Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected August 18–26, and 109 Texas manufacturers responded to the survey.

How do your firm’s current revenues compare with a typical August?

NOTES: 105 responses. This same question was posed in May, June and July, with the wording adjusted to reference the respective month of comparison. Averages are calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 7.5 percent of responses omitted.

How does your firm's current employee head count compare with February (pre-COVID-19)?

NOTES: 105 responses. This same question was posed in June and July. Averages are calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 7.5 percent of responses omitted.

What share of your employees were working remotely in February (pre-COVID-19), and what share are currently working remotely? What share do you expect to work remotely after the pandemic ends?

NOTE: 106 responses.

How has an increased share of remote employees affected your firm's productivity overall?

NOTES: 71 responses. Only posed to those who reported a higher current share of remote employees than pre-COVID-19 in the previous question.

Firms reporting an effect on productivity were asked why.

These comments are from respondents’ completed surveys and have been edited for publication.

Increased productivity

• Meetings are easier to manage.
• No interruptions working remotely.
• There seem to be fewer distractions when working at home for many people.

Decreased productivity

• Takes longer to do things.
• There is a basic need to collaborate in-person. The tools available for video/phone collaboration are good, but overall, effectiveness is lower. Contrarily, remote workers are tending to work longer hours due to the productivity impacts of remote working—more time to reach the same output of the past.
• I am seeing limited productivity and lack of collaboration from remote employees.
• Less collaboration, and some employees decrease their effort and time on job-related tasks.
• Lag in communication due to availability. We used to have many quick hallway/office decision meetings that now get delayed due to email/message response time.
• No structure.
• Cannot have interpersonal face-to-face contact that leads to “discovery.” Remote is efficient but limits the interaction. It is just not as good.
• We do not have systems in place to adequately support remote work, nor are we adequately using some of the connectivity tools that are available, such as Zoom. We also do not have the metrics to measure productivity of remote work, so my thought that productivity has decreased is my sense of the results we are seeing.
• Working from home is inefficient: lack of coordination, lack of group problem-solving and sharing. All my associates want to come back and NOW. They are tired and miserable. The glow of working from home has vanished.
• Lack of coordination, and availability of supplies and records.
• Can’t stay focused, poor project reporting, longer delivery time.
• People are less efficient from home and do not have complete access to everything required to do their jobs.
• The face-to-face interaction is better for productivity and relationships.
• Need more interaction with manufacturing. This can be solved with 40/60 split of remote versus on-site. If they come in twice a week, productivity is similar.
• Management, supervision and accountability systems are not equipped to keep employees engaged, provide direction and keep productivity high when done remotely. We noticed a drop-off of productivity for about 80 percent of people working from home after four to six weeks. Initially, a large percentage of workers appeared to increase productivity, but productivity leveled off or started decreasing within a few weeks. Without regular oversight from home, productivity was significantly reduced.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

Chemical Manufacturing

• It is a mixed answer on productivity. In some cases, more efficient methods of communication have been initiated. Sometimes the IT capability of home offices are less than the office.
• No change in productivity has been noticed to date, and I’m not really sure we have an accurate way to measure it fully. I am concerned that if this persists, there will be some decline, especially in building company culture, teamwork and on-boarding/training of new or existing employees.

Fabricated Metal Manufacturing

• The remote work shift allowed a decrease in office lease expenses and less drive time, which expands employees’ time availability. The digital shift required revisions to our website as to how we message, go to market and sell.
• Our shop and office have not experienced any COVID-19 infections. We have had two employees with a family member exposed. Those two employees were quarantined within their homes and tested several times before returning to our site.

Machinery Manufacturing

• Our sales are down 50 percent and revenue will follow. We actually produce parts, so "remote" working is a joke. It is hard to imagine anyone actually making something in America anymore, but there's a handful of us left, no thanks to both parties doing everything under the sun to run us out of business. They will eventually succeed, and part of me looks forward to a city appraisal district trying to sell our building and land for what they taxed us for.
• During the height of COVID-19 hysteria, we had approximately 10 percent of employees working remotely.

Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing

• Productivity remains strong, but I don't believe it can be sustained in all functions for all time. This situation has definitely proved we can work from home for sustained periods of time with minimal or no impact to operations.
• Employee count is misleading. The reduced revenue forces us to choose to downsize further and reduce capability or maintain capability at the cost of profitability. To this point, we have chosen to maintain capability, so employment numbers are greater than the level of revenue would normally support. In an environment where it is inherently less efficient because of absenteeism related to COVID, continued trade issues with China, increased shipping times across the supply chain, and a hyper-political environment, it is difficult to know what to expect going forward and how to properly adjust capacity and capability. It is both busy and slow, a world of contradictions. One thing for sure is that we are working harder for less.
• We have successfully transitioned into primarily work from home. New hires create a bit of a challenge from a training standpoint as we do not have formal training programs in place.
• Because we are a manufacturer, we prefer most employees to be in the plant for improved delivery times and efficiencies.

Food Manufacturing

• We were fortunate. We are an essential industry and produce humanitarian food relief. We have not shut down and, in fact, moved to 12-hour workdays. We invoked every standard of care put forth by CDC [Centers for Disease Control], WHO [World Health Organization], etc., and relied heavily on a “work smart/relax smart” policy for internal control and thinking about what you do over the weekend. We have relied heavily on communication and education, social distancing, hand washing, abundant hand sanitizer and masking. We also sealed the facility to any nonemployees. We have had only one positive COVID-19 test since March 1 and that person was quarantined at home.

Textile Product Mills

• We are a manufacturer, not just an importer, so we have to come to work to "make" the merchandise we sell.

Paper Manufacturing

• It is hard to accurately assess productivity at this point. We expect a slight increase in productivity due to remote (office-at-home) work and reduced travel in general.
• Our revenues are at a high level right now due to seasonal influences, but I remain very concerned what this fall and winter will bring. Our mainstream-product-line revenues, for industrial-based packaging, are below normal levels.

Printing and Related Support Activities

• We would like to add a couple of employees but are concerned to bring in newcomers and possibly infect others within the plant. So, for now, we are staying with what we have and taking care of them as best we can.

Furniture and Related Product Manufacturers

• We are a manufacturing operation, so there are very few positions that can work remotely.

Miscellaneous Manufacturing

• We have not laid employees off but have reduced hours. Our goal was to not lay anyone off, and we have been able to achieve that thus far.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Data were collected August 18–26, and 293 Texas business executives responded to the survey.

How do your firm’s current revenues compare with a typical August?

NOTES: 283 responses. This same question was posed in May, June and July, with the wording adjusted to reference the respective month of comparison. Averages are calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 7.5 percent of responses omitted.

How does your firm's current employee head count compare with February (pre-COVID-19)?

NOTES: 284 responses. This same question was posed in June and July. Averages are calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 7.5 percent of responses omitted.

What share of your employees were working remotely in February (pre-COVID-19), and what share are currently working remotely? What share do you expect to work remotely after the pandemic ends?

NOTE: 284 responses.

How has an increased share of remote employees affected your firm's productivity overall?

NOTES: 191 responses. Only posed to those who reported a higher current share of remote employees than pre-COVID-19 in the previous question.

Firms reporting an effect on productivity were asked why.

These comments are from respondents’ completed surveys and have been edited for publication.

