Business Watch

COVID-19 has redefined work — and businesses whose livelihoods are tied to office workers are suffering. The issue is acute in Lansing, as the State of Michigan is evaluating all of its leases. Many of its 13,000-plus workers in the city may remain working from home after the pandemic.

The nation’s last wooden ladder factory survived the Depression, but not COVID-19. ‘This is one of those things that will haunt me forever,’ its owner says.

Opening a restaurant during the pandemic may sound counter-intuitive when so many have closed. But today’s new operators say they’re on the cusp of culinary change, and adapting business strategies based on what they’ve learned from COVID.

Travel may set a record this year in Michigan, and empty rooms may be scarce in hotspots like Traverse City. But many hotels are struggling to stay afloat because of huge cuts to business trips.

Rich Sheridan, pioneer of ‘extreme teams’ at Menlo Innovations, on the challenge of keeping colleagues together when a pandemic was pulling everyone apart.

The pandemic put more challenges onto women, who had to work, care for children and deal with other aspects of the virus. Now the shortage in the labor force is causing more workplaces to consider how to woo them back.

Empty parking lots are deceiving: Most businesses are still paying for their office leases and there isn’t a glut of space. But commercial brokers around the state say they don’t know if that will change, or when.