposed to cash, firms will need to get creative to keep their top talent.

For companies that can't afford large cash bonuses at the end of this year, they could offer their top performers future payouts to keep them satisfied. 

Regardless of the way firms decide to pay out their top performers, transparency is key, Johnson said. 

Minimize the damage for top performers

As relates to incentive compensation, the first thing firms should do is look at employee performance. 

Now is "not the time for focusing on average performers," Johnson said in the presentation. And in a scenario where bonus pools are reduced, firms should ensure top performers feel the impact the least.

Avoid drastic action

Wall Street firms should avoid taking premature measures like hiring freezes or immediate changes to equity compensation terms.

Johnson also said that firms should avoid "dumb" mistakes like talking about reducing medical benefits or cutting perks like office snacks to save money.

"Don't make dumb mistakes," Johnson said. "If you have a lavish office, why nickel and dime people on the free sodas?"

While cutting these small costs like office perks is one of the first things many companies will do, Johnson cautioned that it's not ultimately going to save the company enough money to be worth the potential impact on morale. 

"It's not really going to save any money," said Johnson, "and what message are you trying to send?"

Beware of the optics

2020 is not the year to award executives large bonus checks, Johnson said. 

There could be regulatory restrictions placed on compensation, and executives need to be mindful of public perception, too.

"It's going to be very politicized," said Johnson. "If you're one of the industries in the crosshairs and you're laying off thousands of people, this is probably not a great year for senior management pay." 

"You're really going to have to be sensitive to the optics," Johnson said. 

SEE ALSO: Toddler meltdowns and spilled milk. Here's how Wall Street's high-flying — now grounded — bankers are working from home.

SEE ALSO: 'People are freaking out': 6 wealth managers told us how they're handling client meltdowns as the markets tank

SEE ALSO: Barclays made $250 million in one day of trading last week as banks raked in money on market volatility

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WeWork went from a $47 billion valuation to a failed IPO. Here's how the company makes money.

• Some of the heirs to the $13.4 billion Anheuser-Busch beer fortune are now starring in a reality TV series on MTV.
• The Busches live in a 6,300-square-foot house in a St. Louis suburb that was named one of the richest towns in America.
• The family patriarch, Billy Busch Sr., has another daughter from a previous relationship named Scarlett. The pair has a contentious relationship, with Scarlett having publicly accused him of "neglect and abandonment," according to St. Louis Magazine.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Busch family that invented some of America's most iconic beers may no longer control the brewing company that bears their name, but they are still enjoying the multibillion-dollar fortune that comes from running the company for over a century.

The Busches have spent their $13.4 billion fortune on a 700-acre farm outside St. Louis, luxury vacations, expensive private school educations for their seven children, and a failed attempt to launch another brewery. The family also stars in a reality television show on MTV called "The Busch Family Brewed."

A representative for the Busch family at MTV did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on Billy Busch, Sr.'s assault charges or his relationship with Scarlett Busch, or the family's net worth, real-estate properties, or television show.

Keep reading to learn more about the branch of the family starring on "The Busch Family Brewed."

SEE ALSO: The US has a shortage of coronavirus tests, so the ultra-wealthy are paying concierge doctors to do their own

DON'T MISS: Rockstar Energy's extravagant billionaire founder Russ Weiner just sold his company to PepsiCo for nearly $4 billion. Here's how the son of a far-right talk show host built a multibillion-dollar energy drink empire.

"The Busch Family Brewed" stars one wing of the beer dynasty.

The show focuses on Billy Busch, Sr., his wife Christi Busch, and the couple's seven children — Billy Jr. (28), Haley (27), Abbey (25), Gussie (24), Grace (22), Maddie (17), and Peter (13) — according to MTV.

Billy Busch, Sr. has another daughter, Scarlett Busch, who is not a part of the show, according to The St. Louis Post Dispatch. In 1988, Busch and with ex-girlfriend Angela Whitson had a "tabloid-esque custody battle" over their then 5-year-old Scarlett, The Post Dispatch reported. A judge later awarded Busch custody of his daughter, saying that "I doubt that he will allow his daughter to stand in the way of his pursuit of transient pleasures, but he no doubt will provide competent hired care of her when he is not present," according to The Post Dispatch.

Scarlett Busch later posted on Facebook that she had experienced "neglect and abandonment" from her father, according to St. Louis Magazine. "What kind of man after dismissing his oldest daughter uses family nobility and honor as a way to shine his rusty halo in the public eye?"

The Busch family has been in the beer business since 1876.

Adolphus Busch, the great-grandfather of Billy Busch Sr., invented Budweiser, according to Forbes. Busch's father, August "Gussie" Anheuser Busch, was the CEO of Anheuser-Busch for over two decades and owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, according to The Society for American Baseball Research. The younger Busch never had any involvement in the family company.

Over 100 years later, Anheuser-Busch makes 12 different lagers, including Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, and Busch Beer, according to the company website.

The Busches were forced out of the family business in 2008.

The Busches sold 25% of Anheuser-Busch to outside investors between 1989 and 2008, diluting their stake in the business too much to stop its $52 billion takeover by InBev in 2008, according to Forbes.

But the wing of the Busch family that stars in "The Busch Family Brewed" never worked at Anheuser-Busch, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Billy Busch Sr.'s half-nephew, August Busch IV, was the company's CEO at the time of the sale, the Post Dispatch reported.

The Busches still have a $13.4 billion fortune from their time owning Anheuser-Busch.

The fortune is shared between approximately 30 members of the family, according to Forbes. The Busches were the 18th richest family in American in 2016, Forbes reported.

The family spent some of their fortune on a mansion in a St. Louis suburb that Bloomberg named one of the wealthiest towns in America. They also own a 700-acre farm outside the city.

The Busch's home is located in Ladue, Missouri, according to The St. Louis Post Dispatch. The home is 6,300 square feet and is on 4.5 wooded acres, according to The Tuscaloosa News.

Their estate outside the city has its own lake where the family can use its boats and jet skis; it also houses 50 horses and numerous chickens, Christi Busch told Us Weekly. "We're very down-home people and we work on the farm getting chicken eggs, riding horses," Haley Busch told Fox News.

