• While furloughs and layoffs continue to be a common occurrence, there are still individuals who've been working toward career advancement or have an annual review approaching that may want to advocate for a promotion or raise.
• Employees may feel anxious about asking for more money or responsibility during challenging times, so expert negotiator Alexandra Carter shared these tips for getting what you want.
• First, frame your pitch in a way that highlights the benefit to your employer; then, use open-ended questions to your advantage and don't forget to be on the lookout for body language cues. 
• You don't have to take "no" for a final answer: You can always ask for equity or the chance to be considered for a raise next year, or negotiate for more vacation time.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

With the economy in a downward trend and companies of all kinds experiencing layoffs, individuals who are still employed may, unsurprisingly, feel less comfortable asking for a raise or promotion, even if it's something they've been working toward since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

For strategies on advocating for career advancement and compensation increases even when times are hard, Business Insider turned to advice from Alexandra Carter, author of the upcoming book "Ask for More: 10 Questions to Negotiate Anything," a professor and director of the Mediation Clinic at Columbia Law School, and a world-renowned negotiation trainer for the United Nations.

Know when it's the right time to ask

Carter explained that employees who "find respectful, value-creating ways" to ask for more for themselves, even in a down market, often get the rewards that they want. And, in some instances, companies may actually be primed to invest precisely in the kinds of employees who are leading them through this moment of crisis from a position of strength, she added.

The best time to ask for something is when you have leverage, such as when "you deliver on a major project, you save a deal from disaster, [or] you help the company make its quarterly revenue number," said Carter.

If a company has instituted a blanket salary freeze, pay cuts, layoffs, or furloughs, it may not be the moment to ask for a promotion or raise in the short term. Instead, now is the time to show support and appreciation for management and focus on long-term relationship building, said Carter. The goal should be to position yourself as someone management wants to help and the first one to receive a pay or title bump when things turn around.

Do the research to define your ask

The very first thing to do is define the problem you want to solve for yourself. For instance, is the goal to get more money, or move ahead on the path toward the C-suite? 

"If the latter, asking for more money alone may not demonstrate your leadership potential," she noted. When you draft a list of your asks, remember to include both the tangibles that matter to you — the specifics of the title and salary increase — and also the intangible benefits you hope to receive, such as advancement, stability, and recognition.  

Next, it's time to frame your pitch. Once you have a list of your wants and needs, it's time to bring together the wants and needs of the other parties in this equation: your manager, leadership, and the company. To do that, Cater said you should be able to answer the question: "How can I help them achieve their needs while achieving mine, too?" 

After all, the goal is to approach the conversation of a raise or promotion with your manager in a way that underscores how the company also benefits. For example, you can share how promoting you to a more advanced position enables you to leverage your experience to help the company to an even greater degree. Another take: Offering you a raise and additional responsibilities could save the company the cost of multiple headcount positions if you can absorb the work of junior roles.

To truly make the case and advocate for yourself, take stock of everything you've accomplished for your organization and team over the last year, recommended Carter. 

"Make sure you include wins you had within the organization (for example, improving systems, training, or retention) as well as client-facing victories," she said. These can also include times you've gone above and beyond, such as providing coverage for a sick colleague or taking on additional roles and duties in the face of staff cuts.

To improve your chances of success, Cater suggested gaining insights from your network and asking colleagues about their past negotiations. Find out what they asked for and how they managed to get what they wanted.

Lay the groundwork for a successful meeting

There are two steps you can take to set the meeting up in your favor. 

First, schedule the conversation at a time that's convenient for your manager, shared Carter. 

"If you attempt to have a conversation when he/she is preoccupied, they may be more likely to decline your request," she said. 

Then, ahead of the meeting, make sure you reflect on all the possible questions that might be thrown your way during the conversation. For instance, your manager may ask:

• How did you arrive at salary $X?
• How can I sell offering you salary $X to the CEO?
• What value can you bring to the company in this new position?

Be sure to have answers written out to address each one, such as:

• A list of your accomplishments
• Research on the going market rate for a given position
• Ideas for the role and a convincing case for how your past achievements show you can deliver in this new capacity

If you're anxious about negotiating, keep these notes accessible during the meeting to help calm your nerves.

Ask open-ended questions and avoid getting defensive

Once the conversation gets going, there are two ways to modify your speech to your advantage. First, "ask open-ended questions," recommended Carter. "People who ask open-questions get more than those who don't." 

This means avoiding questions like, "Can you give me a raise?" 

"Instead, ask questions that start with, 'what' or 'how,' like: 'What can we do to get me closer to the right compensation level for this role?' or 'How have you successfully mentored other people into management [roles]?'" she explained. As the conversation progresses, keep your manager engaged with additional open-ended questions, including: "How can I help the company most this year?" and "What do you need from me to know that what I'm asking for can work out?"

The second communication strategy Carter shared is to use what she calls an "I/we ask." That means framing the conversation as follows: "Here's what I am requesting, and here's how we both benefit from it."

It's important that during the entire discussion you're paying attention to your manager's cues. "You can learn a lot from someone's tone," shared Carter, as well as their body language. Listen and look for any sign of hesitation, doubt, or annoyance. Even silence is a form of communication.

When things seem to be taking a negative turn, Carter suggested "Summarizing and acknowledging." That is, repeating back what your manager has said and acknowledging any issues they might have raised, two skills expert negotiators often rely on to minimize defensiveness and increase the chances of an arrangement both sides end up accepting, Carter explained. 

"For example, 'I hear that you're concerned about the optics of a promotion when the company is also laying people off. I know you're really invested in everyone's morale, and that's part of what makes you so effective as our leader,'" she offered.

Carter shared that she always ends these types of conversations with a recap of everything that's been discussed, what was agreed upon, and what the next steps are. Especially during a time of crisis, she emphasized remembering to thank people for their time and include well wishes about their health. 

Come prepared with other options

Even if your ask for a raise or promotion isn't approved, your options may be greater than you think, said Carter. That's why it's best to come prepared with back-up asks.

You can always ask about the possibility of a raise next year, equity, paid training opportunities to help you advance to the next level of management, or more vacation time, suggested Carter. She added that the goal is to "give your manager more than one way to say yes." 

NOW READ: Seasoned recruiters reveal the best way to network with them on social media to put yourself in the running for your dream job

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• Using a sample résumé to help you spruce up your own doesn't mean it has to be bland.
• Business Insider and career expert Amanda Augustine put together a strong sample résumé as inspiration for job seekers.
• Augustine also provided insight on what works in this particular résumé so that you tailor your own résumé to your needs.

A good résumé can be hard to find — so here's a solid sample résumé to help you get started.

After all, your résumé is your key to new and exciting job opportunities.

Business Insider and Amanda Augustine — a career expert and spokesperson at Talent Inc. — put together the following résumé for all current and future job seekers.

While résumés should be tailored to the industry you're in, the one below offers a helpful guide for entry- and mid-level professionals with three to five years of relevant work experience.

Follow these tips to make the perfect résumé:

SEE ALSO: 11 tips to help you move on from a job rejection

Include a URL to your professional online profile.

If you don't include URLs to your professional online profiles, hiring managers will look you up regardless.

Why not include your URL along with your contact information? This will prevent recruiters from having to guess or mistaking you for someone else.

Use consistent branding.

"If you have a common name, consider including your middle initial on your résumé and online professional profiles to differentiate yourself from the competition," said Augustine.

For example, decide if you're Mike Johnson, Michael Johnson, or Mike E. Johnson. Then use this name consistently, be it on LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Include a single phone number and email address.

"Choose one phone number for your résumé where you control the voicemail message and who picks up the phone," Augustine said.

The same rule applies to an email address.

Include an executive summary instead of an objective statement.

There's no point in including a generic objective about a "professional looking for opportunities that will allow me to leverage my skills," said Augustine.

It's not helpful and distracting. Ditch it.

Replace your fluffy statement with an executive summary, which should be like a "30-second elevator pitch" where you explain who you are and what you're looking for. 

"In approximately three to five sentences, explain what you're great at, most interested in, and how you can provide value to a prospective employer," Augustine said.

Use reverse chronological order.

This is the most helpful for recruiters because they're able to see what you've been doing in recent years immediately, said Augustine.

"The only time you shouldn't do this is if you're trying to transition to another career altogether, but then again, in this situation, you'll probably be relying more on networks," than your résumé, she said.

Use keywords like 'forecasting' and 'strategic planning.'

Many companies use some kind of screening process to identify the right candidates. You should include the keywords mentioned in the job posting throughout your résumé.

"Identify the common keywords, terminology, and key phrases that routinely pop up in the job descriptions of your target role and incorporate them into your résumé (assuming you have those skills)," said Augustine. "This will help you make it past the initial screenings and on to the recruiter or hiring manager."

Provide company descriptions.

It's helpful for recruiters to know the size of the company you used to work for, said Augustine.

"Being a director of a huge company means something very different than a director at a small company," she said.

You can go to the company's "About Us" section and rewrite one or two lines of the description. This should be included right underneath the name of the company.

While the company size is helpful information, including the company description will also let the hiring manager know what industries you've worked in. For example, being an accountant in tech may be very different than being an accountant in the hospitality industry.

"As with most things on a résumé, the company description should be tailored based on the professional's goals," she said. "If you're looking to switch industries, your focus may be on the company size — assuming it's similar to your goals — and less on discussing the various products your company sells."

Do not list achievements in dense blocks of text.

Recruiters receive so many résumés to scan through at a time, so make it as easy as possible for them to understand why you're perfect for the job. Dense blocks of text are too difficult to read, said Augustine.

Under each job or experience you've had, explain how you contributed to or supported your team's projects and initiatives.

"As you build up your experience, save the bullets for your bragging points," said Augustine.

Quantify your achievements.

"Quantify your major accomplishments and contributions for each role," Augustine told us.

This can include the money you saved or brought in for your employer, deals closed, and projects delivered on time or under budget. Do not use any more than three to five bullet points.

Format your Accomplishment as result-and-then-cause.

A good rule is to use the "result BY action" sentence structure whenever possible. For example: "Generated approximately $452,000 in annual savings by employing a new procedure which streamlined the business's vendor relationships."

Use white space to draw the reader's eyes to important points.

Recruiters do not spend a lot of time scanning résumés, so avoid dense blocks of text.

"The key is to format the information in a way that makes it easy to scan and recognize your job goals and relevant qualifications," Augustine told us.

Don't use crazy fonts or colors.

"Stick to black and white color," said Augustine. As for font, it's best to stick with the basics, such as Arial, Tahoma, or Calibri.

Do not include pronouns.

Augustine says you should never write your résumé in third person because everyone knows you're the one writing it (unless you go through a professional resume writing service).

Instead, you should write it in first person, but do not include pronouns. "It's weird to include pronouns, and it's an extra word you don't need," she said. "You need to streamline your résumé because you have limited real estate."

Do not include images.

"Avoid adding any embedded tables, pictures, or other images in your résumé, as this can confuse the applicant-tracking software and jumble your résumé in the system," said Augustine.

Do not use headers or footers.

It may look neat and concise to display your contact information in the header, but for "the same reason with embedded tables and charts, it often gets scrambled in an applicant tracking system," said Augustine.

List education at the bottom.

Unless you're a recent graduate, you should highlight your work experience and move your education information to the bottom of your résumé, said Augustine.

Never include anything about your high-school years.

Don't say 'references upon request.'

Every recruiter knows you're going to provide references if they request it so there's no reason for you to include this line.

Again, remember that space on your résumé is crucial so don't waste it on a meaningless line, Augustine told us.

Vivian Giang wrote a previous version of this article.

• A Seattle-based venture group surveyed the region's largest companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Costco to find out how they are planning to return employees to offices.
• The tips are included in a "toolkit for reopening the office and getting back to work."
• See the full guide below and visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.

A group led by Seattle-based venture firm Madrona Venture Group surveyed local employers including Microsoft, Amazon, Costco, Redfin, Alaska Airlines and more to create a guide to help smaller companies plan to reopen offices amid the coronavirus crisis.

Dubbed the "toolkit for reopening the office and getting back to work," it provides a step-by-step guide to planning for your company's return to the office. 

Here's the full guide:

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's CEO and CFO explained all the ways that the pandemic has affected the $1.3 trillion tech titan's business — and how it could change things going forward

The guide includes both broad mandates and specific resources.

Even when the time comes to reopen workplaces, employers will have to take many precautions until a vaccine is developed and widespread testing is available.