Increased productivity

• No commute time and the ability to work longer hours.
• Lack of commuting time.
• No commute time. Less pressure from management. Less distraction, not having to do other office-related things which are normal for any work environment. The only tasks staffs now do are directly office or work related. Or they rest at home. Quality time by all.
• Availability; less time on lunches/coffee breaks, commuting,
• The full embrace of all modern and even leading-edge communication technologies, along with the associated capital spending, which took several months to actually deploy. In short, the realization that we would be in this mode for at least one year allowed us to dig in and plan for it.
• Successful business continuity plan. The firm was using video conferencing with clients and internally for over five years. We are a service industry, and the insurance and investment companies had adapted many applications to accept an electronic signature versus paper prior to the pandemic.
• Less travel time, more focused, less chatting, etc.
• Less distraction.
• They are able to handle more calls and are willing to work overtime.
• Adapted to methods/better use of existing technology.
• Better work/life balance. Happier employees.
• More work being done, Less distraction.
• Less travel, less commute time, more time.

Decreased productivity

• Less interaction among staff. Service business requires close communication, and that is more difficult working remotely.
• It’s not as efficient having employees work from home. Given their lack of supervision, they prioritize their personal tasks in with their company tasks. Although we are getting by, the people in the office are handling more of the emergency tasks along with assisting the stay-home people with their routine tasks. In short, it’s a necessity, but it will not work long term.
• Level of day-to-day interaction has decreased.
• The longer remote working goes, the more challenging communication becomes, particularly for tasks where engagement and innovative solutions discussions take place.
• Collaboration.
• Harder to collaborate. Less creative back-and-forth.
• Many of our employees working from home have children at home, too. These individuals are being pulled by competing needs: work requirements and children's needs. This is causing people to pull away from work to take care of a child, leading to less work being performed. (This isn’t a criticism of the people doing the work. It’s a fact that has to be accepted and correspondingly addressed/accounted for in today’s environment.)
• Collaboration is key to productivity. It just doesn't happen as often when the team is remote, and it’s more planned instead of organic.
• We are in rural Texas where access to high-speed internet is sparse. Some employees do not have internet available at their homes.
• Lack of immediate interaction with clients and superiors.
• We use software to track productivity. Initially productivity was better than pre-COVID-19 as there seemed to be a general “we are going to make this work” type of camaraderie. The productivity rates continued through the following months but have recently begun to drop. We think this may be due to the increase in cases and the possibility of school staying online. Morale seems to be down because people are tired and worn down by the state of the pandemic.
• It is a small decrease—but primarily because of reduced ability to collaborate and focus on growth.
• Simply harder to have as many one-on-one conversations that create value or save time. Productivity decrease is small, maybe 10–15 percent.
• Slows the flow of information across departments and teams and reduces overall natural collaboration. Longer term, it will erode culture through a loss of organic training and apprenticeship of younger workers.
• It’s more time-consuming for management to supervise and coordinate with remote employees.
• Collaboration speeds up productivity. Work is now separated, and redundant work is not discovered as soon.
• Less collaboration and oversight.
• There is a need to be in the office around other employees. It is like family. They share experiences and support each other.
• Lack of in-office management.
• Not as efficient and not enough face-to-face mentoring and review.
• The decrease is attributable to less work being available. Employees working remotely have been able to meet client demand, but demand is down. Because courts have suspended certain functions and curtailed other activities, the frequency of the need for legal services has been impacted.
• Our business is based on collaboration and sharing ideas. This is much harder to do remotely via Zoom or over computers. Our efficiency is negatively affected, and the creativity is hard to keep consistent when ideas are not shared in person.
• Lack of spontaneous collaboration and real-time solutions.
• Although working from home has worked out, it is not as efficient as working in the office. The lag time has increased the amount of time it takes to get a transaction closed.
• Working remotely is slowing the normal flow of communications between departments. What normally takes one day can take two or three, delaying various parts of the project.
• Communication and spontaneous collaboration are diminished or less effective. The design process is also slowed down, as the communication is delayed and suffers from contextual awareness being hampered by removing or reducing in-person nonverbal communication cues.
• Connectivity and scheduling are causing some lag in coordination efforts, prolonging project completion times.
• The ability to communicate instantaneously and effectively has hampered openness and true engagement.
• They want to come back to work. Too many interruptions at home and little interaction with the workplace.
• Personal time management while working from home has led to measured weaker performance/productivity. Turn-around times have slowed.
• Only a slight decrease in productivity, due mostly to remote management requiring extra time and communication by email and text.
• Less control over workday.
• We are experiencing a 10-plus percent decrease in efficiency based on key metrics through mid-August 2020, primarily (in our case) the result of increased labor cost and unit input on work being produced that cannot be billed.
• Inefficiencies and distractions from being at home with kids in virtual classes, family members sharing workspace.
• Delay in communication.
• We have decreased collaboration.
• Lack of connectivity on day-to-day issues. People who are not visible do not get asked to do things.
• Focus on tasks for some is not as productive.
• Loss of collaboration. In the service industry, we need to be physically in front of the customer.
• There are some tasks that need to be handled in the office and are normally handled by temporary/part-time workers. Due to the pandemic, they are not coming into the office.
• It seems the distractions of having to care for preschool-aged children and/or school-aged children learning remotely, not to mention mixed households with elderly parents/grandparents, seem to be contributing to a loss in productivity. The other issue is, having employee and spouse both working remotely from home seems to also be causing some loss in productivity.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