With an average household income of $291,794, Ladue is the wealthiest suburb in the St. Louis area, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Ladue is also one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation, ranking No. 22 on the 2019 edition of Bloomberg's list of the wealthiest towns in the United States.

Their extended family also owns a $51 million estate outside of St. Louis.

The estate has been in the family since 1903 and was previously owned by President Ulysses S. Grant, according to St. Louis Magazine. The farm is named after Grant, according to Atlas Obscura.

The estate's main house is inspired by both Versailles and the family's German heritage, St. Louis Magazine reported in 2014. The farm is also home to the Budweiser Clydesdales and is open to the public during the summer, according to St. Louis Magazine.

The Busches also love to travel together.

Matriarch Christi Busch's Instagram account features photos of family members drinking on a yacht in Mexico, posing on a beach in Anguilla, enjoying mountain views outside a restaurant in Aspen, Colorado, and standing poolside in Palm Beach.

Athleticism also runs in the family.

Gussie Busch played football for the University of Alabama, according to The Tuscaloosa News, while Billy Busch, Jr. played for Ole Miss. Grace Busch is also a competitive showjumper, according to St. Louis Magazine.

The Busches also spent tens of thousands of dollars on each of their seven children's private school educations.

Several of the Busch children were enrolled in all-girls or all-boys schools, Christi Busch told Us Weekly. 

At least one Busch was a student at Chaminade College Preparatory School, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Tuition at Chaminade is $20,550 a year for students who do not board, according to the school's website.

Billy Busch Sr. was accused of assaulting one of his son's 11-year-old classmates in November 2017.

Busch's son and another student on the basketball team got into an argument during basketball practice when Busch allegedly grabbed the other student and pushed him into a wall, The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported.

Busch later pleaded guilty to charges of fourth-degree assault and claimed he was protecting his son from being bullied, according to The Post Dispatch.

The incident was the second time Busch has been charged with assault. In 1982, Busch was accused of reaching from his car into a restaurant's drive-thru window to hit an employee in the throat after the employee made a degrading mark about Busch's mother, The Post Dispatch reported. Busch was later acquitted at trial. 

Busch was also accused of biting a man's ear off during a street fight when he was 22, but prosecutors did not press charges, according to The Post Dispatch.

In 2011, the Busch family unsuccessfully tried to open another brewery.

The brewery, called William K. Busch Brewing Co., produced a craft beer called Kräftig before shuttering in June 2019, according to The St. Louis Post Dispatch.

"Don't count us out," Busch said in a press release at the time, according to St. Louis Magazine. "This business is in my blood. We're already considering new avenues. Stay tuned."

The family's efforts to build another new brewery on their farm are chronicled in their reality television show, according to St. Louis Magazine.

In March, the family also launched their own reality television show on MTV.

"I think we've been approached for a lot of years about doing a show," Haley Busch told Fox News. "I think just with the fascination with our family's history, but it was never the right time because we were all young. And now that we're building this business together and we're all older, I think it's a perfect time to document what we're doing."

Despite their extravagant lifestyle, the family insists that they are pretty normal.

"I think our parents always kept us very down-to-earth and we never really thought that we were different than anybody," Haley Busch told Fox News.

• Gen Z workers are getting laid off at rates nearly three times that of their older counterparts as the coronavirus outbreak shakes the United States' economy, Harris Poll found.
• Young service workers are losing more work hours than any other demographic as restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, fitness studios, and cultural institutions shutter nationwide.
• A record-shattering 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending March 21 alone, as authorities ordered nonessential businesses to close in order to slow the spread of the virus.
• The novel coronavirus has infected more than 487,000 people and killed over 22,000 worldwide, including over 1,000 Americans.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Coronavirus-related layoffs will disproportionately hurt workers in Gen Z, a new study found.

Members of Gen Z, which Pew Research Center defines as those between the ages of 7 and 22, are three times more likely to report losing their jobs or being put on temporary leave as the novel coronavirus outbreak threatens to send the United States into a recession, Harris Poll found in a survey published Thursday. Young service workers are losing more work hours than any other demographic, Harris Poll found.

Almost a third of the Gen Z workers interviewed had been put on leave by their employers or completely laid off, compared with only 13% of workers between the ages of 35 and 54, according to Harris Poll.

Less than two weeks after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, fitness studios, and cultural institutions have already begun to lay off employees. Some cities forced the closures while others shuttered voluntarily as customers embrace social distancing in an attempt to slow the virus' spread. Air travel has also ground to a halt, leaving airline and hotel employees vulnerable to layoffs as well.

An unprecedented 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending March 21 alone.

Harris Poll surveyed 2,050 adults across the country online between March 14 and 15 and March 17 and 18. The market research firm also weighed participant's responses based on their age, sex, race, education, region, and household income to make their sample more representative of the United States as a whole.

After being first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, the novel coronavirus has infected over 487,000 people worldwide and over 22,000 people have died. The US has reported at least 75,000 cases and confirmed over 1,000 coronavirus deaths. Experts say the virus could be even more widespread than the data indicates as the United States has fallen behind every other developed nation on the number of tests performed per capita.

SEE ALSO: How asymptomatic celebrities, athletes, and billionaires are getting tested for the coronavirus when you can't

NOW READ: Rockstar Energy's extravagant billionaire founder Russ Weiner just sold his company to PepsiCo for nearly $4 billion. Here's how the son of a far-right talk show host built a multibillion-dollar energy drink empire.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Traditional Japanese swords can take over 18 months to create — here's what makes them so special

• Roughly 10,000 students apply to Harvard Business School each year, but the acceptance rate is only 11%.
• Harvard was recently ranked No. 1 in the world for business and management studies in 2020 by higher-education analysts at Quacquarelli Symonds; five successful applicants told Business Insider what worked for getting in the door and what didn't.
• The managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid pinpointed three qualities shared by successful applicants, including the ability to enjoy and partake in "lively discussion in a classroom setting."
• The COVID-19 outbreak led the school to delay its deadline for 2+2 program admissions by two months, and the waitlist will remain open longer if students who were admitted are unable to attend come fall.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The latest stats on Harvard's website show only an 11% acceptance rate for its prestigious MBA program. Those are intimidating odds for the roughly 10,000 students who apply to Harvard Business School each year.