For now, remote work should always be the first choice.

Ultimately, employers should take approach reopening offices as a three-step process.

1. Carefully planning the return
2. Preparing the office to ensure safety and physical distancing
3. Preparing employees through communication and training

First, the planning phase...

Are enough employees willing to return to the workplace? Is the physical office capable of accommodating new social distancing and cleaning policies? These are questions employers should ask themselves.

One of the first steps is establishing a "task force" to plan the return that includes representatives from legal, HR, and facilities, as well as key exec leadership.

Come up with a plan for who should return to work, when. It's best to take a tiered approach.

Building employee trust during the process is key, and the best way to do that is through "early, consistent, and transparent communication."

To prepare the office, consider things like workplace PPE and how to screen employees.

Employers should consider providing personal protective equipment to all on-site employees, which could include re-useable masks, hand sanitizer and antiseptic hand wipes, infrared thermometers, and gloves.

In the office, employers should limit or close communal areas, such as shutting down food service areas and gyms, and start "robust cleaning procedures."

Employers should work closely with building management to ensure cleaning staff are adequately trained and that policies about public areas are aligned.

Help employees with physical distancing through measures such as floor marking, physical barriers such as plexiglass for IT teams, and removing extra seats.

Employers should restrict group sizes to less than five or 10 people and eliminate or limit visitors. Consider restricting travel and ask employees who travel to higher risk areas to self-quarantine for 14 days after they return.

Providing on-site screening is considered a best practice for reopening offices.

Consider tracking meeting times, dates and attendees and storing the information for 28 days. (Check local guidances as this guide contains information specific to Washington state.)

Screen everyone the first time they enter the building each day.

Create a protocol for what to do if an employee has COVID or COVID-like symptoms, including notifying anyone who may have come into contact with them at work.

Importantly, make sure employees feel comfortable self-identifying any symptoms.

Now for the third phase: Preparing employees.

Provide training on topics like how to spot and self-report COVID-19 symptoms, how to take care of personal protective equipment, and physical distancing.

Trainings can happen through live-webinars, video series, or one-on-one meetings. Consider anonymous surveys to allow employees to offer honest feedback on if they are ready to go back to a physical work environment, and continue surveying employees once they've returned.

Provide at least weekly COVID response team updates.

Communicate processes and expectations for returning to work, such as changes to work flexibility or benefit policies and workplace guidelines.

Consult legal counsel to understand privacy regulations.

Information about employee illnesses, for example, should be treated as confidential medical records and stored separately from personnel files.

Importantly, be flexible and stay up-to-date.

• Many jobs that require a college degree or higher are set to grow rapidly in the next decade.
• Using employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the 20 jobs that typically require at least a bachelor's degree that are expected to have the highest employment growth rates between 2018 and 2028.
• Physician assistants and information security analysts top the list.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nurse practitioners, information security analysts, and actuaries all require specialized education at a college or graduate level, and the US economy is set to add thousands of new jobs in these and other fields over the next decade or so. 

Every two years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases employment projections for the United States. These estimate how many people are likely to be employed in various jobs over the next decade.

The most recently released projections cover how employment is expected to change between 2018 and 2028. The projections also include typical educational requirements for each job. Using those projections, we found the 20 jobs that require a bachelor's degree or higher that the BLS projects will have the fastest employment percent growth rates over the decade.

Here are the jobs, along with their median annual salaries as of May 2019, the most recently available data:

SEE ALSO: 33 high-paying jobs for people who don't like stress

DON'T MISS: 14 jobs requiring a bachelor's degree that might not be around in 10 years

20. Veterinarians: Employment is projected to rise from 84,500 in 2018 to 100,100 in 2028, an 18.4% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $95,460

Typical educational requirement: Doctoral or professional degree

19. Athletic trainers: Employment is projected to rise from 31,100 in 2018 to 37,000 in 2028, an 18.8% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $48,440

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

18. Interpreters and translators: Employment is projected to rise from 76,100 in 2018 to 90,700 in 2028, a 19.2% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $51,830

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

17. Orthotists and prosthetists: Employment is projected to rise from 9,100 in 2018 to 10,900 in 2028, a 19.8% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $68,410

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

16. Postsecondary nursing instructors and teachers: Employment is projected to rise from 69,000 in 2018 to 82,800 in 2028, a 20.0% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $74,600

Typical educational requirement: Doctoral or professional degree

15. Actuaries: Employment is projected to rise from 25,000 in 2018 to 30,000 in 2028, a 20.1% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $108,350

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

14. Market research analysts and marketing specialists: Employment is projected to rise from 681,900 in 2018 to 821,100 in 2028, a 20.4% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $63,790

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

13. Physical therapists: Employment is projected to rise from 247,700 in 2018 to 301,900 in 2028, a 21.9% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $89,440

Typical educational requirement: Doctoral or professional degree

12. Marriage and family therapists: Employment is projected to rise from 55,300 in 2018 to 67,700 in 2028, a 22.3% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $49,610

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

11. Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors: Employment is projected to rise from 304,500 in 2018 to 373,100 in 2028, a 22.5% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $46,240

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

10. Postsecondary health specialties teachers: Employment is projected to rise from 254,800 in 2018 to 313,900 in 2028, a 23.2% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $97,320

Typical educational requirement: Doctoral or professional degree

8 (tie). Operations research analysts: Employment is projected to rise from 109,700 in 2018 to 137,900 in 2028, a 25.6% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $84,810

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

8 (tie). Applications software developers: Employment is projected to rise from 944,200 in 2018 to 1,185,700 in 2028, a 25.6% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $107,510

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

7. Mathematicians: Employment is projected to rise from 2,900 in 2018 to 3,600 in 2028, a 26.0% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $105,030

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

6. Genetic counselors: Employment is projected to rise from 3,000 in 2018 to 3,800 in 2028, a 27.0% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $81,880

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

According to the Labor Department's O*NET occupational database, genetic counselors assess patients' risks of genetic conditions and disorders.

5. Speech-language pathologists: Employment is projected to rise from 153,700 in 2018 to 195,600 in 2028, a 27.3% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $79,120

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

4. Nurse practitioners: Employment is projected to rise from 189,100 in 2018 to 242,400 in 2028, a 28.2% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $109,820

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

3. Statisticians: Employment is projected to rise from 44,400 in 2018 to 58,000 in 2028, a 30.7% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $91,160

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

2. Physician assistants: Employment is projected to rise from 118,800 in 2018 to 155,700 in 2028, a 31.1% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $112,260

Typical educational requirement: Master's degree

1. Information security analysts: Employment is projected to rise from 112,300 in 2018 to 147,700 in 2028, a 31.6% increase.

Median annual salary in 2019: $99,730

Typical educational requirement: Bachelor's degree

• Like many other companies trying to adapt to a "new normal," international luxury brand, Bulgari, is thinking of new ways to bring it's usually in-store experience, online.
• Deeper in the company, the already global brand is working to keep its employees connected and business moving through technology like video conferencing, instead of traveling.
• Since moving to remote working, CEO Jean Christophe Babin has noticed more efficiency and a better ability to engage with teams that he was rarely able to meet with.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Bulgari customers have temporarily moved online, but for a huge amount of its management, design, marketing, and operations staff, remote working will be permanent. CEO Jean Christophe Babin is excited about it.

"Covid-19 has changed how we will work at Bulgari forever," he said.

Babin is responsible for the full portfolio at the company — jewelry, watches, fragrances, accessories, and hotels. Before the virus, he was constantly in transit between the company's three headquarters and key markets around the world.

Typically he has meetings about watches and fragrances in Switzerland, accessories in Tuscany, and jewelry and hotels in Rome. Then there are industry conferences and big-budget product launches — often long, glamorous soirees after dark. 

Right now, his life is mapped out in an online calendar. No contingency plans needed for delayed flights or fatigue after a late event.

Like Babin, Bulgari teams across the world are dialing into strategy and product meetings, which are actually proving more productive than if they had all traveled to be in one room.

"Digital meetings are definitely more focused, there is more listening, everything is more efficient," Babin said.

He's also finding he is closer to every part of the business on a day to day basis.

"I can now attend any session I want and there is instant feedback which makes decisions so quick," Babin said. "I am also spending about five hours a day checking in with staff across the company that I rarely meet. I could never dream of being able to do that before now."

Learning to provide a luxury experience outside of a physical retail location

While Babin says there has been zero disruption to management — maybe even an improvement in making product decisions — these products still have to be sold, and online is only one, developing marketplace. 

Personal selling is hugely important when dealing with fine jewelry, watches, and diamonds, and Bulgari occupies some of the most expensive retail real estate in the world. Babin said it's too soon to comment on whether there will be closures, but there will definitely be changes to the store experience after lockdown ends.

"I expect us to limit customers to two at a time in the showroom," he said.

Unlike many retailers, social distancing measures could prove popular with the Bulgari customer and become a permanent change. Shopping for high-grade diamonds can require a certain level of privacy and quiet. 

While footfall in China has bounced back, it's difficult to gauge whether customers in the West will be as confident. This uncertainty is focusing minds across the luxury industry on e-commerce.

Digital storytelling is increasingly important for luxury brands trying to reach customers from a distance. If more of us start to work from home, it will become critical to connect with their target market and replicate the brand experience you get in-store, online.

Bulgari is putting time into building communications that bring its products to life online and choose models that speak to the high-spending-millennial customer. "We carefully select models who have influence in their communities," Babin said.

Continuing to grow amidst an uncertain future

Bulgari hotels also occupy sites in some of the most expensive cities in the world. According to Babin, building out its portfolio is a focus over the next five years with one under construction in Paris and two at planning stages in Moscow, Russia and Tokyo, Japan.

As we contemplate a new reality of remote working and maybe fewer vacations, Jean is confident in the resilience of the Bulgari hotel guest and there are no plans to abandon the projects at this time.

"Like our jewelry and watches, we want the memory of staying at a Bulgari hotel to last a lifetime," Jean said. "We have very little corporate stays so we will not be impacted by reduced company budgets or travel plans."

While the way we work and shop might have changed forever, the values of a brand and a boss often become more entrenched in a time of crisis.

"Fine watches and jewelry represent emotive, sacred life events like a special birthday or a marriage," Babin said. "In such an anxious and destabilized world, these pieces are reminders of the good moments, the important moments." 

As CEO of a luxury brand portfolio, with teams spread across the world, Babin refers to himself as the conductor and it is their job to play the music. But how exactly does he be the best conductor?

"By listening," he said, "I am demanding but have an open mind and there is always space for contradiction."

SEE ALSO: Companies are seeing unexpected benefits to remote work, like better meeting attendance and manager support for employees

Join the conversation about this story »

• As some parts of the US slowly start to reopen, more employers are developing plans for a return to work. 
• But business operations won't look the same and many offices will have to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines for the foreseeable future. 
• Business Insider has compiled a list of tips from experts on how to safely and efficiently reopen your office. 
• You can find more information on reopening your business by subscribing to BI Prime content.

Some states are slowly beginning to reopen, and employers are beginning to think about how to safely return to the office. But employers will likely have to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines for the foreseeable future. 

According to Phase 1 of the White House's reopening guidelines, employers must close common areas, enforce strict social distancing measures, and regularly disinfect their workspace. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also asking employers to make changes. This includes abstaining from handshakes and remaining at least six feet apart. 

While reopening your business may provide much-needed financial relief, it can also be stressful. If you're struggling with where to begin, we've compiled a list of tips from experts on how to reopen your workplace safely and efficiently. 

How to keep your employees and customers safe after reopening: The action plan employers should follow when reopening their offices to ensure the safest and smoothest transition possible

Here's how to protect your team's health:Disaster recovery experts and IT specialists offer 8 steps companies should take before reopening the office to protect their team's health and business' safety

VR as a training tool: How companies can use virtual reality to train their managers to handle coronavirus at work before reopening offices

Coronavirus testing 101: What companies need to know about stocking up on coronavirus tests for employees before reopening offices

Must-have personal protective gear for the workplace: The action plan employers should follow to secure protective equipment for staff ASAP as they consider reopening their offices

SEE ALSO: Here's how long it will take the US economy to reopen, and to recover

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence

Working from home doesn't mean that you can't still bond with your coworkers.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has forced thousands of US companies to go completely remote, but that hasn't stopped teams from finding creative ways to connect with one another. The process of introducing employees to a company's culture begins with onboarding, and teams are discovering creative ways to introduce workers to their colleagues from the start.

