Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Nov 2022
View this newsletter in fullClosing The Cultural Divide in Hybrid And Remote Work
We talk a lot about the powerful influence culture has over every significant business activity — from digital transformation to artificial intelligence to product design. Unfortunately, in many cases, it’s also possible to be a cultural void. This can be particularly vexing in remote-intensive companies. The cultural divide is evident in a survey of 1,200 workers by eLearning Industry, which finds close to two-fifths (37%) believe culture doesn’t exist in the workplace today. In fact, 50% say their leaders “don’t understand what constitutes a strong company culture or what employees want.” Even more damning is the fact that 53% of workers in the survey say their leaders think that simply working in an office is “company culture.” Maybe leaders and managers aren’t that shortsighted, and truly want a more supportive and forward-looking culture — but that is not the impression they're leaving with their workforces.
23rd Nov 2022 - Forbes
Quick Study: Managing and Supporting Remote Work
Now, with offices repopulated, some element of remote work is here to stay for office workers and the IT professionals who support them. This Quick Study features some of the many InformationWeek articles dealing with remote work, including the benefits, challenges, and logistics, as well as what it all means to the IT professionals themselves.
23rd Nov 2022 - InformationWeek
How to build a thriving flexible, remote work culture
As yet another survey highlights the stark disconnect between what employers and their staff want when it comes to remote working, 360Learning has released a report that aims to address the myths surrounding flexible working and how to implement it successfully as a business.
22nd Nov 2022 - Business Leader
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Nov 2022
View this newsletter in fullHybrid And Remote Work And The Decline Of Serendipity In The Workplace
Hybrid and remote work is here to stay, but it could diminish the serendipity — random encounters between employees — that is the dark energy behind innovation. This is perhaps the greatest concern among business leaders as their companies evolve into virtual, or semi-virtual, entities. That’s the finding from a survey out of Achurch Consulting, which finds that business leaders are behind the concept of hybrid and remote work, but, er, have a few concerns. Those center around the potential inhibiting of interaction and culture, the survey finds. Nearly seven in ten respondents (69%) were most concerned with a lack of spontaneous communication, such as the “watercooler” moments or quick office pop-ins.
18th Nov 2022 - Forbes
Remote work is hard. Here are five ways to make it easier
Hybrid work is becoming the norm in the workforce. People spend about two days a week in the office and rave about decreased expenses, increased productivity, and a better work-life balance. But with fewer trips to the office and fewer opportunities to meet and interact with other employees, hybrid and remote workers risk becoming detached from their company culture. According to a study by tech analyst Gartner, 60% of hybrid workers solely identify with their company culture through their direct manager.
17th Nov 2022 - ZDNet
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Nov 2022
View this newsletter in fullMusk tells Twitter staff remote working will end
Elon Musk has told Twitter staff that remote working will end and "difficult times" lie ahead, according to reports. In an email to staff, the owner of the social media firm said workers would be expected in the office for at least 40 hours a week, Bloomberg reported. Mr Musk added that there was "no way to sugar coat the message" that the slowing global economy was going to hit Twitter's advertising revenues.
11th Nov 2022 - BBC News
Ecuador is launching a digital nomad visa, offering low cost of living and good quality of life
Ecuador has launched a new digital nomad visa, promising remote workers “low cost of living” and “authentic experiences.” The South American country is best known for its high mountains, deep rainforests, and the biodiverse Galápagos islands. Thanks to a new visa, would-be digital nomads will have plenty of time to explore these stunning attractions.
11th Nov 2022 - euronews
Remote work and the pursuit of equality
The shift to remote working in March 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has raised many questions on the future of work. A new report looks at who has benefited from remote and hybrid work models and what organizations and governments can do to ensure those currently disadvantaged by the current models can also benefit.