Harvard was ranked No. 1 in the world for business and management studies in 2020 by higher-education analysts at Quacquarelli Symonds and topped the Financial Times' 2020 global ranking of MBA programs — so, basically, it's very prestigious, and competitive.

In the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the school extended its application deadline for the 2+2 program by two months to June 1 and will maintain a larger waitlist than normal in case international students are unable to attend starting this fall.

If you're hoping to get a foot in the door, the best advice is often insider advice — something we specialize in at Business Insider. Read on to learn tips from the trenches about what worked and what didn't for HBS applicants who broke through the noise and were admitted.

Make your essay a 'window into your soul'

A critical component of any business school application is the personal essay — so when you're pitching to get into a school as coveted as Harvard, you need your written statement to not just shine, but sparkle and dazzle.

"At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the essays are the windows into your soul," said Patrick Mullane, the executive director of Harvard Business School Online and an HBS graduate. "They are a chance to put a personality around the numbers that will make up much of an application. It's not enough to be a great writer — although that's essential. An applicant must also be able to communicate, in a relatively short amount of space, something that makes them human."

Mullane doesn't think this "something" needs to be a tale of overcoming incredible adversity, saying that overplaying that could be detrimental — and that the writing need not be complicated.

"Good communicators use simple language and short sentences to get their point across," Mullane said. "Comedian George Burns once said, 'The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and to have the two as close together as possible.' I think that's great advice for admissions essays as well."

Read more:The ultimate guide to nailing a sales pitch that closes the deal every time

Have a novel story to tell — and tell it well

Knowing that thousands of other top-caliber candidates may be following the above advice too, the question then becomes how to give your essay the best chance to rise to the top of the heap.

Mike Rivkin, an author and owner of Silverfish Press who graduated from HBS, said that having a different story to tell than the average college student might help tip the balance when it comes to winning over the admissions committee.

Rivkin said that though his college grades and scores were "good but not exemplary" and his extracurricular activities were modest, he focused his essays on his unique experience of running charter and commercial fishing boats out of San Diego. As a Coast Guard licensed captain who earned his money for college by fishing for billfish and tuna, he recognized that he had a story to share that few other applicants could mirror.

"Looking back, I think the novelty of such a background resonated with HBS's search for diversity," Rivkin said. "The details of running an expensive fishing boat and being responsible for all related charters, fuel, crew, maintenance, and more were not part of your typical application."

He added that some favorable letters of recommendation might have helped too.

Read more:A freelancer who has pulled in a 6-figure income every year since 2010 shares the exact process he used to quit his job and become successfully self-employed

Channel authenticity

In the quest to come up with a standout story, it's important to ensure that your essay is still true to who you are.

Shaifali Aggarwal, an HBS graduate and the founder and CEO of Ivy Groupe, a boutique MBA admissions consulting company, said that communicating authentically was a key factor that helped her get selected for the program.

"I took the time to think about my experiences across the personal/extracurricular, professional, and academic realms to gain an understanding of what my unique strengths and attributes were, and then highlighted those qualities through specific examples throughout my application," Aggarwal said.

Additionally, Aggarwal connected the dots in her story so that the admissions committee could understand the choices she made and how they linked to her future aspirations.

"To further differentiate myself, I provided color on why some experiences were instrumental in shaping who I was and were meaningful to me," she said. "In doing so, I demonstrated the human aspects of myself as well as self-awareness."

Give yourself enough time to write your masterpiece

Once you've identified the authentic tale that only you can tell and are committed to delivering it "George Burns-style," be sure not to sabotage your efforts by failing to carve out enough time to actually craft it.

Kaneisha Grayson, who was admitted to HBS with a 620 GMAT score and now helps others do the same as the founder and CEO of The Art of Applying, emphasized the importance of giving yourself enough time, space, and support to write an outstanding essay, saying that many applicants dedicate too much time and energy to getting "GMAT final" while leaving themselves with just a few weeks — or even days — to work on the essay.

"The essay is the part of your application process over which you have the most control," Grayson said. "By making your essay a concise, compelling, and authentic representation of your personal and professional accomplishments, goals, and interest in joining the HBS community, you give yourself a huge advantage over people who treat the essay as an afterthought."

Camilo Maldonado, a member of HBS Class of 2017 who cofounded The Finance Twins, also focused on highlighting his unique work experience in his HBS application.

When he applied, Maldonado worked at Bonobos, a men's apparel e-commerce company, where he was promoted to chief of staff at age 25. As a result, Maldonado had a lot of responsibility working for a smaller, less structured company.

"I made sure that my recommendations highlighted the experiences I had working at a high-growth company," Maldonado said. "I knew that many of the applicants at the top business schools come from Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies, or tech giants and that my less typical work experience would help me stand out."

Get your feet wet in industry

What else can you do to up your chances of getting into HBS in addition to writing a phenomenal essay? Some HBS grads mentioned working or interning in their field — whether in traditional MBA territory, such as finance and management consulting, or areas like startups, healthcare, government, or nonprofits — before applying to Harvard's graduate business program.

Paige Arnof-Fenn, the founder and CEO of Mavens & Moguls, ticked all the boxes by being a Stanford undergrad and a self-described "good student, strong in math, did well on my GMAT — it did not hurt that my father went there too." She added to these credentials by working for two years on Wall Street as a precursor to her business school application.

"I had great recommendations from bosses, wrote good essays, and applied in the first round so felt I had a good shot to get in," Arnof-Fenn said — and she did.

Marques Torbert, an HBS graduate who's now the CEO of Ametros, also pointed to the value of working in industry before throwing his hat in the ring at Harvard Business School.

"Coming from a family background that didn't include business, finance, or higher education, I leveraged the resources and connections around myself that I already made," Torbert said.

With the help of a mentor and an alumnus of his high school, he started his career by interning and working for equity firms, where he gained a wealth of financial knowledge.

"With my drive to challenge myself, I wanted to expand my financial experience and understand the operations side of business," Torbert said.

Target these 3 characteristics

When Chad Losee, HBS's managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid, chimes in with admissions guidance, candidates for the program would be wise to listen.

Losee said successful applicants share three characteristics.