From Zoom happy hours to virtual retreats, Business Insider compiled a list of some of the most impactful ways companies are building up their office cultures in the age of coronavirus.

Business Insider regularly interviews top business leaders who are propelling companies to success during the pandemic. You can read them all by subscribing to BI Prime.

Virtual onboarding

SEE ALSO: THE RACE TO REOPEN: A comprehensive guide for offices to safely and efficiently bring back workers

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Pikes Peak is the most dangerous racetrack in America

• It's illegal to sell marijuana in Washington, DC, but businesses can still give it away for free. 
• Two entrepreneurs used that loophole to start their own "art gallery" in which they sell paintings made by their dog, and include a free marijuana "gift" with each purchase.
• However, another technicality is causing the art gallery to close down because of the coronavirus — unlike traditional marijuana dispensaries, art galleries are not considered essential businesses in Washington.
• View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.

Would you buy a painting made by a dog?

What if it came with some weed as a free gift?

Welcome to District Derp, an art gallery in Washington, DC, with a couple quirks.

All the artwork is painted by Sudo, a 4-year-old Alaskan Klee Kai. And each painting comes with a "gift" — an amount of marijuana proportional to the cost of the painting. The gallery's menu ranges from a $55 painting with a 3.5-gram gift to a $330 painting with a 1-ounce gift.

In 2014, Washington voters approved the recreational use of marijuana in a ballot initiative known as Initiative 71, or I71. But it's still illegal to sell marijuana in the nation's capital.

So Washington businesses like District Derp operate in a legal gray area: They can't sell weed directly, but they can give it away.

The confusion exists partly because the federal government weighs in on the city's budget. In 2015, after Washington voters approved Initiative 71, a Republican lawmaker threatened to delay the enacting of the law if it wasn't modified. 

The Maryland Congressman, Andy Harris, included a rider in the federal budget, which eventually became law, essentially forbidding Washington to spend any city money to regulate marijuana.

But his efforts to stifle legalization resulted instead in a loophole: Trading weed for money is against the law, but "gifting" it alongside a purchase of comparable value is not. 

This is why District Derp calls itself an art gallery — not a dispensary. Other similar outlets sell food or clothing alongside cannabis gifts. 

"Part of the reason why we were able to link cannabis and Sudo's art is that there is no set value on art. Art can be worth anything to anyone," District Derp co-owner Anais Hayes told Business Insider Today.

Legally, the gallery can transfer less than an ounce of marijuana to adult customers without payment.

"There can be no monetary value assigned to the marijuana. There can only be value assigned to the product they are selling that the marijuana comes with," Meredith Kinner, a partner in a Washington law firm that specializes in marijuana law, told Business Insider Today.

In the confusion following the passage of Initiative 71, Hayes and Christopher Licata, her fiancee and CEO of the gallery, found opportunity. The sketchy situations marijuana buyers often find themselves in inspired them to build a business that emphasizes customer safety and experience.

"We do tests for every possible thing that could be unsafe to the consumer. But going beyond that, we also want to think about your physical safety," Hayes said.

For a business that doesn't technically trade in weed, District Derp takes pride in its quality control and concern for the customer.

"We aren't looking at just, is this good cannabis?" Licata said. "We're looking at, is this the highest-quality cannabis available here? Is this the highest-quality cannabis for this particular person?"

But if District Derp's business model was built on a legal technicality, it's in danger because of one, too.

Because of the coronavirus health crisis, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser closed all nonessential businesses in the city through May 15. That means medical marijuana dispensaries remain open, while "art galleries" such as District Derp are closed.

In April 2019, Bowser introduced a bill that would have legalized recreational marijuana and applied revenues from taxes to pay for housing programs.

But that effort was halted when the $1.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress in December included the same rider prohibiting the city from regulating marijuana sales. That leaves companies like District Derp with no regulatory support until September at the earliest. Kinner, the Washington attorney, said that it's hard to grow a business in the midst of such uncertainty. 

"It's really important that we allow companies that have tried to operate in the market to have a pathway to full legality," she said.

Before the closure, Hayes and Licata noticed a pandemic-related uptick in sales.

"With the panic people tend to buy things up and so in a panic they have been coming to us to stock up for the foreseeable future," Hayes said.

Getting their dog Sudo to paint, meanwhile, took some effort. Licata said he had to design the paintbrush himself.

"My friend bet me that I couldn't teach Sudo to paint," he said. "It just kind of gave us that springboard into, well, if we can connect this to something else that everyone loves, well then we can put them together, and it would make everyone really happy. And I think it's done so."

SEE ALSO: A tech company engineered drones to deliver vital COVID-19 medical supplies to rural Ghana and Rwanda in minutes

DON'T MISS: How a father-and-son team from Spain make oak wine barrels that sell for $670 apiece

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

• Bonnie Castillo, RN, is executive director of National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, with more than 150,000 members.
• Castillo says the federal government has failed to properly protect and support frontline workers.
• Of the four COVID-19 legislative packages passed, none has earmarked funds for healthcare worker personal protective equipment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Today is International Nurses Day, which happens to fall during the World Health Organization's "International Year of the Nurse and Midwife" and at the culmination of Nurses' Week in the United States. While this nexus of nurse-centric calendar dates should be a day of great honor for nurses, hundreds of my colleagues from around the world, who were caring for their patients and spending time with their families just a few short months ago, will not be here to see it.

They will not be here to see it because they have lost their lives on the front lines of COVID-19 — and not just by succumbing to the virus, but also due to a complete disregard for their health and safety by governments and employers. 

As of yesterday, more than 100 registered nurses in the United States — including six members of my union, National Nurses United — have passed away. Noel Sinkiat will miss his dream retirement motorcycle trip. Celia Yap Banago won't make it to a celebration marking her 40-year-anniversary at her hospital. Karla Dominguez's pediatric patients, or her "kids" as she called them, are now without their registered nurse "mom." Jeff Baumbach will no longer be sharing any life lessons with his daughter, and Helen Gbodi and Paul Anthony Camagay will never again care for their patients.

Nurses in America have been fighting since January for optimal personal protective equipment (PPE) because we never wanted to list off our dead colleagues. It's May, and we still don't have that PPE in our hands. So we have spent our Nurses Week in America standing up at events all across the country, from a protest at the White House on May 7, to a 1,000-nurse online vigil in honor of our fallen colleagues tonight, May 12, on International Nurses Day. 

Our federal government is failing us, and we demand change. There have been four COVID-19 legislative packages passed, and Congress has not earmarked any funds for healthcare worker PPE in any of those packages. In our profit-driven healthcare system, nurses know our corporate health care employers direct money toward their bottom line, not toward a safe workplace. So we demand that COVID-19 funding go toward protecting nurses and healthcare workers so we can protect our patients, not toward protecting hospital profits, at the expense of our lives.

We also demand that President Donald Trump fully invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up production for badly needed PPE, which he has still not done. And we call on the Occupational Safety and Health administration to pass an emergency temporary standard on infectious diseases (to mandate that our employers give us the highest level of protections) and the CDC to strengthen its guidelines for health care facilities, not keep weakening them.

Nurses also need to protect our families. Some of us have moved into RVs or hotel rooms to protect our loved ones from exposure to COVID-19, given our lack of protections at work. We demand employers that haven't done so already cover housing and childcare costs for nurses. We have also been told to use our sick and vacation time to cover time off for COVID-19 infections we contracted at work. We demand that our COVID-19 infections are automatically eligible for workers' compensation.

And the public health infrastructure in this country must be strengthened to include sufficient staffing, supplies, and space for robust surveillance, testing, case isolation, and contact tracing to ensure that the virus is effectively contained.

Tonight, we will pay tribute to our fellow nurses who have died on the front lines of COVID-19 (we invite the public to join us for a livestream of our vigil at National Nurses United's Facebook page).

But honoring the dead is not enough. To quote labor activist Mother Jones, we must also "fight like hell for the living." To that end, we invite people across the country to stand with us and take action in helping us achieve our demands by visiting protectnurses.org.

In this year, week and day that is dedicated to nurses, we demand our employers and government stop calling us "heroes," and instead act to protect our lives. Platitudes are meaningless — and even insulting — without protections.

Bonnie Castillo, RN, is executive director of National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, with more than 150,000 members.

SEE ALSO: I'm the CEO of a major nonprofit, and I caught COVID-19 — and still had to lead my team through the pandemic. This is what the biggest test of my career taught me about leadership and tough choices.

NOW READ: Here's what to do if you are uninsured during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to 2 healthcare providers

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship

• Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is advising major corporations on how to navigate the novel coronavirus pandemic. 
• With more than 90 offices worldwide and 21,000 employees, Boston Consulting Group is among a growing list of consultancies that revamped internships and full-time positions in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 
• Rich Lesser, the firm's global CEO and chairman, shared some insights on how large corporations and small business owners can adapt during the coronavirus pandemic. 
• Lesser also gave his take on how the novel coronavirus will impact the consulting industry long-term. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered major setbacks and severed supply chains, but it also serves as an opportunity for companies to innovate the way we work. 

That's according to Rich Lesser, the global CEO and chairman at Boston Consulting Group, who recently shared with Business Insider the key skills leaders need to remain resilient through any crisis. Lesser joined BCG in 1988 as a consultant advising organizations on leadership, strategy, operations, and large transformation projects.

Before he was appointed CEO in 2013, Lesser served as the head of the firm's New York metropolitan division and the chairman of North and South America for 12 years. And after more than 30 years of consulting experience, Lesser said that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to coronavirus response, but he remains confident that businesses can bounce back from the pandemic.

"When people are under stress and organizations are under stress, there's a tendency to hunker down and just focus on the here and the now," he said. "But preserve a sense of optimism about a better day and keep a spark of creativity alive — even at a time where much of the organization is focused on near-term execution."

Business Insider recently caught up with Lesser to discuss what companies should be doing right now in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and how he predicts this crisis will impact the consulting industry. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A plan for reopening

Weng Cheong: Can you walk me through the short- and long-term strategies companies should have in place during the pandemic? 

Rich Lesser: There are two elements to that — what you do in the short-term and what you'll do in the months to come, maybe one to two years ahead. In the short-term, the most important focus for companies right now is to find a way to sustainably flatten the curve, keep people safe, and do it in a way that allows for some economic activity. That requires close coordination between businesses, government officials, and public health officials.

It also requires a lot of effort from individual companies to measure the effectiveness of the procedures they've put in place, to make sure they're creating workspaces that have proper distancing, and conference rooms that are laid out and sized appropriately for the number of people in them. You have to maintain a safe workspace for both employees and customers. 

In the coming months, you should expect customers and consumers to be behaving differently. We can't assume that the new reality coming out of this pandemic will be the same as the current behaviors that people are exhibiting online. People are concerned for the cost and value of things given the mounting economic pressures in today's climate. And frankly, many will have a heightened level of anxiety, particularly when it involves interacting in public environments like a retail store, a restaurant, or an airport. All those elements will feed into the new dynamics between how businesses and customers interact. 

We'll have more emphasis on digital transformation initiatives at companies. I think there's a much heavier responsibility now for companies to communicate to the broader public, and to the world, about how they're living their purpose during an extraordinarily difficult time. 

Building new supply chains

Cheong: How will businesses and supply chains be impacted? And how should companies adapt? 

Lesser: Oftentimes, resilience does not just come from what you planned in advance, but how quickly in the moment, relative to your competitors, you can interpret what's going on and act on it. In times of change, the old rule-of-thumbs often don't work until you have more intelligence both in systems, and in the input from informed decision-makers in place.

First, I think the relocalization of supply chains, robotics, and technology will accelerate the trend that was already in progress, which we're trying to get supply chains and capabilities closer to market when you're thinking about critical health supplies during the pandemic and beyond.

Secondly, having more flexibility and diversity in those supply chains is another element of redundancy — as we've seen that in past crises as well as in this one. Third, the investment of AI and data intelligence will allow you to make quicker decisions. 

For small business owners, staying connected is key 

Cheong: What advice do you have for small business owners? 

Lesser: Apart from my concerns around how this pandemic is impacting the course of human health, people, and their families, I am so worried about the pressures that small businesses are facing. Many of them have seen their profits go to zero overnight and don't have the resilience or money in their balance sheets to withstand this. Obviously, take advantage of the lifeline that the government has thrown, and I really hope that we'll soon see an increase in the amount of loans available to small businesses. 