Truck Transportation

• We're a truck repair shop, so no one can work remotely.

Pipeline Transportation

• Due to remote working, efficiency and collaboration have suffered somewhat, but productivity remains high. Employees are working longer days. They start earlier and finish later.
• We have field personnel that are nearly all still working to move energy from producing basins to market centers.

Support Activities for Transportation

• Our employees have had the ability to work remotely prior to COVID-19; however, there was never a reason to "schedule" employees to work from home.

Warehousing and Storage

• [We are] working well remotely, which was something we had never done before. We have been pleasantly surprised. We have a new administration office building that was slated to open in January, but we are currently redesigning to add a fourth floor to account for professional distancing recommendations. We may still have 25 percent of employees in the future who work remotely or in some sort of hotel arrangement.

Publishing Industries (Except Internet)

• Work productivity may be down marginally, but remote work is very manageable. The downside is not being able to get relationships developed nearly as fast or as well due to no or very limited real human interface/bonding. The current constraints are OK to sustain current customers remotely, but with the need to initiate and grow new accounts to qualify and ramp up business opportunities, it is a significant challenge.

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities

• During COVID-19 beginning in late March, we had 40 percent of employees working remotely, alternating every seven days with 10 percent of each shift not set up to work remotely but all employees being paid a regular salary. We are currently working full staff with open lobbies. Our county still has less than 20 individuals infected with the virus at any one time.
• Our lending team had always had a number of employees working remotely, so there was no real change there. A few additional employees are now working remotely, but we do not see a change in productivity. Our garage employees are almost all working in-shop.

Insurance Carriers and Related Activities

• We have been a remote work company since inception, with some gathering for a weekly team meeting and quarterly strategy retreats. COVID-19 has stopped the gathering, but it hasn't impacted our work.
• We are retail insurance brokers, so we need to be where our clients want us to be, but we are finding that we can do more electronically instead of face to face, as some clients (like banks) are discouraging in-person meetings. So, we may see some remote interactions become permanent.

Real Estate

• We had a lot of people working remotely for a short period, but most employees are working the majority of the time in the office; any who are working remotely are only doing it sporadically.
• We have chosen to close our commercial brokerage business due to the age of the principal and the 80+ percent drop in business, which shows no sign of changing.