"First, they have demonstrated leadership, whether it be in an academic, professional, or extracurricular setting, and show the potential to have even more impact," he said.

"We're also looking for applicants who have analytical aptitude and appetite, are able and willing to analyze a situation and form an opinion based on that analysis, and enjoy a lively discussion in a classroom setting, a key component of our case method of learning."

Finally, Losee emphasized that the school seeks students who will engage in the HBS community and be respectful of their classmates.

"The best discussions come when there is diversity of thought, so it's very important to us that our student population reflects the global nature of business today," Losee said.

Rock your application — and then get lucky

Christine Telyan, an HBS graduate and the CEO and cofounder of UENI, a tech company in London, neatly summed up the view of many of her fellow alumni: While there are several necessary conditions for admission to HBS — strong undergraduate grades, nearly perfect GMAT scores, and interesting or competitive work experience — none on its own is sufficient.

"You need to have that fire of ambition in your gut that propels you to do things a bit out of reach," Telyan said. "You have to want to work on things that test the boundaries of business or society."

Telyan also pointed out the elephant in the room: In addition to doing everything right, you have to be extremely lucky.

"Countless capable, accomplished, ambitious applicants do not make the cut," she said. "Your profile needs to add just the right balance to the class of 900 students, which depends as much on the other 899 as it does on you.

"As with most successes in life, luck weighs heavily on why anyone is admitted to Harvard Business School, which should keep us all very grounded and humble."

This article was originally published on Business Insider August 2019.

SEE ALSO: 6 common pitfalls VCs can make working with LPs, according to an expert who's worked in venture capital for more than two decades

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $360 million.

• Nearly 4,600 students apply for admission to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business each year, according to its deputy dean for MBA programs Stacey Kole — but the acceptance rate is only just above 20%.
• And it's getting more competitive. While other full-time MBA programs saw declines in the number of applications received for the 2018-2019 school year, Booth's applications increased 3.4% from the previous admissions cycle.
• Business Insider spoke with five current students and former graduates as well as deputy dean Kole to get some insight into how to get into this prestigious program.
• One trick of the process the experts said is being able to clearly answer, "Why Booth?" They also recommended testing the Booth MBA waters in the Graham School's GSAL program first for a competitive edge.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

In recent years, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has received between 4,100 and 4,600 applications for its MBA program each year, with an acceptance rate that hovers just above 20%. But it's only getting more competitive: According to Booth's deputy dean for MBA programs Stacey Kole, who arrived at Booth in the spring of 2004, applications for the 2018-2019 school year increased 3.4% from the previous admissions cycle, while she said other full-time MBA programs saw declines in the number of applications received.

It makes sense. After all, Bloomberg Businessweek just put Booth at No. 4 in their 2019-2020 business school ranking. And while it's also the second oldest business school in the world (the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School is the oldest), Booth continues to innovate, offering new initiatives that can't help but attract applicants with varying post-MBA career aspirations.

And although the school isn't delaying application deadlines amid the novel coronavirus pandemic for Round 3 or Booth scholar admissions, the school will accept GRE/GMAT scores through July 1 given the closures of test centers at this time.

"We have options for STEM-designated concentrations, an accelerated three-year JD/MBA joint degree program, and our Civic Scholars Program for students coming from, and returning to, the social sector," said Kole. "We've also rolled out several new leadership courses that allow for one-on-one coaching and opportunities to develop into the leader you wish to be."

Sound compelling? Kole, plus five current students and grads, shared with Business Insider exactly what it takes to gain a coveted Booth acceptance letter.

Take the time to understand every component of the application and application process

Booth admits new students in the autumn quarter only and categorizes its application into three thematic focus areas: curriculum, community, and career.

"At Booth, we take a holistic approach to candidate evaluation," said Kole. "We don't pre-assign weights to application components and no single component dominates others. We seek to see the whole person, instead of just an academic record or resume bullets. We consider what you say about yourself and we listen to the insights of those you believe know you well. It is our assumption that you curated a portfolio of information to capture who you are as a person and, in keeping with that assumption, our admissions team considers everything a candidate submits (inclusive of recommendation letters) to build a full understanding of you as a candidate and assess your potential for impact with a Booth MBA."

At the time of submission, Booth asks for a GMAT or GRE score (the school does not have a preference as to which one you submit), two letters of recommendation, your academic transcripts, a professional resume, responses to the essay questions, and an English language proficiency test score, if applicable. A full overview of the admissions process is available here.

Think strategically about your application. Morgan Franklin, who applied in the fall of 2019 and will graduate in June of 2021, chose the GRE over the GMAT, for example, because she believed she'd perform better on a test less driven by math.

As a second phase of the process, if a candidate is invited to interview with Booth, they incorporate the interview report into the entire evaluation when making a final decision on a candidate.

Have a stellar answer to the question, "Why Booth?"

This year's application includes two essay prompts:

• How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals?
• Chicago Booth immerses you in a choice-rich environment. How have your interests, leadership experiences, and other passions influenced the choices in your life?

"Compelling candidates draw natural connections between their individual ambitions and how they plan to engage within the Booth community," said Kole. "The stellar applications reveal an understanding of who the candidate is, what they hope to accomplish with their talent, and why Booth is the place to make that happen."

Scott McIntosh, who applied in 2010 and graduated in 2013, spoke with current and former students to get their insights into the program, looked at the course offerings and identified classes that looked interesting to him, and reviewed the many clubs and activities available through the program. All of this information, he said, helped him make a strong case when asked, "Why Booth?"

Make your long-term career goals clear

Use the application as an opportunity to let Booth know what you hope to accomplish with your MBA.

"I come from a background in finance and want to use my time at Booth to pivot into tech and entrepreneurship," said Emily Creedon, who applied in the fall of 2018 and will graduate in June 2021. "Though this is not a totally unheard of path and objective, it's one that falls in the minority when it feels like every other person at business school is targeting consulting and banking. Booth's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship was a big reason I wanted to attend Booth. Having done my research on Polsky and the strong entrepreneurship course offerings, I was able to clearly explain what my path has been, why I'm interested in this as a new challenge, and how Booth's offerings will help me get there."

But don't worry if you don't have a specific goal in mind. "Your motivation could just be to learn more to apply to your job," added Valentina Freeman, a June 2015 Booth graduate. "You don't need an over-the-top revelation for why you need to go to business school."