Continue to communicate with each other. I would also encourage them to still do their best to stay actively communicating with their customers. Maintain the commitment to your customers and your employees because you do want them back as soon as businesses start to pick back up. 

I think the communication part is hard because if you've been operating a certain way for a long time, that life is hard to disrupt. I would also encourage small business owners to keep that hope alive. 

Cheong: How can digital transformation play a role for small business owners now? Where are the windows of opportunity for them to innovate during the pandemic? 

Lesser: I think anything these small businesses can do to adapt to their surroundings, I'd encourage them to try. For some businesses, it might mean using delivery apps. For others, it might mean connecting with their customers differently online. We've seen this in China. There's some great stories about how these companies, both big and small, were able to shift overnight. Now, Chinese consumers are more digitally active. In a sense, customers are the ones who are more ready to change their behaviors. 

How the coronavirus pandemic will impact the consulting industry 

Cheong: How will the pandemic impact the consulting industry? 

Lesser: We'll shift in the kind of work to some degree. When companies are under immense near-term pressure, some of the work shifts will be to help companies adapt now to the problems that they're facing right now. Whether it's adjusting their business model or looking at their cost structures, we'll certainly see an acceleration of that portion.

We will also see an increased emphasis on the term "digital." We're all working remotely. We're teaming up in different ways. There are going to be more conversations around how we can operate more effectively in digital transformations. We've talked about our need to build bionic companies, but combining digital and AI tools allows for more agile practices.

Customer behavior and the supply chain will change as well. We really had to look at the business model for resilience and adapt to a very different set of customer behaviors that we'll likely see in many sectors of the economy than we did before. I think that would be a huge priority for many businesses.

Cheong: Do you think there will be a higher or lower demand for consultants after this crisis? 

Lesser: If I'm judging from the last two crises — in the short term, there's often a decreased demand as companies are feeling enormous pressure and there's a tendency to slow things down. A quite large percentage of our work as consultants is continuing even as we've adapted to very different ways of working ourselves. We use to be physically together all the time by visiting clients on-site, but now we can't do that. 

At BCG, we're helping companies navigate complex changes and helping them prepare for a very different and often difficult world. Our clients need to adopt to a new reality. They need to get ready for that. 

Cheong: Do you think the pandemic will change the culture and the way consultants do business? 

Lesser: Yes. We're learning that you can get a lot of work done without being physically co-located in the same room. A fully remote workforce that we're functioning on right now isn't a sustainable model, but the ratio of the amount of travel a year from will definitely be adjusted. I think that the industry will be going through change that's positive in multiple dimensions. 

SEE ALSO: The CEO of Boston Consulting Group shares the 4 most important skills he says leaders need to build a resilient team that can survive any crisis

SEE ALSO: Jobs for thousands of young consultants are being upended. From delaying start dates to cutting internships, here's what 8 top firms, like Deloitte and McKinsey, are doing.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

• Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, licensed clinical social worker, mental strength coach, and international bestselling author.
• Some people are excited as regions in the US being to reopen after lockdown, but many others are concerned about what a 'new normal' may look like.
• Morin says fears about the end of the shutdown may stem from concerns for physical safety and uncertainty about how society could change.
• To overcome these uncertainties, Morin recommends making a plan that prioritizes your mental and physical health, having multiple streams of income, and adopting healthy coping skills.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As some states begin to allow businesses to reopen, many people feel relieved to be able to start settling into a "new normal." But not everyone is experiencing the same sense of comfort. Others are fearful about life returning to business as usual.

There are several reasons why the end of lockdown might be anxiety-provoking for some individuals.

SEE ALSO: People 'quarantine bragging' on social media could be hurting your mental health. Here are 3 ways to limit its impact.

READ MORE: 1 in 5 kids in China's Hubei province showed depression symptoms after quarantine. Here's what parents can do to help their children avoid this.

They're concerned about physical safety

For the past couple of months, the media has constantly warned us about rising death tolls, ventilator shortages, and community spread. And many healthcare officials continue to warn us that opening up too soon could be disastrous.

So there is much to be concerned about safety as shelter-in-place orders are lifted. How do we stop coronavirus from spreading? And how do we help vulnerable populations stay safe? At this point, there are more questions than answers.

They're anxious about what the "new normal" might be like

There's a lot of speculation about what the future might hold. Will we sit one seat apart on airplanes? Will we be wearing masks everywhere? Will all of our gatherings be limited to a small number of people? Will large events ever be held again? 

There's a lot of uneasiness about how society will operate in the post-coronavirus era. Change is hard — especially when you have little control over it.

They've enjoyed doing less

Some people have really enjoyed slowing down a bit. Being forced to stay home has reminded them that they don't need to sprint from activity to activity all the time. They learned how to find some joy and inner peace by doing less.

Now, as businesses open and activities resume, going from doing "too little" to "too much" might feel overwhelming. 

How to stay mentally strong in the face of uncertainty

If you're nervous about life going back to normal, you're not alone. You can address your concerns with a combination approach: Attack the problems you can solve, and work on managing your emotions. Here's how to stay mentally strong in the face of uncertainty:

• Establish your priorities. It's a great time to take stock of how you're spending your time, money, and energy. You don't have to act social, look busy, and feel exhausted all the time if you don't want to. Cut out things that you don't want to do anymore. Add more activities that are in line with your priorities moving forward.
• Create a plan to manage your health. Whether you want to eat a healthier diet to keep your immune system in top shape, or you want to exercise more after spending six weeks indoors, taking charge of your health can help you feel more in control of your future.
• Look for alternative streams of income. The pandemic has certainly shown us that many jobs that seemed stable might not be as secure as we had hoped. Creating several streams of income could help you feel more confident about your financial situation moving forward. Whether you launch a little side hustle, or you diversify your retirement a bit, assess the strategies you can use to increase your financial security.
• Turn to healthy coping skills. There are a lot of problems you can't solve right now. But you can address how you feel about these problems. Look for healthy coping strategies to manage your emotions. Practice yoga, meditate, socialize with friends (when it is safe to do so in your area), or do whatever activity helps you feel your best. Healthy coping skills are key to regulating your emotions during times of uncertainty.

• Amid the coronavirus pandemic, more companies are stepping up their mental health benefit offerings for employees. 
• Some 53% of 256 employers surveyed by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions reported providing special emotional and mental health programs for their workforce because of the pandemic. 
• Here are several companies, including Starbucks and Target, that have boosted their mental health resources in the wake of the global outbreak. 
• This article is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended life as we know it for millions of Americans, causing feelings of anxiety, depression, and grief. An ongoing survey of more than 80,000 people from survey provider SurveyMonkey found that 86% of Americans are worried about the outbreak in the US.

The silver lining is that companies are stepping up to help their employees by expanding their mental health benefits.   

A recent survey of 256 companies by the nonprofit employer group the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions found that 53% of employers are providing special emotional and mental health programs for their workforce in the wake of the pandemic. 

These include changes in employee assistance programs, discounts on mental health apps, and more virtual service options like remote yoga classes. 

Here are nine companies that have made changes to their wellness benefits in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

SEE ALSO: Mental health benefits are becoming America's most competitive office perk in the age of coronavirus

Starbucks is giving employees and their family members 20 free counseling sessions a year.

Starbucks announced that beginning April 6, all of its employees (which the company calls "partners") who work 20 hours or more per week will now be entitled to expanded mental health benefits through its employee assistance program (EAP). 

Each employee and their family members will be able to access 20 sessions a year with a mental health therapist or coach through the provider Lyra Health, at no cost. The benefit rollout will impact more than 220,000 US workers and their family members, according to Ron Crawford, vice president of global benefits at Starbucks.

Target is expanding its offering of online mental health resources.

Target is offering its US employees access to free online resources to support their mental, emotional, and physical health. Employees will receive a year of access to Daylight, a website and app designed to help users navigate stress and worry, and Sleepio, an app that provides self-help tools to improve sleep.

For the month of April, employees will also be able to access free virtual fitness classes through the app Wellbeats. Before the pandemic, Target employees already had access to the company's EAP program that, among other benefits, offers five free counseling sessions. 

PwC is offering employees access to well-being coaches.

PwC recently introduced well-being coaching sessions where employees can reach out to a professional coach to discuss anything that may be causing them stress. They also created an online community for workers to connect with one another to discuss challenges they're facing surrounding coronavirus.

The firm already offers employees and dependents six free therapy sessions, confidential emotional support via mobile app, and free apps on guided meditations, sleep, breathing, and relaxing music.

SoFi is giving employees and select family members up to six therapy sessions.

In light of COVID-19, SoFi, a loan refinancing and personal finance company, has started providing employees, and up to three dependents over the age of 18, access to a mental health platform called Modern Health, in addition to in-network coverage of mental health providers included in their employee health plan. Modern Health offers employees up to six in-person or video therapy sessions and a range of digital resources like classes on meditation.  

Kickstand Communications is providing employees with a more flexible schedule.

Kickstand Communications, a public relations, content marketing, and social media agency, already provides employees with a monthly wellness stipend that can be used to pay for mental or physical health. Because of coronavirus, the company recently began providing employees with a more flexible work schedule, and three hours per week to step away from the computer and recharge. 

TransferWise is giving employees a 50% discount on mindfulness apps like Headspace.

Global technology company TransferWise already offered its 2,000 employees counseling sessions with mental health professionals through its EAP. Because of the pandemic, however, the company is offering employees discounts on various well-being services, such as 50% off Headspace, a mindfulness and meditation for stress and sleep. TransferWise is also increasing its offerings of wellness-related Zoom events, from yoga and salsa dancing to meditation and a book club.

Clearcover is hosting a digital roundtable session with a mental health counselor.

Auto insurance company Clearcover is hosting a digital session with a counselor through its EAP to discuss mental health during social distancing and quarantine. The company has also set up a slack channel on mental health and productivity to encourage conversation around the topic. 

Prior to the pandemic, the company offered employees three free sessions with a counselor, regardless of whether they were enrolled in medical benefits, along with unlimited PTO days. 

EY is offering its employees 24/7 resources through its program EY Assists, which connects employees to healthcare professionals.

The professional services firm is offering 24/7 resources through its program EY Assist, which connects employees to healthcare professionals. In addition, the company is offering small discussion groups to employees on mental health, webinars on managing stress, and virtual coaching sessions. 

Salesforce has started offering employees a series of articles and webinars on emotional health, as well as a meditation app, in addition to other benefits.

In addition to its already existing employee assistance program that includes free face-to-face or video counseling sessions, Salesforce has begun offering employees access to Thriving Mind, a series of articles and webinars on emotional health created in partnership with Stanford Medical and Thrive Global. The company has also launched a live webinar series called B-Well Together with figures like Arianna Huffington and Deepak Chopra, a daily well-being survey to track employees' mental health, as well as access to Plum Village's Zen Meditation app. 

• Sending an email to your CEO can be exciting and nerve-wracking all at once. It could be the first impression your CEO has of you.
• To help you figure out how to craft the perfect message, we consulted with career experts to get their best advice on how to address upper level management. 
• Here are nine key steps to sending a thoughtful, readable email.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Sending an email to your CEO can feel like approaching a celebrity — exciting and nerve-racking all at once.

That's because, while you could impress your CEO with your knowledge of the company and passion for your job, you could also turn them off with signs of carelessness or stepping out of line. 

To help you figure out how to craft the perfect message, we consulted career experts to get their best advice on how to reach out to executives. Amanda Augustine, career advice expert for Talent Inc., outlined key steps to sending a thoughtful, readable email — and getting the feedback you need. 

1. Consult your direct manager first.

Unless the CEO is your direct manager or you're responding to a direct request from him or her, it's wise to let your boss know that there's something you'd like to email the CEO about. 

That way, your boss can decide whether it's something that really requires the CEO's attention.

Your manager "probably has better insight into what makes sense and what doesn't make sense," Augustine said. "You want to go through the right chain of command and the right lines of communication." 

It doesn't matter if you have the most wonderful idea for the company, Augustine added — you'll want your boss to vet it first. Once you get confirmation that an email to the CEO is appropriate, you can CC your boss or add him or her to the message.

2. Write a short and action-oriented subject line. 

You should always write your subject line before you write the body of the message. Otherwise, you might forget to include one.

Augustine advises that you limit your subject line to eight or fewer words, especially since your CEO may be reading the email on a mobile device that cuts off part of the text. 

