Tech companies such as Tesla, Google and Twitter have reached out to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is encouraging firms to relocate from Silicon Valley, and others including Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have moved to various locations in Texas. The trend could be driven by the shift to remote work and companies seeking lower-cost employees, and Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives says, "There's a mini-exodus of tech companies leaving the Valley, and I think that's going to accelerate in 2021."

Study data find the COVID-19 pandemic has made keeping and finding jobs more difficult for older Americans. T. Tara Turk-Haynes of the Leaf Group said companies have a responsibility to ensure they have equitable hiring practices and can seek help from organizations for underrepresented groups in "casting a wider net."

Benefits administrators can nurture employee health by supporting new eye care technologies aimed at improving outcomes, reducing costs and boosting service to patients, writes Dr. Mark Ruchman, chief medical officer at Versant Health. Gene therapy, sustained-release drugs and remote eye health monitoring are among the advancements.

Women who work outside the home have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and employers can mitigate the negative effect on their workforce's gender balance by following six steps, writes Terri Cooper of Deloitte. The steps include enabling workers to customize their own working arrangements, tackling unconscious bias and demonstrating empathetic leadership.