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

• Reduction in travel time could be considered a productivity increase for my consulting business even though local travel has not been charged against any job.
• Going forward after COVID-19 is more under control, every company should create its version of remote and office work balance. Since productivity can be high even with remote work, employees should be given maximum flexibility, and a hybrid model works the best for many tech companies like ours (where some work from home and some work from office).
• Our business is up substantially, with the same number of employees.
• The Federal Reserve needs to find a way to wield its considerable balance sheet to dramatically speed up the roll-out of high-speed fiber optic networks and other advanced technologies.
• I sent a memo to staff in February (pre-COVID-19) cautioning against working from home when not explicitly authorized. The memo extolled the need for daily attendance due to collaboration being fundamental to our business. Thirty days later, we were working from home. I have been surprised and elated that our productivity has stayed more or less the same although many are working odd hours that are not always in sync with the remainder of their teams. But, the work is getting done. This genie will not be going back into the bottle quietly when the world gets past COVID-19, and that is a good thing in many respects.
• We were an all-remote company before COVID-19 and will continue to be an all-remote company. What changed for us in working with our clients was the face-to-face meetings at their locations. The shift to virtual was significant as we work intently to get to know the organizations in which we work, and being on-site with them and immersed in their programs helps us discern their infrastructure more quickly. As consultants, it helps to be in the space of the nonprofit partners we are working with. COVID-19 changed all of that to virtual, which resulted in our team working harder and more creatively to learn about our newer clients. Our existing relationships were pretty much unfazed because we already had strong working partnerships.
• Theoretically, remote work has not changed our firms' productivity, meaning employees perform as needed. Remote work has, however, shifted priorities. I can't quantify it, but employees are getting the "day-to-day" must-get-done things completed but not longer-term project work.
• We have to get back in the office. People are used to working at home, and it is not as efficient for a creative firm. It has become very comfortable for most to work at home. This is destroying commerce and the ability to be successful. Let's get the COVID-19 virus figured out and get back to the office.
• While productivity has remained high during the crisis, much of that had to do with (a) responding to the crisis, (b) the strength of our remote platform, (c) all our work can be done remotely, (d) client demand has remained strong, and (e) goodwill among our team that has been built up over a long period of time. As we get to the end of month five of the remote setup, we expect that we are beginning to lose the cohesiveness, organic innovation and camaraderie that we need to continue to work effectively. We continue to stress communication and social interaction, but it is not the same. We won't rush the return to the office, but we will start to encourage more office presence once the numbers go, and stay, down.

Administrative and Support Services

• Appropriately balancing economic and health care concerns remains the key issue. The lingering question is: Will the level of economic stimulus and low interest rates be sufficient to offset GDP [gross domestic product], unemployment and overall economic conditions?
• Current rent expenses are a burden that are not helping the survival of the company.
• While productivity hasn't necessarily been impacted, inter-working relationships have been and we're really starting to sense that in interactions.
• Our employees worked remotely during the worst of the first wave of spread and returned to the office gradually. Except for special situations, our office is in-house four days per week.

Educational Services

• Our ERP [enterprise resource planning] system allows for flexibility in processing at any location, so the impact was minimal. One thing COVID-19 has taught us is that we can still manage the workload with a smaller staff, so that's something we will assess in the months and years to come. I think COVID-19 has changed the way we execute our business model, meaning we are more efficient in delivery, and this will have an impact on the number of employees we hire going forward.

Ambulatory Health Care Services

• Productivity dipped at first, but staff have adapted and are doing well.
• Sixty-five percent of our business office team is working remotely. Our anesthesiologists and CRNAs [certified registered nurse anesthetists], of course, cannot work remotely.
• The spike in new cases confirmed among younger folks and the media hype of year-to-date deaths and new cases, rather than a focus on lower hospitalization/death rates of this younger cohort, helped lower consumer confidence, which is a driver for our cosmetic dentistry segment. That was combined with getting through the shutdown backlog of pent-up demand for general dentistry services, resulting in lower revenue running rates in August. We've yet to see what normal running rates are in the current environment.
• Many health care providers are practicing remotely but [this is] far from ideal—particularly those in primary care. [There has been a] marked decrease in screening for disease—blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, etc.
• We have added positions to facilitate COVID-19 screening.