Talk to current students and alum to express ongoing interest

Getting to know the Booth program and the school's culture will, if nothing else, help you connect the dots for your own MBA ambitions, but it will also demonstrate ongoing interest.

"I did not know until I was beginning my interview process how critical it is to talk to students and alum," said Franklin. "When you interview, your interviewer is going to be analyzing you to see if you've taken the time to see if Booth is the right place for you. Reading articles online about programs and experiences is great, but nothing can beat someone that has been there or is currently going through the process. Talk to admissions officers so they've seen your face or name prior to seeing your application. Schools like to see lots of touch points to gauge your interest."

Booth offers many opportunities to demonstrate interest. "We host information sessions, fairs, and other student- and alumni-hosted events in locations around the world," said Kole. "There are also virtual touchpoints, such as online live chats, webinars, and our 'Connect with a Student' tool, which is available on our website and allows applicants to connect directly with current students who represent diverse backgrounds and interests."

Test the waters and boost your resume by enrolling in Booth's certificate program

Booth offers a certificate program through the University of Chicago's Graham School, GSAL (graduate student-at-large) that helps you take Booth courses before being accepted at Booth, something both McIntosh and Freeman took advantage of.

"This was a great way to get your feet wet, explore the coursework, and get a sense of the workload before embarking on the tremendous commitment of pursuing an MBA while continuing to work full time," said Freeman, who applied for the part-time/evening MBA program around 2012. "These classes count as credits toward your degree once you are accepted into the MBA program. Including your performance in these courses can also help your application, as it's a great way to demonstrate that you're capable of thriving in the program."

McIntosh agreed that enrolling in this certification program was a great primer for his MBA. "This allowed me to get an idea of what being a Booth student would be like, and it indicated to admissions that I was serious about the program," he said. "It also helped me get a head start on my courses prior to being accepted."

Embrace and explain your application "weaknesses" when necessary

The Booth admissions process is competitive, and most, if not all, applicants have exemplary backgrounds. So, if you have a weak spot on your application, make sure you explain why.

"I came from a non-traditional background in sports media, which is quite different than many of my peers that come from traditional consulting or banking backgrounds," said Franklin. "And I thought I was going to be a dentist while in college, but my science grades determined otherwise. If you feel that it's necessary to write an addendum to your application, do it. I used that space to explain why they would see quite a few poor grades and what I learned from that experience."

Here's a full transcript of what Franklin wrote in her application addendum:

I was an English and History major, however you will see the complete pre-med course load on my transcript. I had a life-long dream of becoming an orthodontist, and was committed to seeing my pre-requisite courses through in hopes of attending dental school. Although I did competitively well on the DAT and applied, my science grades were clearly not stellar and affected my overall GPA negatively. Without my science courses, my academic performance was high, my major cumulative GPA was a 3.67. I am confident in my ability to perform at the highest academic levels. Unfortunately, it took me until graduation to realize and accept that science was not where my strengths lay, and not a career path that was right for me. So, I had to dream a new dream. Completing an MBA program is the next step to fulfilling that dream.

Age was a factor Freeman had to consider when trying to prove her value to admissions.

"I was fairly young when I applied at 24, so I knew I needed to leverage the unique experiences I was able to achieve early in my career," she explained. "I was the youngest consultant at my firm to be entrusted as a case manager and very quickly began to manage millions of dollars' worth of business. I knew I'd reached a point where I needed graduate-level training but, more importantly, I was in a position where I could connect what I learned in business school directly to my client engagements."

Don't be afraid to get personal in your essays

Kole said that it would be a missed opportunity if applicants did not use the essay to express what drives them.

"We're curious what motivates a candidate and how that influences their MBA path," she explained. "Our students have the freedom to pursue learning opportunities that will further their unique goals and, at Booth, there are endless ways they can choose to arrive at that end goal. So, it's important for candidates to help us understand how they plan to maximize their time at Booth."

Creedon wrote in her essay about a time she faced a crossroads in her life.

"I wrote about when I quit a coveted job at Goldman Sachs and how the decision has shaped me and helped me grow into the person and professional I want to become," she said. "I was deeply honest and didn't try to sugarcoat the emotions and experience. I think this helped my application stand out."

Franklin made the essay into what she describes as a personal manifesto (you can read her full personal statement here).

"It took me months to get it to its end product," she said. "I even joked with my friends and family that, if I were to die tomorrow, they could read my personal statement as my eulogy. I can look back at it and use it as a guide for what I've done and what I hope to accomplish at Booth and beyond."

Seek out "Shape the Class" recommendations from former students

Booth offers alumni, current students, and faculty the opportunity to share insights about candidates applying to Booth through their "Shape the Class" program, which is a supplementary recommendation letter that's ultimately attached to your application file but considered less formal than what's required in the full application.

James Wang, who applied at the start of 2018 and will graduate in June of 2020, explained that "Generally speaking, applicants will have their current and former managers fill out the traditional letters and will likely use current students or alumni they know to fill out one of these supplemental 'Shape the Class' recommendations."  

He had at least two alum whom he'd formerly worked with in a professional setting write these additional recommendations on his behalf, and gave them a few ideas of what to include based on projects they'd worked on and skills he'd shown in the past.

"I had a good working relationship with these alumni, and I would obviously advise applicants not to ask anyone for a recommendation who does not know much about you or that you have a negative working relationship with," Wang said.  

Freeman recommended specifically sourcing recommendations from graduates. "Strong recommendation letters help, especially if they are from someone who has finished the program, as they know what it takes to succeed," she said.

This article was originally published on Business Insider November 8, 2019. It has been updated with new information.

SEE ALSO: Here is the personal essay that got an MBA grad into the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business

READ MORE: BUSINESS SCHOOL PREP: The ultimate guides to getting into the top MBA programs in the US

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $360 million.