9th Nov 2022 - Phys.org
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Nov 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe refugees able to work remotely for firms around the world
YaganKar was set up in Canada in 2018 by Afghani migrant Jamshid Hashimi, to create remote work opportunities for skilled Afghans both inside and outside of their home country. Described as a talent platform, it links Afghani freelancers with would-be employers around the world.
3rd Nov 2022 - BBC News
Startups, Investors Bet on Remote Work Future
Even as more employers signal an end to remote work, tech startups and their investors are betting that it is here to stay, offering a range of digital tools designed to support a permanent workforce outside of the office. And those bets appear to be paying off. Remotebase, a two-year-old San Mateo, Calif.- based startup that connects businesses with remote software engineers, is seeing revenue growth this year of up to 30% a month, co-founder and Chief Executive Qasim Salam said.
3rd Nov 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 31st Oct 2022
View this newsletter in fullWhat commuters get up to when they no longer commute
What are hybrid workers doing with the time not spent travelling to work, estimated at 60mn hours per day in the US alone? More sleep, for one thing. US workers are sleeping more, according to an analysis on the New York Federal Reserve’s Liberty Street Economics blog. Youngsters in particular are also reallocating commuting time to social events, exercise and eating out, while older age groups devote more time to childcare, DIY and cooking. Yes, they are also spending some of their saved time working. But “the decrease in hours worked away from home is only partially offset by an increase in working at home”, the researchers write. There is ammunition here both for those who advocate bringing more people back to half-empty offices and for the champions of more remote work.
28th Oct 2022 - Financial Times
The Isolation of Remote Work Puts Young Employees Most At Risk. Here's What We Can Do About It.
As leaders reimagine the new definition of a return to the office, we must take our employees' mental health into account, addressing the role an in-office environment plays for each category of worker, especially younger workers. To attain desirable positions, many of today's younger workers are required to move away from their respective universities, relocate far from their families and friends and work long hours to learn and grow in their respective trades. Many of them are now even more isolated due to their remote work environments. In assessing the new return-to-office environment, today's companies must consider factors beyond profit and productivity. We, as company leaders, have a responsibility to consider the mental health of those who join our ranks. And we must be more comprehensive in our approach to doing so.
28th Oct 2022 - Entrepreneur
More People Want to Work From Home But Remote Job Postings Are Declining
The appeal of work-from-home is on the rise even as postings for remote jobs are on the decline, according to new LinkedIn data. In February 2022, a record one in five jobs advertised on the site in the US offered remote work. By September, this figure had fallen to just 14%. Meanwhile, the allure of these opportunities has only grown: Remote job listings attract 52% of applications, up from 50% in February.
26th Oct 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th Oct 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe War to Define What Work Looks Like
The workplace is in the middle of an unusual collision between what bosses and workers want. Employees feel empowered after two years of changing their work habits and leverage gained in a tight labor market. Employers are under increasing pressure to cut costs and boost performance as inflation soars, markets plunge and a possible U.S. recession looms. The result is a battleground at many companies. Some have already backed down on their September return-to-work policies, facing pushback from employees. Others are leaving jobs unfilled because they can’t afford what employees think they should be paid. Middle managers are increasingly caught between these conflicting priorities as they try to keep bosses and workers happy.
22nd Oct 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Zoom, Teams, Slack Are Wreaking Havoc on Employee Productivity
Shifting between multiple apps to get stuff done drains workers’ time, efficiency and engagement. Can anything be done?
18th Oct 2022 - Bloomberg
Americans Reclaim 60 Million Commuting Hours in Remote-Work Perk
Americans who are working from home have reclaimed 60 million hours that they used to spend commuting to an office each day. They’re now using that time to get more sleep instead. That’s the takeaway from a research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which analyzed data from the American Time Use Survey to see what US workers spent their time on when they weren’t stuck on a crowded train or locked in traffic. The main findings: Employees spent fewer total hours working and substantially more on sleep and leisure.
18th Oct 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Oct 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe novelty of remote work wears off for job seekers as a new mentality takes over
Over the past two-plus years, employees have been drawn to remote work like a moth to a flame. But as the dust settles, the novelty of wearing pajamas all day has worn off for some job seekers.
