Massachusetts is reopening in 11 days! Break out the Champagne! Toss those masks in the trash! Get a commemorative tattoo!

 

We’re going to party like its 2019!

 

Uh. Not so fast.

?

I spent much of yesterday talking to business owners and nonprofit leaders about the state's plans to lift all restrictions May 29.

 

Almost universally, they’re exhilarated, but fearful.

 

Owners are thrilled to be getting back to their business. Customers are back. They want to go back to doing what they do best.

 

But they’re nervous because they know the public and their employees are all over the place in terms of how ready they are for reentry. They're in different phases of being ready too.

 

“Do I just throw open our doors on Aug. 29 and see what happens?” asked one nonprofit leader. 

 

“I have employees who never want to remove their masks,” said another. “I have employees who won’t get vaccinated. What do I do?”

 

Almost universally, staffing tops every manager’s worry list.

 

“Everyone is on OT because we can’t fill jobs, but our customers are becoming more demanding as they expect us to deliver the same level of service we provided pre-COVID,” said one owner.

 

 

More than anything else, the owners and managers I spoke with yesterday had one basic request. 

 

“Be kind to my employees.” “Be patient.” “Be compassionate." "We want to provide a great experience but don’t have the staff we need.” “This is going to take time.”

 

And respect that prices need to go up. The cost of nearly everything has gone up.

 

Others are upset that Gov. Charlie Baker is "leaving it on us" to set their own rules about masking, social distancing and whether or not to require employees become vaccinated.

 

Some also want Baker to reinstate a work-search requirement for those collecting unemployment and offer return-to-work bonuses for taking jobs, rather than staying home.

 

The Globe's Jon Chesto expands that last item here.

 

 

Be courteous to those folks behind the register, taking your order, wiping down your gym equipment, driving that train. 

 

We're all coming back to the world in different phases of being ready for this.

 

Remember how grateful we were at the beginning of this thing to our frontline workers?

 

Go back to doing that.

 

 

According to a survey by insurance and financial services provider Prudential Financial, one in four workers plan to look for a job with a different employer as the threat of the pandemic decreases.

 

“Many companies are preparing for a potential ‘turnover tsunami’ in the wake [of the pandemic],” Kate Keller of Keller Augusta, a boutique search firm in Boston tells Ty West for the BBJ.

 

Eighty-seven percent of those surveyed said they wanted to continue working from home at least one day per week.

 

Nearly three-quarters of workers planning to leave their jobs say the pandemic caused them to rethink their skill sets.

 

AP has more on why some workers aren’t returning to their old jobs.

 

 

Can you require workers to get vaccinated? Can you insist they show you their vax card? Can you mandate employees to wear a mask? What if you sit next to someone who isn’t vaccinated? 

 

The Globe’s Martin Finucane answers here.

 

Didn’t find what you’re looking for there? The New York Times answers other questions here.

 

 

The MA Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT) is launching a new marketing campaign May 28 to promote local dining to coincide with the reopening. The campaign will include digital marketing, radio, billboards, and television. It will focus on restaurants and will run through the end of September.

 

To have your restaurant (or other business) listed on the VisitMA.com site create a free account here.

 

 

 

The proposal to amend Newton’s zoning ordinance to make nearly impossible for gun shops to open was tabled Monday night after city councilors spent more than two hours discussing it, at times getting heated.

 

Jenna Fisher at Patch has the details.

 

 

The Massachusetts House took steps yesterday aimed at relieving employers from those staggering unemployment insurance bills.

 

They voted 157-0 to shift COVID related UI costs over two decades of borrowing, so businesses will not be in line for huge bills in the short term, reports Chris Lisinski and Michael P. Norton at State House News.

 

The bill would also postpone the due date for first-quarter bills, already delayed by about a month, from June 1 to July 31

 

Retailers Association of Mass President Jon Hurst noted that spreading costs over the next 20 years will still fall to current and future employers "for claims that were not their fault," brought on by government-ordered capacity limits and business closures.

 

 

Our condolences to the colleagues, family and friends of David T. Zussman, of the Newton-based Boston Development Group, who passed away recently at his residence in Chestnut Hill at the age of 90.

 

Zussman founded Creative Builders which became BDG in 1956. He was also renowned for his philanthropy. Read more here.