• Disney released a trailer for a nature film narrated by Meghan Markle before she and Prince Harry announced their split for the royal family, providing a glimpse into the kind of work the Duchess could pursue to achieve "financial independence" from the crown.
• Meghan and Harry will step back entirely from their royal duties, stop receiving public funding, forgo their HRH titles, and be able to earn their own money when their split from the royal family will officially takes effect on April 1.
• The Duke and Duchess of Sussex could take on jobs similar to those of former presidents — writing books and giving speeches — in their quest to become "financially independent," one royal commentator told Business Insider.
• Although the former actress' return to the screen is unlikely, it wouldn't be unprecedented.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Disney released a trailer for a nature film narrated by Meghan Markle before she and Prince Harry announced their split for the royal family, providing a glimpse into the kind of work the Duchess could pursue when their post-royal lives officially begin on April 1.

Meghan's part of the film, entitled "Elephant," was recorded in the UK last year before the Sussexes' split from the royal family was announced, according to The Telegraph. The Duchess was reportedly not paid for the gig.

Prince Harry has also explored non-royal gigs, having held discussions for speaking engagements at Goldman Sachs in February, Vanity Fair reported at the time. News of the couple's potential new gigs first came a week before the official start date of their "step back" from the royal family was announced. Buckingham Palace also said in a statement the Sussexes will stop receiving money from the sovereign fund and cease using their HRH titles.

Harry and Meghan first announced via Instagram and their official website on January 8 their intention to take a "progressive new role" within the royal family — starting with footing their own bills.

How will Meghan and Harry make money now?

Royal commentators told Business Insider that the royal couple will likely use book deals and speaking engagements to fund their luxurious tastes going forward.

Even though Harry has never had a job outside of his military service, it likely won't take much effort for them to start raking in multimillion-dollar paychecks. The Sussexes have "great earning potential," royal commentator and author Kristen Meinzer told Business Insider.

"We could easily compare them to any former presidents," Meinzer said. "My mind keeps going to Barack and Michelle Obama and how [they] make money. The reason I compare the two is that they're already friends with each other and I would put them on the same level in terms of fame."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will likely start receiving book offers as soon as they are cleared to generate their own income, and the value of those offers will likely be in the neighborhood of the $60 million advance that the Obamas were reportedly paid for the rights to their memoirs in 2017, according to Meinzer.

The Atlantic's Joanna Weiss theorized that the couple could leverage their massively popular @SussexRoyal Instagram account with sponsored content, but Meinzer says she doesn't expect that the couple will be hawking Sugar Bear Hair vitamins like Kylie Jenner and the Kardashians.

Will Meghan start acting again?

Similarly, "Suits" fans shouldn't get their hopes up that the Duchess will return to the small screen, according to Meinzer. "I'm not certain that that would make sense for her at this point," Meinzer said. "So much of what she seems to want to do seems to be related to diplomacy, creating a fair and more equitable world, and the environment … and it's not that you can't support those causes through acting, but they would likely want to support those causes more directly through their work."

While there's no guarantee Meghan will return to the big screen, she could continue to do voiceover work. Her involvement with "Elephant" was reported shortly after the couple's initial January 8 announcement about their intentions to "step back" from royal life, according to The Sunday Times. Her role was reportedly in exchange for a donation to the organization Elephants without Borders.

Nonetheless, it's not unprecedented for "senior royals" like Meghan and Harry — those in the top 10 in the line of succession — to have full-time jobs. Prince Harry's cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are ninth and tenth in line for the throne respectively, both pursued careers instead of doing royal engagements full time. Beatrice works at software company Afiniti, while Eugenie is the director at the London art gallery Hauser & Wirth, according to Good Housekeeping.

Harry and Meghan already have a sizeable fortune to their names, even if they delay earning money for themselves. The Duke and Duchess have an estimated net worth of $30 million from a combination of the Duke's inheritance from his mother and the Duchess's earnings from her acting career, among other income, Business Insider's Tanza Loudenback and Taylor Borden reported.

That may not be enough to support the lavish lifestyle they're accustomed to, however. The Duchess' maternity wardrobe was worth an estimated $500,000, while the acupuncture and numerology treatments she received during her pregnancy cost an estimated $11,000, Business Insider's Hillary Hoffower reported — though some of their most extravagant expenses, such as Meghan's $200,000 baby shower, were funded by the couples' famous friends (like Serena Williams, who footed the bill for the shower).

Meghan and Harry's security team may still continue to be publicly funded

Former royal personal protection officer and Director of Operations and Training at London-based security firm Trojan Consultancy Simon Morgan previously told Business Insider that the couple would need to renounce their HRH titles to have their security details withdrawn. The palace's most recent statement confirmed that Meghan and Harry will no longer use their HRH titles once their resignation is formalized this spring.

The statement continued, saying: "Buckingham Palace does not comment on the details of security arrangements. There are well established independent processes to determine the need for publicly-funded security."

Morgan told Business Insider that if Meghan and Harry were to pay for their own private security contractor, it could cost "thousands of pounds a day on a day-to-day basis, or hundreds of thousands of pounds on an annual basis" to maintain their current level of protection.

As it operates today, the entire royal family costs approximately £1 per taxpayer per year, according to the Duke and Duchess' website. Mounting criticism over the cost of their lifestyle to taxpayers may have been a driving cause behind the decision to include their goal of financial independence in their shocking January announcement, Meinzer said.

SEE ALSO: Fans are begging for Meghan Markle to land acting roles on 'The Crown,' 'Succession' and more after leaving the royal family with Prince Harry

DON'T MISS: Here's how much money Meghan Markle and Prince Harry could need to maintain their lavish lifestyle if they plan on becoming 'financially independent'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Every moment you need to see from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal wedding

• Serena Marie was one of over three million Americans who filed for unemployment the week of March 15.
• She was laid off from two jobs in the food and beverage industry in one day as part of closures mandated by the government in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 
• Like many people who were laid off, her prospects for employment in the near future are slim, as businesses remain shuttered for an unspecified period of time.
• Facing down potentially months of bills with no income, Marie turned to her landlord to see if she could negotiate rent.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On March 15th, 2020, I lost both of my jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

I was a bartender and server at two different restaurants in New York City and live off of a tipped minimum wage. Like thousands of others in the service industry, my jobs were eliminated as the city began to shut down amid a surging public health crisis.