12th Oct 2022 - Fortune
You’re going back to the office. Your boss isn’t.
The relationship between rank-and-file office workers and their bosses has never been equal. But remote work is creating a new kind of imbalance between certain people in leadership and their employees, and it’s stirring up resentment at work. Many managers — from middle management to the C-suite, depending on the workplace — are continuing to work remotely, but at the same time are calling their employees back to the office. Employees are getting angry and fighting back in the few ways they can: not showing up to the office or looking for work someplace else.
12th Oct 2022 - Vox
They Say Remote Work Is Bad For Employees, But Most Research Suggests Otherwise — A Behavioral Economist Explains.
They say remote and hybrid work is bad for employee mental wellbeing and leads to a sense of social isolation, meaninglessness and lack of work-life boundaries. So, we should all go back to office-centric work — or so many traditionalist business leaders and gurus would have us believe. The trouble with such articles (and studies) stems from a sneaky misdirection. They decry the negative impact of remote and hybrid work on wellbeing, yet they gloss over the damage to wellbeing caused by the alternative, namely office-centric work. That means the frustration of a long commute to the office, sitting at your desk in an often-uncomfortable and oppressive open office for 8 hours, having a sad desk lunch and unhealthy snacks and then even more frustration commuting back home.
7th Oct 2022 - Entrepreneur
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Oct 2022
View this newsletter in fullPortugal Unveils Digital Nomad Visa to Lure Remote Workers
Not required to return to the office? You can now live and work in Portugal under a new digital nomad visa. The Portuguese government is unveiling a residence permit for workers to stay in the country for up to a year. Officials released new details this week stating the program, originally announced in July, will go into effect Oct. 30.
7th Oct 2022 - Bloomberg
Disabled Americans Reap Remote-Work Reward in Record Employment
After becoming paralyzed in 2009, Beka Anardi never thought about working again. That is, until the pandemic hit. As millions of people began working remotely, Anardi realized she could resume her career as a recruiter. She sent her resumé to a few people in her network at the end of last year and was employed within a matter of weeks. The 41-year-old now works full-time from her house in Bellevue, Washington, where she can comfortably navigate her wheelchair, avoid the hassle of commuting and take care of her bodily needs in the privacy of her home.
5th Oct 2022 - Bloomberg
Airbnb Co-Founder Bets on Remote Work Amid Back-to-Office Push
Home-sharing company Airbnb, initially paralyzed by pandemic lockdowns but revitalized by the recent travel boom, is betting that remote work is here for good.
Stays of 28 days or more — usually by so-called digital nomads who can do their jobs from various locales — now make up about a fifth of Airbnb’s business. And this year, the company made “work from anywhere” permanent for its 6,000 employees, eliminating pay tiers based on a location’s cost of living and allowing staffers to work up to 90 days a year from any region Airbnb operates in.
27th Sep 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 3rd Oct 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Pitfalls of Remote Work and How to Avoid Them
We are currently in a tug of war between employees and employers. Many leaders prefer their workforce to return to a physical office, while some workers swiftly and vocally revolt when it looks like their ability to choose where they work, is mandated.
Curious about what academic research has told us about the benefits and drawbacks of remote work, I conducted a brief journal review. Unsurprisingly, employees like working remotely and feel they are more productive. However, work is not just about being productive; it helps us learn new skills and connect with others. And fully remote work may not fill these basic needs.
30th Sep 2022 - Psychology Today
Remote workers are wasting their time proving they’re actually working
People who work from home say they’re working, and numerous objective studies show that’s true. But many managers are still worried that they aren’t. In a new study by Microsoft, nearly 90 percent of office workers reported being productive at work, and objective measures — increased hours worked, meetings taken, and amount and quality of work completed — prove them out. Meanwhile, 85 percent of bosses say hybrid work makes it hard to be confident that employees are being productive.