You'll also want to indicate if you need a response by a certain date, so your boss can prioritize the requests he or she is receiving that day. Augustine suggested setting the deadline a day or two before you actually need your CEO's response. That way, if your CEO gets really busy and responds late, you won't be in trouble.

Here's an example of an ideal subject line: "Project XYZ proposal — please reply by EOD."

And unless you have a really good reason, avoid marking your message high importance or high priority. "That's almost as bad as putting everything in caps," Augustine said.

3. Keep your greeting concise. 

Barbara Pachter, a business etiquette expert, suggests using a general greeting such as, "Hi, name," instead of "Good morning" or "Good evening." Or if you're sending an email to the CEO and their assistant, "Hi everyone." 

4. Use a salutation and sign-off that's appropriate for your company culture.

If you're uncertain how to address your CEO, Augustine suggested asking coworkers on your level how they've addressed him or her when they've sent emails in the past. You could also ask your direct boss for advice. 

Another option is to look for email threads between the CEO and other employees and see which salutations they used. 

But if you still can't figure out what's appropriate, Augustine said you should always err on the side of formality (e.g. "Dear Mr. Smith"). 

Your sign-off should be similarly short and simple. "Best, [your name]" generally works well. If you've already established a rapport with your boss, you can also use your initials. 

5. Keep the text short and specific. 

You definitely don't want to send an email with blocks of text, Augustine said, especially since your CEO could be reading the message on a mobile device. 

In order to make the email more easily readable, Augustine recommends using a short opening paragraph and then outlining each topic using bullet points. You may also want to bold or highlight the call to action (e.g. "Please reply by EOD").

Though you don't need to adhere to a specific word count, Augustine said, "use just as many words as you need to get your point across and not a sentence or a letter more than that." 

Think of the email as being a summary, or the CliffsNotes version, of the topic you want to discuss.

Ultimately, Augustine said, keep in mind that "if they want more information, they'll be sure to ask for it." 

6. Review your message for misspellings and grammar mistakes.

Always re-read your email before you send it, especially since there are words that your computer's spell-checker doesn't automatically pick up. 

In many cases, Augustine said, this message will be your CEO's first impression of you and your professional brand. "You don't want to be thought of as the person who can't spell correctly and can't string a sentence together without making a mistake." 

7. Avoid jokes. 

Because we're so accustomed to communicating via texts and social media, we might be less formal than we should in important emails. 

Specifically, Augustine said, "sarcasm can often be lost in [email] translation," so be careful not to include anything that can be misconstrued.

"Don't leave your message up for interpretation," she said.

8. Follow up politely. 

Your email should include a call to action, or a deadline when you need a response by. Set a reminder in your calendar to follow up the day after that if your CEO still hasn't gotten back to you. 

Here's an example of an appropriate follow-up (you can tweak as necessary): "I'm following up on [whatever issue] and wanted to make sure you saw this item. Please let me know if you need any additional information from me before you can respond."

9. Throughout the process, remember email etiquette. 

All professional emails you send should be filtered through certain standards that apply more intensely when you communicate with someone higher up. For example, use exclamation points sparingly in your message to your CEO to avoid appearing overly emotional or immature. When you're drafting your message, consider your audience and the time they have to spend looking at your email. Make sure to tailor your message accordingly.

A useful tip is to add the recipient's email last, after you've gone through your email thoroughly and checked it for errors. You don't want your CEO to receive a half-drafted email you didn't mean to send. 

Sherin Shibu contributed to an earlier version of this piece. 

SEE ALSO: How to get the busiest people to reply to your emails

DON'T MISS: The 27 jobs that are most damaging to your health

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to undo sent emails in Gmail

• In late February, MilliporeSigma had a coronavirus scare at one of its manufacturing facilities that led to entirely new operating protocols. 
• Those safety measures offer a glimpse into the potential new normal for the millions of Americans who could soon be asked to return to the office. 
• "From now until the next 12 to 18 months, we will have to practice some measure of distancing," CEO Udit Batra told Business Insider.
• Among other changes, the $7.5 billion maker of critical components for vaccines and diagnostic tests is staggering employee arrival times, decluttering high-traffic areas within factories, and putting plexiglass up between workers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sign up here to receive updates on all things Innovation Inc.

In late February, near the beginning of the global coronavirus outbreak, the spouse of an employee that worked in one of MilliporeSigma's manufacturing plants was suspected of having the infectious disease.

The $7.5 billion producer of critical components for vaccines and diagnostic tests immediately asked the roughly 600 people who worked in the vicinity of the individual to go home. The company then did a deep cleaning on the site and brought everyone back to work in just a few days.

That signaled the start of a completely new mode of operations for MilliporeSigma.

As states across the country begin to reopen parts of their local economies, MilliporeSigma's new safety measures offer a glimpse into the future for millions of Americans that may soon be asked to return to the office.

"From now until the next 12 to 18 months, we will have to practice some measure of distancing. And we have some good experience at our manufacturing sites of how to do it," CEO Udit Batra told Business Insider.

The company quickly reduced shift durations to prevent overlap between employees, staggered the arrival times for workers, put in new measures to declutter typically high-traffic areas within the facilities, and installed plexiglass barriers between associates that operate close to one another.

On top of preventative measures, MilliporeSigma also offers testing on five of its manufacturing sites around the globe. That helps improve productivity by keeping more employees at work, according to Batra.

"In the past, we would have sent 20 people home or shut down the site," he said. Now, "instead of having 20 people go home, you have one person who goes and if they turn out to be positive, then you do contract tracing."

And once treatments for the coronavirus become available — which Batra anticipates will happen well before a vaccine is developed — the company could begin to bring more office workers back.

As that happens, an internal innovation team is also experimenting with how to increase air flow out of enclosed rooms and whether proximity sensors can help in ensuring safe distances between employees, among other more forward-looking initiatives. 

'Demand is very, very high'

But apart from the new social distancing protocols, the pandemic has highlighted both the fragility and the importance of MilliporeSigma's global supply chain.

Take Amicon, a popular component of many diagnostic tests. The part is manufactured in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Once that's complete, it ships to Cork, Ireland, where it is assembled.

At the Irish plant, the company taps molds produced in China and resins shipped from Mexico to shape it. The completed product is then sent back to facilities in Massachusetts and France.

That's six different countries involved in the manufacturing of a product before it even touches a customer's hands.

But despite such an intricate process, those operations are unlikely to change anytime soon — even after the coronavirus exposed the risk in relying on multiple regions for production.

"We are inextricably dependent on our global supply chain," said Batra. "During the pandemic, it is impractical to think that we can localize everything."

It's one reason why he said borders need to remain open during the pandemic and government officials need to ensure the flow of goods continues.

When India went into its first 21-day lockdown, for example, MilliporeSigma was slated to receive a shipment from Mumbai to Switzerland. That transfer was halted temporarily until government officials stepped in to clear it from customs.

Overall, Batra said the chain is "functioning rather well because of global collaboration" amid a massive surge in demand for MilliporeSigma's products.

Its manufacturing site in Danvers, Massachusetts, for example, is one of the largest suppliers of materials for vaccines and biologic drugs. Production at the facility has expanded over the last four years, by as much as 30% in a single year.

"Now, we almost need to double the capacity in record time because the demand is very, very high," said Batra.

Analyzing the global economy

Having a global operation gives Batra and MilliporeSigma a bird's eye view into the global economy.

Under normal conditions, its distribution centers send out nearly 100,000 boxes every day. That has fluctuated during the outbreak, but the shipment data has proved invaluable in shaping operations.

Prior to the pandemic, it wasn't an area that Batra said he spent much time examining.

Now, at least three times a week, the executive team looks "at the demand side, the supply side, then makes some rather quick decisions" about production levels, per Batra.

"The tools existed. But as a team, we were not looking at it all together," he added. "This pandemic has forced us to get educated on these tools."

And it will be critical to determining when conditions may start to return to normal post-coronavirus.

"That data is absolutely invaluable because it gives us an idea of how vigorous the economics is going to be," said Batra.

SEE ALSO: 'We're all fintech firms now': The head of $180 billion CTBC Bank's US operations explains why it is weighing a bigger digital budget to hire from tech giants like Amazon

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

• Narcissistic behavior includes self-righteousness, a pattern of cheating in relationships, and taking advantage of other people.
• We put together a list of 19 typical behaviors of narcissists, based on research and expert opinion.
• This list isn't intended to be diagnostic, but it can give you a good idea of whether you or someone you know might be a narcissist.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Narcissistic personality disorder, according to Psychology Today, is characterized by "grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration."

The traits that make narcissists so difficult to hang out with or date — a willingness to control people and a ruthlessness in getting their needs met — happen to make them effective at rising up the ranks. Narcissists make up about 1% of the population, so among the hundreds of people you know, chances are there are quite a few narcissists mixed in. 

To help you figure out if you (or perhaps your boss) are a narcissist, we combed through the psychology literature looking for patterns of narcissistic behavior. We also spoke with Joseph Burgo, PhD, a psychologist and the author of "The Narcissist You Know."

Here are 19 common signs of narcissism, and how to identify them.

This is an update of an article originally written by Vivian Giang, with additional contributions by Drake Baer. 

SEE ALSO: 11 ways to ruin your relationship for good

DON'T MISS: The top 10 reasons couples go to therapy, according to a psychotherapist

1. You are a bad sport

Burgo says some narcissists are bullies — and one of their most troublesome traits is their tendency to be a sore loser and a sore winner.

For example, when they lose in a sports match, narcissistic people might try to humiliate the referee. When they win, they might gloat excessively or act abusively to the losing party.

2. You constantly feel under appreciated

The kind of people that Burgo calls "grandiose" narcissists always hold a grievance against the world.

Those with narcissistic behavior will typically feel entitled to something better and think they're not getting the recognition they deserve from others.

3. If you're not grandiose, then you're introverted, hypersensitive, defensive, and anxious

Psychologists talk about the "two faces of narcissism." On one end there's the hyper-aggressive, super-loud type. But there's a softer form of narcissism, too. It's called "covert narcissism," which is denoted by introversion, hypersensitivity, defensiveness, and anxiety.

"Both shades of narcissism shared a common core of conceit, arrogance, and the tendency to give in to one's own needs and disregard others," Scientific American reports.

4. You think everyone else is stupid

Many narcissists are know-it-alls, and have a hard time getting along with coworkers and friends because they refuse to believe they could possibly be wrong about anything.

Burgo has observed that these narcissists walk around with a marked sense of superiority to others and have a "my way or the highway" approach to decision-making.

5. You really like to swear at people

Psychologists Nicholas Holtzman and Michael Strube from Washington University in St. Louis found in a study that subjects who scored higher in narcissism are argumentative and curse more than their modest counterparts.

They also tend to use more sexually explicit language.

6. You are self-righteous

Narcissists often believe their views are inherently superior to other people's perspectives. But what they truly value is the attention they receive for holding those views.

For example, Burgo said, a person with narcissism might believe he has a closer connection to God — but it's more important to him that other people acknowledge this connection and admire his deep sense of spirituality.

7. You feel justified in being mean to people

"Vindictive" narcissists generally know vengeful or antisocial behavior isn't acceptable. But they feel OK about acting that way because they constantly feel they've been wronged, Burgo said.

What's more, they often take offense where it's not intended, meaning they're constantly hearing people say, "That's not what I meant!"

8. You enjoy leading others and telling them what to do

Narcissists typically enjoy leadership positions since they are able to dominate others and fulfill their need for constant positive reinforcement.

9. You are likely young and male, and maybe an entertainer

"A narcissist monk would not be good, but to be Kanye West and a narcissist is fantastic," said University of Western Sydney psychologist Peter Jonason, an expert on social psychology. 

After 34,653 face-to-face interviews, psychologist Frederick Stinson found that men tend to be more narcissistic than women across their lifespans.

Narcissism is believed to peak during adolescence and decline with age.

10. You hate having to feel emotions

The "very fact of having a feeling in the presence of another person suggests you can be touched emotionally by friends, family, partners, and even the occasional tragedy or failure," says Harvard Medical School psychologist Craig Malkin.

That's why narcissists abhor them.

Feeling an emotion "challenges their sense of perfect autonomy," he continues. "To admit to a feeling of any kind suggests they can be affected by someone or something outside of them."

As a result, narcissists tend to change the topic of conversation when feelings come up — especially their own. 