When I began to hear about the virus, how quickly it spread, and the level of panic it was causing, I knew that it was going to affect business. At the beginning of that week, the business closures in Brooklyn started as a trickle, but I knew, eventually, I would most likely become jobless as well. That's when my stress started to skyrocket. Bills, rent, food, and other financial considerations were top of mind, living paycheck to paycheck, but of equal concern was my own health. I needed to keep working as long as possible if I was going to weather the financial storm that was coming, but I knew I was putting myself at risk for catching and spreading the virus every shift. 

Reality hit me like a brick. I got laid off from both my jobs on the same day.

When I was laid off from my jobs, I had a mix of thoughts and emotions. On the one hand I was relieved — I was no longer presented with the Sophie's Choice of choosing to work or choosing to protect my health. On the other hand, my income was completely gone. All table-service at restaurants in the city were shut down, spiking my current jobs and dashing any hope of finding another.

So I hunkered down and checked my finances, started applying for relief funds that were popping up and tried to file for unemployment. Paying rent was the biggest bill coming up and I was desperately trying to figure out how to pay it while making sure I had money for groceries and supplies needed for the upcoming months.

With all of my roommates laid off as well, we didn't have many options.

With the city nearly entirely shut down, all of my roommates had lost their jobs. We all had enough money for one more months rent, but beyond that we didn't know what to do.

One possibility was participating in what people are calling a rent strike. New York City's workforce has been shocked by the pandemic, and thousands of people are now jobless, with no new prospects in sight. The state has put an eviction moratorium in place for the time being, but many people are concerned that once it's lifted, the accrued debt will cause them to lose their homes. The goal of this strike is to get a moratorium on rent charges for the duration of the pandemic and to put pressure our government to provide landlords with mortgage relief. 

I started to see more and more posts supporting the idea and ended up sharing details with my roommates and we all agreed that this was something we needed to consider. While this route could have saved us money and potentially contribute to a long-term solution for those financially affected by the coronavirus, we determined it didn't match out situation. 

Our landlord is an older person of color in the neighborhood and we live in her family's home that they've owned for generations. This type of property owner isn't the intended target of the strike because of the personal affect it would have on her.

Our other option was to negotiate.

We were all surprised by how willing our landlord was to negotiate with us. 

We FaceTimed with her and she was slightly surprised but also extremely understanding. 

We were honest about our situation — that we did have money for one months rent but didn't have enough money for the months after that. We told her how we all lost our jobs and were unsure as to when we will be getting income again because the timeline of COVID-19 is still so up in the air. 

The topic of the rent strike was never brought up. 

The face to face interaction (through FaceTime) was crucial to the outcome because it allowed us to assess her reaction. As roommates with no other real options, we had prepared ourselves for an intense confrontation, but once we saw that she was listening and had a sympathetic attitude, we were able to take a different tone.

We never brought up how we "weren't going to pay," but focused on how we were scared to let her know we don't really have any more money coming in. We also never brought up the eviction moratorium in New York state. She actually brought up how she wasn't going to throw us out which was comforting even though we already knew that in the current moment, she technically couldn't. 

When she made her decision, she mentioned how when she heard the restaurants closed, she knew at least two of us were out of jobs, but noted that we were good tenants. We talked about how we were scared about not being able to pay but also how we wanted to work with her so we didn't pull the rug out from under her. I made the suggestion of paying half rent April and half rent May so that she would have money coming in each month at least. She heard us and decided that she wanted us to pay for April but would waive us May rent. 

She told us that we should come back to talk about our situations in June when our understanding of the job market will be more clear. 

We were all overwhelmed by her generosity.

We told her since we were going to be home so much more, we would work on spiffing up the space and the backyard and invited her to come hang out in the garden when this was all over. We hope she takes us up on it.

While our outcome was favorable, I don't think the conversation would be so easy for most other people. Getting a face-to-face, heartfelt conversation with a rental company or landlord who owns many buildings is probably much less likely than getting one with a landlord who just owns a few units. 

It's still yet to be seen how devastating COVID-19 will be for finances and housing months or years down the road.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. Here's how she makes and spends her $360 million.

• While the coronavirus pandemic is causing massive layoffs around the country, some tech companies are still hiring. PayPal is one of them.
• As more people are social distancing to avoid the spread of the virus, mobile payments are becoming more in demand.
• In 2019, PayPal ranked No. 5 on Forbes' list of the 250 best-regarded companies. This, combined with PayPal's long history in Silicon Valley, makes it one of tech's most sought-after places to work.
• We spoke with PayPal's head of technical-talent acquisition to understand the soft skills the company looks for in all their new hires.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

While many Silicon Valley startups are starting to see massive layoffs due to the coronavirus pandemic, that doesn't mean big tech is facing the same challenges. 

As the virus is leading many in the US to rethink their daily behaviors, like how they commute and pay for things, mobile payments are starting to become more mainstream. That means more hiring for some of these companies. 

Payments giant PayPal has hundreds of job openings, including in software engineering, product management, communications, and sales. And it's not just hiring at its San Jose, California, headquarters. The company is recruiting in several regions, including North and South America, Europe and the UK, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

In 2019, PayPal ranked No. 5 on Forbes' list of the 250 best-regarded companies, which measures how well firms do as employers, as well as their trustworthiness, quality of products, and social conduct.

This, plus PayPal's long history in Silicon Valley, makes it one of tech's most sought-after places to work.

While the company doesn't disclose the acceptance rate for its job applicants, a spokesperson said hiring was competitive.

The tech and payments giant was founded in 1998 by a team that included Max Levchin, the founder and CEO of Affirm, and the billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel. In 2002, the company went public and was subsequently bought by eBay, which spun off the company in 2015.

PayPal has since grown to 23,200 employees and has 50 global offices.

Business Insider spoke with Michael Kascsak, the company's global head of technical-talent acquisition at PayPal, to understand what it takes to land a job at the tech giant. 

Résumé do's and don'ts

PayPal, like most companies, lists its open roles online, and interested candidates can apply by submitting a résumé and cover letter. At this stage, PayPal looks for candidates who can clearly articulate what they're doing, what their goals are, and why they're interested in the company.

And while candidates often worry that their résumés won't be seen unless they plug in the right keywords, Kascsak advised against that notion.

"Sometimes a recruiter will look at a résumé, and all it has is a bunch of keywords on there because they think that there's an algorithm that's going to pull their résumé to the top, and that's all that they do," Kascsak said. 