That uncertainty is prompting workers to increasingly show that they’re working — which is decidedly not the same as actually working.
22nd Sep 2022 - Vox
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 26th Sep 2022
View this newsletter in fullHybrid working may hold back women’s careers, say managers
The shift towards hybrid working could be holding back women’s career progression, as research suggests employers are overlooking people who spend more time working from home. Experts have raised concerns that the post-Covid return to work is entrenching the gender pay and promotion gap, with employers failing to monitor its impact or properly design jobs for hybrid and remote working. This especially affects women, who are more likely to choose flexible hours or work from home for childcare reasons.
25th Sep 2022 - The Guardian
China's Digital Nomads Trade Mega-Cities for Backpacker Havens
After a hard day’s work, programmer Richard Hao powers down his laptop in a cafe overlooking Dali’s picturesque lake and drinks in the view. Like a growing number of digital nomads in China, he’s turned his back on big-city living and moved to the tourist hub in Yunnan province, famed for its snowcapped mountains, ancient temples and pagodas.
23rd Sep 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th Sep 2022
View this newsletter in fullCountries Compete for Remote Workers Even as Return to Office Demands Grow
Countries from Costa Rica to Croatia are betting that remote work is here to stay, competing to host digital nomads even as more employers push for a return to office. The number of remote-work visas has risen exponentially since before the pandemic, with at least 30 countries adding them since 2020 to attract those whose jobs allow them to work from anywhere, according to Nomad Capitalist.
17th Sep 2022 - Bloomberg
Everyone is wrong about the future of remote work
Data released this month suggests the long-predicted return to office (RTO) is indeed starting to happen, after several false starts. But just how far it goes remains to be seen, and few expect a return to pre-pandemic normalcy anytime soon.
17th Sep 2022 - Fortune
Members of New York Times, NBC News Digital Unions Defy Return-to-Office Plans
Some union members of the New York Times and NBC News’s digital properties vowed not to come to the office this week and instead work remotely, defying their respective employers’ back-to-the-office plans. Starting this week, the Times and NBC News expect employees to return to the office at least part of the week, both news organizations have told staff in recent memos. The Times union on Sunday said it has more than 1,280 signatures from members pledging to stay home, some of which come from a coordinated effort with the Times’s tech and Wirecutter unions. The three Times unions collectively have around 2,000 members. A Times spokeswoman said the news organization believes a hybrid work environment best suits the New York Times at this moment. She also said a collaborative work environment is a driver of success.
13th Sep 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 12th Sep 2022
View this newsletter in fullWork From Home Is Loved Worldwide, Even If Wall Street Hates It
As Wall Street firms order employees back to the office, the option of working from home remains more popular than ever all over the world, according to a new study. More than two years into the pandemic, many companies have eased vaccination, testing and mask rules and reopened their offices full-time. Goldman Sachs Group and Jefferies Financial Group are among US financial giants leading an aggressive push back to in-person work in recent weeks.
8th Sep 2022 - Bloomberg
Bank of America will release more guidance on work from home in coming weeks -CEO
Bank of America will outline flexible working standards over the next six to eight weeks that will adapt to changing conditions, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said during a New York industry conference. His comments come as financial companies globally are offering more incentives, including free meals, as they battle to get staff back to the office, Reuters reported last week.
6th Sep 2022 - Reuters
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 5th Sep 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Future of Remote Work: 7 Technologies to Watch
Remote work is here to stay. But the challenges it presents -- namely related to employee mental health and productivity -- require innovative solutions. Luckily, in the tech world, innovation is abundant. Here are seven technologies paving the way for the future of remote work.
3rd Sep 2022 - Techopedia
How excessive remote work by millennials entrepreneurs is hampering work ethic
Hardly a day goes by without one whizzy technology company or another announcing it is trying out new ways of working, or experimenting with staff benefits. Last week Atom Bank, a techbased challenger to the traditional highstreet lenders, said it was pressing ahead with a four-day week, and that it was getting overwhelmed with applications. Other companies are experimenting with unlimited holiday time, or wellness classes. Or with a work-from-anywhere policy, allowing staff not just to work from home, but to travel around the world, logging into their laptops from a beach.