11. You're more attractive than other people — or at least you think you are

Narcissists are generally rated as more stylish and physically attractive, according to a study conducted by Simine Vazire, a psychologist at Washington University.

However, this isn't always the case. According to a 2008 study, narcissists rated themselves highly in both looks and intelligence, but when they took IQ tests, the results were average. When their peers were asked to rate their narcissist friends on looks, the results were lower than what the narcissists gave themselves.

12. Instead of listening, you just wait to speak

Anita Vangelisti, a psychologist at the University of Texas in Austin, found that narcissists typically prefer to keep the conversation centered on themselves, "making exaggerated hand movements, talking loudly, and showing disinterest by 'glazing over' when others speak."

13. You are a serial romantic

Burgo also identifies a group of narcissists he calls "seductive."

These people with narcissistic traits fall in and out of love quickly and easily, often with people they don't know very well. They think their partner is absolutely perfect — a complement to their own perfection — until reality sets in, when they realize their partner is flawed and end the relationship.

14. You cheat in relationships, and usually get dumped after dating for about four months

Psychologists Joshua Foster at the University of South Alabama and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia found that narcissists are more likely to cheat once they think their partners are committed.

They also seem to get a rush out of convincing others to engage in promiscuous sexual acts that they normally do not participate in.

Through his research, Campbell also found that the four-month mark — the apparent satisfaction peak in any dating relationship — is typically how long it takes for someone dating a narcissist to see their true colors.

15. You put some people on pedestals

Malkin says the logic goes like this: "If I find someone perfect to be close to, maybe some of their perfection will rub off on me, and I'll become perfect by association."

With that ideal in mind, narcissists cozy up to people they find perfect — be it a colleague or a crush — and then get really disappointed when that person isn't as impeccable as they imagined.

For a narcissist, everything has to be perfect.

16. You like to put other people down

Narcissistic people intentionally put down others in order to maintain a high positive image of themselves.

"Seeking admiration is like a drug for narcissists," said Mitja D. Back, a psychologist at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. "In the long run, it becomes difficult because others won't applaud them, so they always have to search for new acquaintances from whom they get the next fix."

This also explains why narcissists typically maintain only weak relationships.

17. Your parents both ignored and adored you

Research suggests a combination of parental rejection and excessive admiration is more strongly linked to adult narcissism than if one childhood experience consistently existed without the other.

The inconsistency and whiplash of the parents' attitude toward their children will eventually cause a "deep craving for admiration" and lead the narcissist to lead a life searching for fleeting ego boosts, Psychology Today reports.

18. You choose your friends to look cool or take advantage of people

Narcissistic men and women have different ways of choosing friends. 

Women choose male friends with high social status so they can feel a sense of worthiness. Guys choose bros who can "wingman" for them when they're trying to pick up girls, according to Psychology Today.

19. You always have to be in control

Just as narcissists hate to talk about their feelings, "they can't stand to be at the mercy of other people's preferences," Malkin says. "It reminds them that they aren't invulnerable or completely independent — that, in fact, they might have to ask for what they want — and even worse, people may not feel like meeting the request."

This is why they can be controlling without getting angry. In the case of romantic relationships, narcissists control people with disapproving glances, calls to change plans, and chronic lateness. This allows narcissists to undermine other people's ability to make choices. By doing that, narcissists maintain their sense of total autonomy — which they so desperately need.

• Working from home could continue well beyond the pandemic. 
• Going remote could increase your access to talent and bolster productivity by cutting commutes. 
• To make the move, ensure employees have all the hardware and software they need to have secure communication, focus on performance rather than hours worked, and set expectations around schedules. 
• Also, document everything so the transition is smooth and transparent, gather employees' opinions on the move to remote work, and think about planning in-person meetups or renting coworking space in the future.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, companies across the globe have been forced to operate remotely. And while some leaders are anxious to return to "business as usual," others have used this time to reconsider what going back to work will look like. 

For some, that means eschewing the office altogether. 

Brennan McEachran, CEO and cofounder of meeting collaboration software company Soapbox, which has 15 employees in Toronto, has been intrigued by the idea of remote work for a while. 

"A lot of fully-remote companies use our software. So, we found ourselves talking about the benefits of remote work … without having a really deep understanding of what it's like to be remote ourselves," he explained.

Historically, his team had one optional work-from-home day per week, but in January he surveyed employees to see if they'd be open to more. "90% of the team was all for it, so we added on another day," he said. 

He polled the office again a few weeks later. "Most of the team felt that they were more productive and were on board for adding another day. So we did," he said. "Fast forward a few weeks and we're quarantined as a result of COVID-19, and we really haven't experienced any pains as a result of working with one another virtually." 

As a result, he's made the decision not to renew his office lease.  

"Productivity levels have gone up and people have more flexibility in their schedules since they're no longer chained to a commute," he added.

Companies who've been remote, or mostly remote, pre-COVID-19 have experienced additional benefits — namely, access to a wider pool of talent.   

"We're able to hire so many more talented people to build a more diverse company through not being limited to location," shared Sid Sijbrandij, CEO of open-source software-development platform GitLab, which claims to be the largest remote-only company in the world.

Ning Wang, CEO of Offensive Security, an information security training platform with more than 200 employees in 25 countries, noted that her company evolved to a remote one organically, as some of the early hires were former students who were located all over the world.

"It is more important that we find good talent who fit our culture than where the person physically lives," she said. "We have been growing by following the same philosophy ever since."

Of course, going fully remote isn't without its challenges. If you're considering moving your company to working remotely, permanently, here's what these leaders said will make it a smoother transition for all. 

Make sure everyone has the right equipment — and security

McEachran noted that while his company is saving money on office space, a budget for home office allowances is still key. "You want to ensure that your team is able to create a home setup that sets them up to be productive and successful," he advised. 

Paul Vallée, CEO and founder of 60-employee Tehama, a SaaS platform that creates secure cloud-based offices for virtual workforces, recommended ensuring that each employee's setup is secure by updating your work-from-home policies. 

If you allow employees to use their own devices, he said, "be sure to include in that policy the types of devices that are acceptable and identify security protocols for these devices."

"Working from home on a VPN can open up a number of security threats," he explained. "An employee's remote WiFi is most likely not as secure as your office WiFi, where you have an IT team onsite to monitor for any disruptions." 

Vallée noted that there's been an uptick in security threats and data breaches since most of the workforce has been at home and recommended regular mandatory security training to identify issues. "Ensure that employees know how to identify when they are being targeted and report anything unusual to security," he said. 

Wang added, "This is a good time to re-think some of our old assumptions about network design, what sorts of devices users require, how support is done, and so on. It is important to educate all employees to develop the security mindset to not fall victim to phishing and other common security tactics." 

Shift your mindset from hours-based to performance-based productivity

Jennifer Hargreaves, founder of tellent, which works with employers to develop flexible work policies and leadership models, recently conducted a survey of HR and recruitment managers on flexible work. When reviewing the results, she was surprised by how many managers still hold the mindset that hours worked equals productivity.

"To have true success with remote and flexible work schedules, we must start thinking of productivity as output delivered," she advised. "Taking an hour off for a workout or to home-school your children shouldn't mean 'making up the hours' at another time if you're still delivering the output required of your position."

Sijbrandij added that working remotely actually forces you to focus on output rather than input because you can't see the input in action.

Jennifer Dennard, COO and cofounder of team success platform Range, whose team currently works remotely and plans to continue doing so post-COVID-19, said it's about building trust and transparency among team members.

"If I know what you're up to, I'm not too worried about it," she said. "We really encourage clear moments where you're sharing updates."

Natalie Ruiz, who moved her then-200, now 1,300-employee live call-answering service AnswerConnect remote in 2007, highlighted the importance of regular check-ins. 

"We have a lot of 10- to 15-minute check-ins or group standups that kick off a week, or sometimes even kick off a day," she said. "We have some teams that have a 10-minute stand up every day through video, and those teams tend to really thrive. They're aligned on what's the big goal of the day."

Wang noted that including asynchronous communication into these workflows is key, especially with people in different time zones. 

"We create a 'task' [in our collaboration tool] for nearly everything we do, no matter how small the task is," she said about her team's approach. "The task has an owner and involves those who need to do different activities … As each person completes each step of the task, the task is assigned to the next person, allowing everyone involved to know what this task is about and manage the workflow of the task until completion."

Double down on documentation

Wang noted that this asynchronous workflow has the side benefit of serving as a knowledge base for future use. "This preserves the team knowledge and provides a means for people to go back, review, and learn, which can be very valuable over time," she said.

She  added that documenting everything can be a shift for companies who are used to more organic styles of communication. "It took us some time, with constant reinforcement, to develop the habit of putting every activity in writing," she recalled. But now, even for urgent support issues, the team creates tasks and documentation for every step taken to resolve it. 

GitLab documents company policies and workflows in the form of a 5,000-page open-source handbook. Darren Murph, GitLab's head of remote, believes this documentation should extend to culture, too.

"If you let culture just be defined by office decor on the given personas in the office and now you don't have that — you have to write that down," he said. 

Sijbrandij added that GitLab has six values and outlines in their handbook 14 ways in which they're lived day to day. 

"It's not just having six words … it's also including examples of how you reinforce them," he explained. "Not everyone has to do 14, but everyone complains like the values are just hanging on the wall and no one actually lives them. Okay, well start making sure they come back. At GitLab, it's hard to join a meeting without hearing a value being used as a way to make a decision."

Set clear expectations around working hours

Removing the office from a workplace also removes the need for traditional office hours. But what works for one company won't work for everyone, so consider what you'd like your norms to be.   

Dave Cole, CEO and cofounder at data security company Open Raven, has run the company remotely since its inception. Despite employees' locations ranging from California to Pennsylvania, "We all commit to working West Coast hours in order to make it easier to collaborate," he said.  

At Range, the company operates on what they call "Windowed Work." 

"It's the idea of being more flexible on how and when you are working together," explained Dennard. Individuals and teams plan their days around periods they're available for team work, when they're doing individual work, and when they're offline for personal needs, sharing their schedules with other team members so they know when to expect they'll be available for collaboration. "We try to align some of those times, so that we can have meetings," she said. 

For global companies, either approach can be tough. 

"With people in 25 countries and 14 time zones, it is impossible to find a time for a company call that is during everyone's working hours," shared Wang. Her solution is to record all important meetings so team members can revisit them offline when they're available.

Make sure all voices are heard during the transition

When developing the work systems for the future of your company, "It is critical that all voices, not just some, are heard and considered," Hargreaves noted. "Your diversity and inclusion teams are your best bet for keeping leadership accountable and ensuring all voices are not only invited to the table but heard equally." 

Managers, too, need to keep a pulse on what's working and what's not for each employee. Murph suggested managers adopt a "servant leadership-type mentality," where their primary goal in the transition period is to be a sounding board and listen to things that are going wrong. 

"Every person is in a fundamentally different environment," he said. "Managers need to hold the brakes for a second and just listen because all of your workers are in a different place, but they'll be best positioned to advise on going forward."

Done right, embracing diversity and fostering an inclusive environment that works for everyone can be a competitive advantage for your company. 

"We employ people from all different walks of life and literally all around the globe," explained Ruiz. "So people have really diverse backgrounds … whether it's a person from a rural community who wouldn't have as many opportunities, or a person who has a physical disability that would keep them from finding this type of work, or a military spouse, or any number of things."

Consider eventually investing in in-person meetups and coworking spaces, if your staff requests it

Be careful not to equate remote work with working from home. Not every home is amenable to remote work, especially for those who are parents or caregivers, so it's worth considering allowing employees to expense access to an external office or coworking space, said Murph.

Dennard said her company has no intention of signing a lease anytime soon, but if it does, it'll be more like a collaboration space for those who want it or need it.

Also — when it's safe to do so — consider how in-person meetups become part of your remote team culture. 

Pre-COVID-19, Ruiz had built in to her company's culture in-person time, with a group of leaders visiting different population centers at least once a year. 

"We'd hold an all-day meetup, which would be company updates and usually a volunteer activity and a meal," she shared. "Those one-day events put so much fuel in the tank for morale and collaboration, and were just a huge source of people getting to know each other in a different way."

Learn from the pros, but be intentional about what works for your team

Cole noted that there are many companies that have been doing this for years, like GitLab, Basecamp, and HashiCorp, and it's worth looking to those companies for options and best practices. But ultimately, remote work has to work for your unique team. 