That's not to say that candidates shouldn't use keywords in their résumés, but they need to be deliberate in their use. 

"You've got to be able to share what you're doing with those with the keywords," Kascsak said.

How to ace the phone interview 

If your résumé and cover letter stand out, the interview process kicks off with a phone conversation with a PayPal recruiter. During this interview, candidates typically discuss their past experiences and what they're looking for in future ones, Kascsak said.

"It's really an opportunity for you to give the recruiter your story and where you see your career going," Kascsak said. 

If the recruiter thinks the candidate is a good fit for PayPal, they offer a recommendation to a hiring manager.

The hiring manager or a member of their team will also conduct a phone interview, which is typically more focused on the candidate's expertise. 

"That's dedicated to really talking through the tangible examples of what you've accomplished, what you know, and what your expertise is," Kascsak said.

If the hiring manager thinks the candidate is a good fit for the role, that's when PayPal invites them on campus for in-person interviews. At this point, PayPal is really looking for a culture fit.

On-campus interviews

If you get invited to PayPal's campus for a day of in-person interviews, the company starts looking at more than just your technical qualifications.

"We've gotten you to the point where we know that from an expertise perspective, you are somebody we're interested in," Kascsak said. "So now we really want to get to know you as a person."

On that day, PayPal tries to keep it to four or five interviews per candidate, Kascsak said.

"We feel that if you come to our campus, you should come and meet all the people you need to meet," Kascsak said. PayPal focuses on a candidate-friendly approach, he said, with the goal of making the process as streamlined as possible.

"For those that come onto our campus, we want to make sure that it is an inviting experience for you," Kascsak said.

It is an opportunity for candidates to sell themselves to PayPal, but PayPal is also pitching itself to candidates.

"We want to make sure you understand all of the value props that we have to offer as an employer," Kascsak said.

The day often includes a tour of the office and gives candidates opportunities to ask more questions about what it's like to work at PayPal.

PayPal also has policies around diversity for its hiring process, Kascsak said.

"We want to make sure that we're creating a diverse set of candidates to give to our hiring managers," Kascsak said. "In return, we also want our candidates to be able to interview with a diverse set of hiring managers as well."

PayPal talks about diversity as "a mirror and a window," Kascsak said.

"We'd like to make sure that you're able to see inside of PayPal all of the diversity and people from all different walks of life," he said.

"But also you want to be able to see the mirror," Kascsak said. "You want to be able to see and talk to people from your background and share your thoughts and ideas with them."

The on-campus day should mark the end of the interview process, Kascsak said.

There are a few things that PayPal looks for every step of the way, no matter the type of role you're applying for. Here are some of the soft skills that will land you the job.

Demonstrate an innovative mindset

"Getting the attention of PayPal, it's showing true examples of your work," Kascsak said. Both recruiters and future teammates want candidates to showcase innovative or disruptive projects they've worked on, which demonstrate their ability to challenge and change the status quo, Kascsak said.

And PayPal pays attention to candidates who are eager to showcase these skills.

"We try to create as many opportunities for you to showcase your expertise and your abilities as possible," Kascsak said. Whether it is through LinkedIn or at meetups that PayPal organizes, candidates should take advantage of these opportunities to ground their skill sets in experiences.

"Make sure you're presenting examples, and make sure you're showing tangible results, whether it's through your résumé, through your cover letter, when you're at a meetup," Kascsak said.

For students and graduates, this could be a school project. And for professionals, it's important to demonstrate the ways you've innovated in previous roles. Doing so is a key way to stand out in a competitive job market, Kascsak said.

Leverage your network

Aside from LinkedIn and meetup networking, it is helpful for candidates to have an employee referral at PayPal.

"The employee-referral program is one of the most utilized sources of employment for any company really, when you're doing it right," Kascsak said. 

And that goes both ways, Kascsak said. His team occasionally asks PayPal employees for recommendations of candidates they should reach out to.

"Great talented people know great talented people," he said.

Don't be afraid to ask about what matters to you

Before it extends an offer, PayPal wants to make sure that both the company and the candidate think it's the right fit. And that's why Kascsak stressed the importance of asking questions.

"Every candidate has their own priorities and passions that they want with their career. So you should ask us how those fit into your goals," he said. "Any hire should always be a mutual fit, and we aim for that to happen."

Whether it's around company culture, diversity and inclusion, or even the day-to-day experience of working at PayPal, candidates should be inquisitive about the things that are important to them.

"We never want to hire someone without them having the opportunity to interview us as well," Kascsak said.

Be engaged in your community

Demonstrating a sense of community engagement is important, Kascsak said.

"We look for people that take care of themselves and take care of other people," he added.

PayPal is looking for employees who want to be involved, including in philanthropic initiatives at the company and its various affinity groups. PayPal has several affinity networks, such as groups for black employees, Latinx workers, LGBTQ team members, employees with disabilities, and women. Each network is open to all employees.

"We are very much vested in our community, and so we like people that care about their community," Kascsak said. "We always say we don't want to be guests in our own community. We want to be active participants." 

Look for internships, recent-graduate programs, and other targeted hiring opportunities

For PayPal's most junior positions, internships and recent-college-graduate programs are the two major points of entry.

The 12-week internship program is for students, and Kascsak said that on average, PayPal extends full-time job offers to between 70 and 80% of participants. 

The recent-college-graduate program is geared toward those looking for full-time work. In addition to their daily responsibilities, RGC employees are given career-development resources like mentors and buddies and networking opportunities to get them situated within the company.

PayPal also has a hiring program for veterans and a 16-week paid technology bootcamp for women returning to the workforce after a career break. 

SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley is betting $750 million that people don't want to buy stuff anymore. These 14 startups are bringing the sharing economy to sailboats, swimming pools, and luxury watches.

DON'T MISS: Payments giants like PayPal and Amex are making hundreds of startup bets to transform how we shop and pay — and it's part of a $1 billion-plus wave of VC investment

UP NEXT: Here's how to land a spot in real-estate giant CBRE's ultra-competitive sales internship program that's harder to get into than Harvard

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WeWork went from a $47 billion valuation to a failed IPO. Here's how the company makes money.