Nursing and Residential Care Facilities

• We have two employees who are currently fully remote, as their duties allow that ability. For these two, productivity has stayed consistent. Occasionally, due to COVID-19 exposure, other employees have been quarantined at home but able to work remotely, covering many of their regular duties.

Accommodation

• The majority of our team members are unit based, subsequently working on-site. We have a small number of regional-based team members who support the units within their region. We have closed our corporate offices due to COVID-19. I expect we will continue remote work for many positions for the long term, reducing our corporate office footprint.

Food Services and Drinking Places

• Remote work (for positions that are able) has presented some new challenges, but our team members have been terrific at navigating them and presenting solutions. We'll just keep evolving.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Data were collected August 18–26, and 57 Texas retailers responded to the survey.

How do your firm’s current revenues compare with a typical August?

NOTES: 53 responses. This same question was posed in May, June and July, with the wording adjusted to reference the respective month of comparison. Averages are calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 7.5 percent of responses omitted.

How does your firm's current employee head count compare with February (pre-COVID-19)?

NOTES: 53 responses. This same question was posed in June and July. Averages are calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 7.5 percent of responses omitted.

What share of your employees were working remotely in February (pre-COVID-19), and what share are currently working remotely? What share do you expect to work remotely after the pandemic ends?

NOTE: 54 responses.

How has an increased share of remote employees affected your firm's productivity overall?

NOTES: 29 responses. Only posed to those who reported a higher current share of remote employees than pre-COVID-19 in the previous question.

Firms reporting an effect on productivity were asked why.

These comments are from respondents’ completed surveys and have been edited for publication.

Increased productivity

• More attention to detail and less distraction.

Decreased productivity

• Certain jobs are more difficult to do remotely. For some there is no change, but overall, it has decreased.
• More difficult to motivate and direct large sales teams.
• Not the same amount of supervision when people are at home, and harder to communicate.
• One employee is working from home and does not have the ability for personal interaction with customers.
• The random face-to-face conversations that can occur in a business often lead to discussions of issues or topics that lead to business improvements. Now these simply don’t occur. As CFO and over 60, I’m working from home, and our CEO is in the office daily. I think the lack of face-to-face opportunities has hurt our business. Plus, the distractions you face at home may mean longer to return your attention to what you were working on.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

• I think some jobs will be conducive to working remote, while other jobs will not be conducive to a remote work environment going forward. It will take time for us to figure out how it will work and what formula will be best for our company. Needless to say, remote work is here to stay and will be a part of our working future forever.
• Possibly a slight increase [in worker productivity], as fewer interruptions allowed for some lingering projects to be completed. Since most of our remote employees have some tenure, it was fairly easy. As we have to make new hires because of growth or replacement, it will be harder to maintain our culture in a remote-work environment.

Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods

• We already had a remote-work policy in place before COVID-19 hit. It has allowed us to flex without losing productivity.

Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers

• We are an essential business in the transportation industry. Selling of parts and services cannot be done from home.
• April through May we were determined to be an essential business, so we continued to have our showrooms open for business. Due to the need to have social distancing, we gave employees reduced schedules and put them in shifts to reduce the numbers in each dealership. The distancing played a big part in keeping our workforce healthy and COVID-19 free. It wasn't until mid-to-late June or early July that we started having positive tests from sick employees. Masks have just about eliminated this issue in our stores.
• We are dedicated to protecting head count and [maintaining a] stable work force.

Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores

• We produce and sell building materials. The cost of forest products is at an all-time high. That constitutes the entire increase in sales. Actually, we are selling fewer pieces of lumber and plywood, but revenues are up due to the inflation of these products. We expect prices will start dropping as soon as mill production catches up with demand. Demand is starting to drop due to such high prices in this category. People are beginning to hit the pause button on starting any new projects.

Food and Beverage Stores

• [We are an] essential retailer. [We have seen] no significant change.

Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores

• We filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 and are in the process of closing all stores by Sept. 30.