"My advice is to be incredibly intentional about the model you ultimately choose and the practices you adopt to make your people successful," he said. "Take a step back from what just happened with COVID-19: Is what you did in triage mode really the right fit for your business? Explore what's already been done, pick the right fit (if it fits at all!), and adapt it to your business needs."

Ruiz also encouraged people to keep in mind that it's not going to be perfect. "It's an iterative process," she emphasized. "And so really key is open communication about what's working and what's not working." 

Sijbrandij recommended taking small steps over time. "If you take small steps, then setbacks are less of a problem," he said. "It's easier to get feedback about what's working and what's not working."

Overall, if you're curious, it's worth trying. 

"The traditional system of work has been disrupted with the arrival of COVID-19 and social-distancing measures — and I believe that it is for the better," noted Hargreaves. "I think we have a real opportunity to think differently about how work can work better for everyone — because it makes sense for business, for the economy, and for people."

SEE ALSO: Fraud related to small business loans is on the rise — and the federal government is on high alert. Here's how to protect yourself in case of an audit or investigation.

NOW READ: An entirely remote health-coaching company hosted a 1,700-person virtual employee retreat to give staff a break and chance to bond — here's how they pulled it off

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• Many American companies have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and have laid off or furloughed employees to the tune of 33 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Yet, others have been able to not only weather the storm, but innovate, donate, or aid in the response to the pandemic.
• Business Insider combed through LinkedIn's report of 20 businesses helping society during the pandemic and picked out nine major companies going truly above and beyond. 
• This post is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit American companies hard.

In the past seven weeks alone, more than 33 million people have filed jobless claims as companies are forced to to furlough or lay off employees. But amid the grim unemployment figures, some companies have been able to step up and add value, providing free or discounted services, expanding their benefits, helping the US government in its response, or donating to those in need. 

LinkedIn compiled a list of 20 US businesses making a positive impact during the coronavirus pandemic. Business Insider combed through the list and highlighted several large employers that are going above and beyond to help out during the pandemic. 

SEE ALSO: 9 companies boosting benefits so employees don't feel isolated or lonely in the middle of the coronavirus crisis

Starbucks is prioritizing employee safety by updating its absentee and pay policies.

In April, Starbucks gave employees the option to stay home with pay through May 3, even if their location was open. Additionally, anyone exposed to or diagnosed with COVID-19 could choose to stay home through the end of May, with pay, according to a press release. Starbucks also introduced service pay, an additional $3/hour for employees who chose to work their shifts through May 31.

Employees can also apply for hardship grants through the company's CUP Fund, which supports employees going through difficult times, LinkedIn reports. As stores re-open across the country, CEO Kevin Johnson offered a strategy for how to do this safely; among other things, all employees are required to wear masks.

On April 6, Starbucks announced it was expanding its mental health benefits for employees who work more than 20 hours a week. Each employee and their family members will be able to access 20 sessions a year with a mental health therapist or coach through the provider Lyra Health, at no cost. 

Salesforce is continuing to pay its hourly workers while offices are closed and called on companies not to make 'significant' layoffs for three months.

In late March, Salesforce cofounder and CEO Marc Benioff took to Twitter to call on companies to pledge not to make any "significant" layoffs for 90 days. In the same tweet, he announced Salesforce would continue paying hourly workers while offices were closed. In an interview with CNBC, Benioff said, "This is a moment where business has to be the greatest platform for change."

UnitedHealth Group has donated about $70 million to help fight hunger, among other causes, during the pandemic.

UnitedHealth has made nearly $70 million in philanthropic commitments since the spread of the coronavirus to the US to help fight hunger, to develop plasma treatments for the virus, and to expand COVID-19 testing in underserved communities, among other causes. 

In addition, Andrew Witty left his role mid-April as president of UnitedHealth Group and CEO of UnitedHealth subsidiary Optum to spend the year helping lead the World Health Organization's COVID-19 vaccine program. 

General Motors is mass producing ventilators and face masks.

In mid-March, GM partnered with a small Washington-based medical device company called Ventec and, in April, began production of thousands of ventilators, Business Insider previously reported. On April 8, the Trump administration ordered 30,000 ventilators under the Defense Production Act. The carmaker has said it doesn't plan to make a profit on the ventilators, according to LinkedIn. 

In addition, GM ramped up production of face masks to the tune of more than 50,000 masks per day, according to a press release.  

Gilead Sciences donated its entire existing supply of remdesivir to the US government.

Gilead Science's antiviral drug, remdesivir, which has shown benefits for COVID-19 patients, was approved for emergency use in the US.

Gilead has donated its entire existing supply — enough to treat 140,000 patients — to the US federal government to use for severely ill patients, per a company statement. The company is ramping up its production, with the aim of having enough to treat a million people by the end of the year.

AT&T joined other internet providers in opening up WiFi hotspots across the country to help people connect and kids attend online classes.

Some 19 million Americans still lack reliable internet access, according to the FCC's most recent report on the topic in 2012 . To help keep remote workers and kids able to complete online homework during the pandemic, the four largest wireless firms, including AT&T, committed to a set of measures to help Americans, including opening WiFi hotspot for people in need. 

In addition, the company is providing three months of free wireless service on the FirstNet network, its first responder and public safety communications network, to doctors and nurses helping with the response to COVID-19. It has also deployed more than 57 portable cell sites to support the pandemic response.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts was the first to offer up its rooms to healthcare workers.

When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked hotels to loan their rooms to health care workers, the Four Seasons was the first to offer up its inventory, Business Insider previously reported. Within days, it had transformed into an upscale dormitory for those who lived too far from a hospital, or for those fearful of infecting vulnerable loved ones. The Plaza Hotel, The St.Regis, and The Wythe Hotel were among many others that followed the Four Seasons' lead.

Leaders from Kroger are sharing best practices and lessons on how to keep workers safe as well as guidelines for stores reopening.

In late April, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen published a blueprint for operation during the pandemic based on the company's experiences in the hopes that other similar companies can learn from them. The 17-page explainer includes steps Kroger has applied to protect employees and customers: from strategies for enforcing social distancing to modifying store hours to administering regular health checks. 

IBM is joining with other organizations and companies by lending its computing power to researchers fighting the novel coronavirus.

IBM, HP, the US government, and many other organizations partnered to create the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, which uses a large amount of computing power to help researchers everywhere better understand COVID-19, its treatments, and potential cures, per a company statement.

The 30 supercomputing systems represent more than 40 petaflops of computing capacity, with each petaflop costing between $2 million and $3 million, according to IBM Research director Dario Gil, speaking to The Wall Street Journal. A petaflop is  a unit of computing speed equal to one thousand million million operations per second.

• More than a third of summer internships have been cancelled because of the pandemic, causing Harvard Business School candidates to prepare for virtual work in different roles. 
• Many students are taking roles to fight COVID-19, from socioeconomic assistance through the United Nations to local government initiatives. 
• HBS is offering financial assistance to students taking on some of these coronavirus-combative fellowships. 
• And some students have started their own projects, including MBAs Fight Covid-19, which matches current students with organizations in need of pro bono work. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

As of late April, more than a third of summer internships had already been cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns, according to a survey by talent-acquisition company Yello. 

The research, which polled more than 900 current college students across the US, found that of the companies that pulled the plug, nearly two thirds offered zero compensation for the students' loss. Meanwhile, around a quarter of students surveyed found out that their internship would be shifted from the traditional onsite experience to a virtual one.

"So far, almost all internships will be remote," shared Kristen Fitzpatrick, who has spent the last seven years as managing director of career and professional development at Harvard Business School. "We'll see if that changes as the summer progresses, but that's the guidance we've been given by organizations to date."

This means that students who were, for example, interviewing to work at startups in one location suddenly had to reassess what that opportunity would look like when done from home.

HBS staff and students gave Business Insider a look at what summer opportunities will be like for MBA candidates in light of COVID-19.

Some Harvard MBA students have seen their internship responsibilities change, while others have had to replace cancelled opportunities with new roles

In many cases, it's not just the venue that's changed — the duties themselves now also look different for some prospective interns.

And for others, as with Florian Schalliol, the opportunity to work on the front lines of the crisis became more appealing than the traditional internship in mind prior to the pandemic.

Schalliol, HBS class of 2021, explained that before COVID-19 emerged, he had been looking at a few different types of internship opportunities, ranging from impact investing to working for a startup to local government.

Instead, Schalliol opted to roll up his sleeves and serve as a special initiatives and policy manager for the City of Chicago's Mayor's Office. In this role, which at least to start will be remote, each of his duties — from establishing timetables for the city to lift restrictions on commerce and public gatherings to making recommendations for investments in public health and economic infrastructure to support the city's recovery — are all pandemic-related.

"At a time when many private sector internships were being cancelled, working with cities — who are on the front lines of responding to COVID-19 — seemed more exciting than ever," he shared.

He added that while it felt a bit strange at first to abandon his other explorations suddenly, it was clear to him "that COVID-19 is a real, urgent crisis with countless short- and long-term ripple effects across so many parts of society that we don't understand," he said.

Frederic Repond, class of 2020, shared that his summer internship with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — which was originally going to be working on a blockchain solution to increase transparency along the cocoa supply chain  — has pivoted to COVID-19 global socioeconomic recovery.

"The UN has tasked the UNDP with leading the UN's socioeconomic recovery efforts: the third and final response prong to the pandemic," Repond said. "I will work [virtually] within the newly established Office of the Chief Digital Officer to leverage digital assets to enable and facilitate these global recovery efforts."

Repond's motivation to apply to the UNDP in the first place was to engage in sustainable development before starting his full-time job at Deloitte post-graduation. After hearing from Deloitte a few weeks ago that the internship's start date would be delayed from August to January, Repond said that he might be looking to extend his internship with the UNDP for longer. The date for Repond's internship got moved as well — to May 11 because graduation is now virtual.

Despite all of the changes, Repond said that he's grateful to still have the opportunity.

"I find the topic [of COVID-19 socioeconomic recovery] to be even more interesting than the original," he said. "That said, I certainly look forward to the stay-at-home orders lifting and hope to be able to intern in person soon."

Christine Keung and Reggie Smith, both class of 2020, will be interning this summer with the US Small Business Administration (SBA). They shared that they'll be assisting the SBA Regional Office in priority projects related to the organization's COVID-19 crisis response, such as analyzing the population of small businesses who have been served and creating a prioritization framework for small businesses that are part of critical supply chains.

"Our internships will be remote as long as states maintain their shelter-in-place measures," Keung said. "We may be traveling to headquarters on an as-needed basis but plan to do the majority of the internship remote."

Prior to the start of the pandemic, the pair had been working with the state of West Virginia for seven months studying economic development challenges and opportunities in some of the poorest areas of the US, and working on writing a case study to be taught at HBS in the spring. In this process, they were introduced to the SBA, who demonstrated their efforts to increase broadband internet access and implement the opportunity zone legislation to attract investment. 

"We maintained this relationship, and when the COVID-19 crisis hit we offered our support, which they were happy to receive," Smith explained.

In this effort, the students are both Social Enterprise Initiative Summer Fellows, which means HBS will provide them with supplemental financial support while they work for the government. 

Pre-COVID-19, Smith had been scheduled to work at an investment management firm in Boston after business school. While he will still be joining the firm, he is pushing back the start date to fit in this internship. Keung is scheduled to work for the City of San Jose, California, after graduation, and she will continue that as planned after the SBA internship concludes.

"This was a phenomenal opportunity to serve that developed in light of the crisis, and there was no way we could turn it down," Smith said. "We want to help the millions of small business owners that are suffering. We see this as an opportunity to directly apply the skills we have learned at HBS." 

HBS students in the past have taken internships at practically every major company on the planet, including Amazon, American Express, Apple, Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, Nike, and Walt Disney Company, just to name a few.

"Interestingly, over 80% of our students are the only HBS MBA hired at their new company in their year, as we have over 800 recruiting partners," Fitzpatrick added. 

Fellowships increase as students offer pro bono work to struggling businesses, and alumni step in to help students

HBS makes summer fellowships available to all first- and second-year students in the amount of up to $650 a week for up to 12 weeks to start their own business or work for another organization — but Fitzpatrick explained that fellowships at HBS will look a bit different in light of COVID-19 as well.

"We have expanded the amount of fellowships available to students to be able to take roles that can't afford to pay a salary because of the crisis, or because the students are focused on volunteering their efforts to businesses and nonprofits who really need help," Fitzpatrick said. 

