Business Leaders Have Positive Outlook on 2021, Survey Finds

Most Greater Boston middle market firms have a very positive outlook about their economic prospects this year and half say they are looking to hire more workers, according to a new survey of more than 130 businesses with $25 million or more in annual revenue.

Sixty-three percent of survey respondents said they had a very positive outlook for their company for the rest of 2021. Of those, seven out of 10 attributed their positive outlook to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and six out of 10 cited an increased demand for products and services.

Forty-eight percent of middle market firms said they had too few employees and planned to hire more this year. Survey respondents said attracting and retaining talent will be a key challenge in the post-pandemic economy and they expect to offer more remote/flexible work options and spend more on cybersecurity and information technology.

“Middle market businesses play a key role as employers and economic engines in their communities,” said Jerry Sargent, Northeast Region Executive, Citizens. “They have shown their resilience over the past year. They are upbeat about the balance of 2021 and are looking to attract and retain top talent as the economy recovers and continues to move forward.”

Key findings of middle market businesses survey include:

• Attracting top talent was the No. 1 challenge that middle market businesses cited, with flexible/remote work arrangements (68%); higher than average compensation (51%); and employee benefits such as wellness programs (51%) among the strategies that middle market firms plan to use to retain workers.
• Middle market firms are spending more on technology to compete, with 63% saying they plan to invest in cybersecurity and 60% planning to invest in information technology.
• Technology continued to be a key theme as 82% of survey respondents said they use, or plan to use, advanced data and analytics while 60% use, or plan to use, artificial intelligence.
• The top three concerns cited by business leaders were the ability to find and keep good employees (88%); the U.S. economy (86%); and having the talent needed to grow the business (80%). Other concerns included the ability to attract new customers (78%); the global economy (72%) and the rising cost of doing business (69%).
• Thirty-eight percent of business leaders surveyed said they plan to engage in a merger or acquisition deal this year. Respondents also listed M&A deals as the top reason they would seek outside funding.
• Seventy-five percent of businesses said they have a succession plan in place.
• Finally, 24 percent of companies plan to implement real-time payments, but 55 percent did not know enough about the new payment system to make a decision. More information on real-time payments is available here.

The survey was conducted to understand what Greater Boston middle market executives think about the current business environment and how it might change in the coming year. One hundred and thirty-seven executives at companies with more than $25 million in annual revenue completed the survey, fielded by the Boston Business Journal research team, from Feb. 18 to March 12, 2021. The Boston Business Journal is part of American City Business Journals, the country’s largest owner of local business journals with nearly 500,000 paid subscribers, 16.6 million monthly visitors to its web sites and 220,000 annual event attendees.

For more information, please go to the Citizens website.