To this end, HBS students Amina Edwards and Sarika Mendu, both class of 2020, have organized a project called MBAs Fight COVID-19, which matches current MBA students with small businesses, nonprofits, governments, and other organizations that need pro bono support. 

"The initiative grew organically out of a shared desire to harness the energy we felt among our peers who were eager to find ways to put their MBA skill sets to meaningful use and help others during this pandemic," Edwards said.

The project is open not only to HBS students, but to other MBA programs as well, with current chapters at Stanford Graduate School of Business, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. For organizations in need, participating MBA students offer their skills free of charge in everything from budgeting and project management to stakeholder outreach, strategic planning, and research. 

"We are collaborating closely with our careers department and encouraging students to speak with their project sponsors and explain the availability of Summer Fellowship funding to partner throughout the summer," Mendu said.

As of mid-May, there were 450 users and more than 100 projects, including those currently up for grabs plus the sizeable list of ongoing and completed projects. Some new opportunities recently added to the project list include providing digital care for patients, designing and marketing online arts education, and analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on the drone and transportation industry. 

Most projects are designated as short term, from one week to a few months. The system uses a software partner launched by two HBS alumni called Catalant, which uses AI to suggest strong matches between students and projects based on student experience and the organization's project descriptions.

Paired with the efforts of current MBA students, Fitzpatrick explained that another way 2020 looks different in terms of internship opportunities is that HBS has "really leaned" on its alumni to put forward roles where they could use help.

"[We] have seen over 200 positions from that effort in the last week alone," Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick advises that students looking to make the most of their internships — regardless of the change in responsibility, format, or company — ask about the "new norms" of the company's culture, like how people like to best communicate, shadow senior-level meetings virtually, and network with as many people over video or phone as possible.

SEE ALSO: Career advisers and professors at Harvard's, Stanford's, and Carnegie Mellon's business schools offer their best advice for MBA graduates navigating the competitive post-pandemic job market

NOW READ: What you need to know to prepare for and excel at the online GRE, according to testing experts and instructors

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence

• After nearly two months of disruption, businesses around the US are impatient to resume operations.
• In one survey, half of small businesses said they were actively working on a local re-opening plan.
• In a separate question, half also said they could re-open in less than a month after restrictions end.
• In order to reopen safely and profitably, business coach Bob Prosen counsels his clients to follow a detailed, seven-part plan to keep your strategy on course as circumstances change rapidly.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories.

Businesses across the country have been disrupted for two months, and most are eager to get back to work.

But with varying guidance from governors, and conflicting information coming from the White House, business owners may feel like they are on their own.

Half of the companies polled by the small business referral network Alignable said they were working with local partners to re-open their operations. Half of those surveyed also said they could get back to work within a month of restrictions ending.

Business coach Bob Prosen told Business Insider that entrepreneurs' plans to re-open should have seven key elements.

Almost as important as making the plan itself is writing it down. Documenting your assumptions and rationale for a course of action — and noting when things change — is especially important during a time when circumstances can change in a matter of days.

"Now is the time to be actively involved as a business owner, to ensure that the extraordinary steps are taken above and beyond what's basic and required," Prosen said. "Companies that do that are the ones that are going to be more successful than anybody else right now."

Start with you've learned during the pandemic

Necessity leads to invention, as the saying goes, and that holds especially true now.

If the pandemic has forced your business to find a better way of doing things, Prosen says, "those need to be documented somehow and inculcated into our business going forward so that we don't lose that knowledge."

Make a detailed financial forecast

Prosen recommends a detailed cash-flow forecast of at least 12 weeks (24 weeks for larger businesses) for three different scenarios: best-case, worst-case, and most-likely.

"That whole cash flow model is probably the most essential thing you need to put together," he said.

Your cashflow forecast is the only way to tell if a financial option like the Paycheck Protection Program is a life-preserver or a lead weight for your business.

If you're able to meet the conditions for PPP loan forgiveness, or you can afford to take on new debt, then now is a fine time to borrow money to stay afloat. But if you can't meet those criteria, or you don't expect to have the cash flow to pay down a loan, then new debt could sink your company.

Reassure your customers, and reach out to new ones

Data from states in different stages of lockdown suggest that simply ending a policy won't in itself bring business back. In order to bring back your customers (and maybe even gain a few new ones), communication is key.

In addition to raising awareness about what your company is doing during this time, Prosen says it's also an opportunity to listen and learn what people in your community need most.

Nearly 40% of businesses in the Alignable poll expressed worry that their customers will be too afraid to return. That's why Prosen recommends having empathy about the struggle that customers are going through during this time.

"How we deal with our customers is important," he said. "If we want to continue to have them rely on us, we have to be sensitive to what their needs are."

Rethink your organizational chart

There are a number of potential challenges to getting the team back together, and each challenge calls for a different solution: Some members may not want to return from a remote-work situation; others may receive more on unemployment than you can afford to pay them; still others may have serious health or family concerns that complicate matters further.

"Have your HR person involved in this, and if you have legal counsel, get them involved. Make sure that you're doing it right," Prosen said.

Alternatively, if your business has adapted well to cuts in your workforce, Prosen says now may be a moment to re-draw your org-chart to reflect the reduced headcount.

Examine your return on every investment

Breaking even in the midst of a crisis is a tremendous accomplishment, but at some point your business will need a growth plan.

Prosen recommends examining your sales and marketing strategies to see where your effort and investment produce the best returns in the so-called "new normal."

Whether that involves expanding your e-commerce or delivery channels, introducing new products, or shifting your sales team to virtual visits, a successful re-opening will require finding both new sources of revenue and savings to boost the bottom line.

Brainstorm backup supply chains

No man is an island, and no business operates on its own.

"We're all integrated into a longer supply chain, and we depend on other organizations, people, products, and companies, to help us fulfill commitments to our customers," Prosen said.

Just because your business is getting ready to re-open, that doesn't necessarily mean that the partners you depend on will be on the same page. Furthermore, Prosen recommends identifying alternate or backup solutions in the event that one of your key partners is unexpectedly unavailable.

Designate a health and safety chief

Saving the most important item for last, Prosen says health and safety considerations should wrap around all six other facets of your re-opening plan.

"You've got to take this so darn seriously," he said. "You need somebody in charge of reopening and coordinating all of these aspects of health and safety inside of your company, for your employees and your customers."

Health considerations could have an impact on your workforce plans, sales strategy, and cash position, and will likely require the undivided attention of a member of your team.

Prosen recommends going "above and beyond" the official guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, and he pointed to a Department of Labor program that provides free site safety consultations for small businesses.

"A lot of companies unfortunately don't actually document their plans — they're in their heads. This one you need to document," Prosen said. And "you need to have a coordinator — somebody to ensure that whatever is in your plan, in fact gets enforced."

SEE ALSO: POWER LIST: The 9 hottest industries for entrepreneurs to start profitable businesses after US states reopen

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Tax Day is now July 15 — this is what it's like to do your own taxes for the very first time

• Although your local bar may be closed this year, you can still celebrate World Cocktail Day from home with these signature cocktail recipes. 
• Some cocktails require only two or three ingredients, while others allow you to flex your mixology skills with fruity add-ins.
• Regardless of whether your go-to is a zesty margarita or a tasteful whiskey highball, these 7 drinks are sure to meet your happy hour needs.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

World Cocktail Day  — a  bit of a boozy birthday celebration — marks the anniversary of the first published definition of a cocktail in 1806.

Although it falls during lockdown this year, that's no reason to dampen your celebratory mood. With spirits of all sorts and sizes that can be delivered right to your door, it's the perfect time to try your hand at cocktail-making, and maybe add mixologist" to your post-quarantine resume.

And you can do it with ingredients and tools you already have. Maggie Kimberl, an expert bourbon mixologist, says as long as you find balance, your cocktails can include just about anything. 

"When you're going to make a cocktail at home, the most important thing is balance," she said. "Balance the sugar content, the sweet and sour. You don't want to do it too far on any end."

Even if you don't have bar tools, you can improvise: A mason jar, a clean cocktail shaker, a good spoon, and ice allows you to do just about anything.

So from classic whiskey concoctions to margaritas with a twist, here are seven cocktail recipes you can try out this World Cocktail Day. 

SEE ALSO: 11 easy cocktail recipes to make at home for a virtual happy hour or any special occasion

NOW READ: 16 easy cocktails to try during quarantine, according to influencers, bartenders, and people who can send alcohol straight to your door

1. Hibiscus Ginger Margarita

If you like something fruity, try this margarita from Miami-based eatery Bodega Taqueria y Tequila that is with flavors of hibiscus, orange, and lime.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Casamigos Tequila
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. Combier Orange Liqueur
• 1/2 oz. hibiscus cordial
• Raspberries for garnish

Instructions:

1. Shake all ingredients vigorously in a cocktail shaker with ice
2. Double strain with a standard strainer and a fine mesh strainer
3. Serve in a rocks glass over ice
4. Garnish with raspberries

2. Pineapple Chili Margarita

If a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet is more your style, try this margarita from Chris Chamberlain of Camarena Tequila that features muddled pineapple and swaps out a salt rim for a mix of chili powder and sugar.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Camarena Reposado
• 3/4 oz. simple syrup or agave nectar
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
• 3 muddled pineapple chunks
• Pinch of chili powder and sugar
• Rosemary sprig, to garnish

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously
2. Rub lip of glass in chili mixture
3. Strain mixture into a glass over ice
4. Garnish with rosemary sprig

3. Tom Collins

This classic cocktail from Brooklyn-based mixologist Max Nussbaum is bubbly, refreshing, and requires only four ingredients

Ingredients:

•  2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• Soda water
• Lemon wheel to garnish

Instructions:

• Mix gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a tall glass
• Fill glass with ice, top with soda water
• Garnish with lemon wheel

4. Whisky Highball

Looking for something more low-effort? Make a "highball," which is a cocktail made simply from any spirit, poured over ice, and topped with a carbonated beverage. This can be a rum and Coke, gin and tonic, or Scotch and soda.

Try this traditional recipe from Japanese distiller The House of Suntory, featuring their Suntory Toki Whisky.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Suntory Toki Whisky
• 6 oz. soda water
• Citrus slice or shiso leaf to garnish

Instructions:

• Pour whisky over ice in a tall glass
• Add chilled soda water
• Garnish with shiso leaf or citrus slice

5. Cinco de Derby

If you're looking for a combination of holidays to celebrate this World Cocktail Day, why not try a novel Cinco de Derby, which combines tequila and champagne for a holiday surprise.

Ingredients: 

• 2 oz. G.H. Mumm Grand Cordon Champagne
• 1.5 oz. Avion Blanco Tequila 
• 1/2 oz. blackberry cinnamon syrup (1 cup water, 1 pack blueberries, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 cup sugar)
• 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice 

Instructions:

1. Make blackberry cinnamon syrup: Combine one cup of water, one pack of blackberries, and two cinnamon sticks broken up in a small saucepan. Warm the ingredients on medium heat until the blackberries start to split and release juice. Add one cup of sugar and gently stir to dissolve. Allow the syrup to cool down, then strain out the solids.
2. Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, and fill with ice
3. Shake to chill and strain into a rocks glass over ice
4. Top with G.H. Mumm Champagne (available on Drinks & Co)
5. Garnish with fresh mint, lime, and fresh grated cinnamon

6. Summer's End

A Summer's End to start the summer with? Elliot Clark shares his drink, home, and lifestyle tips to over 63,000 Instagram followers. Here's what he shared with Business Insider.

Ingredients: 

• 3 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters
• 1.5 oz. of Scotch whiskey 
• 1/2 oz. of overproof rum 
• 1 oz. of grapefruit juice 
• 1/2 oz. of fresh lime juice 
• 1/2 oz. of Velvet Falernum 
• 1/2 oz. of Demerara syrup 

Instructions: Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Double strain the cocktail into a chilled coupe glass, and garnish with a pineapple leaf.

7. La Conga Blicoti

A Josephine-Baker inspired drink, this cocktail from Instagram influencer Hannah Chamberlain brings you to the tropics.

Ingredients:

• 2 parts Frapin 1270
• 1 part lime
• 1/2 part Giffard Banane du Brasil 
• 1/2 part Demerara syrup
• Banana chips and/or tropical flower for garnish

Instructions:

1. Shake all ingredients (other than the garnish)
2. Double strain them into a coupe
3. Garnish