3rd Sep 2022 - MoneyWeek
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 2nd Sep 2022
View this newsletter in fullBack to remote? Sea of empty desks prompts jitters in Brussels
Working from home is the new normal in the European Union’s institutions, but not everybody is happy about that. As workers at the European Commission, Council of the EU and European Parliament return from their holidays, many will not be returning to their desks in Brussels’ EU quarter. “Hybrid working” — a combination of remote work and office presence — is one of the few responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that institutions have kept in place. But the home-working trend is fuelling worries that remote working is changing Brussels for the worse.
1st Sep 2022 - Politico
Bosses say remote work kills culture. These companies disagree.
While many companies transitioned to hybrid work, about 36.5 million people in the United States worked remotely at least five days a week as of early August, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. As leaders develop post-pandemic policies, one concern about remote work commonly surfaces: Can a company build and maintain culture if workers are remote? Companies that have been remote pre-pandemic say it’s not only possible but also provides additional flexibility, increased productivity and a competitive edge in hiring. But creating a remote culture takes a shift in mentality, creativity and intentionality, remote companies say.
1st Sep 2022 - The Washington Post
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Sep 2022
View this newsletter in fullDon't Forget The Downsides Of Remote Work
Peter Done is Group Managing Director and founder of business services specialist Peninsula Group. He writes that the benefits of home or hybrid working continue to be well documented, but it’s important to note that it has its downsides, too. There are some issues associated with home working and, nearly three years on from the start of lockdowns, it may not be the golden egg that so many believe it to be.
31st Aug 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 31st Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Work: Benefits for Employees, Employers and the Economy
The back-and-forth over remote work versus going to the office, and versus a hybrid system, isn’t going anyway anytime soon, but this ongoing debate’s noise is definitely getting louder. More companies are using more sophisticated technologies to gauge whether their employees are being productive or not. Meanwhile, companies that have gone 100 percent virtual report that they are doing just fine; other companies are drawing a line in the sand, and that line isn’t including the option to work from home. For many companies that are based or have a presence in America’s mid-sized or small cities, the discussion is largely over.
30th Aug 2022 - Triple Pundit
Remote work vs. in-office: How the pandemic has changed work — possibly forever
The pandemic irrevocably changed how we look at the world around us. As millions of Americans lost their jobs, traditional employment evolved into remote and hybrid models. Over two years into the pandemic, we can start to analyze the results of this shift in work models. While some changed careers, left major cities, and navigated a new normal, others learned how to work their long-term jobs remotely. As a result, freelance and remote work thrived, creating new possibilities for a healthier work/life balance.
30th Aug 2022 - MassLive.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 30th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullNeeded: Design Thinking For Remote And Hybrid Workplaces
Remote work and hybrid workplaces have become a staple of doing business in the 2020s. Just about every organization was pushed into it starting in March 2020, and continue to maintain portions of their workforces remotely. At the same time, while the Covid crisis required employees to simply pick up and relocate to their homes or other remote sites, a hybrid or flexible work culture needs to be baked into the organizational psyche. Preparation and a change of mindset is key, says Robert C. Pozen, senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management. “Most companies have found that a significant portion of their work can be done remotely. But the exact portion of work that is remote and in person is a design decision that should be made at the team level, rather than a uniform rule across the entire organization".
29th Aug 2022 - Forbes
Does remote working have a future in a post-COVID Middle East?
Since the easing of pandemic restrictions, companies and government departments have been eager — some of them impatient — to bring staff back into the office setting. Indeed, new studies show that the demand for office space in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE is now on the rise. Could the Middle East be witnessing the end of the era of “working from home,” popularly known as WFH?
29th Aug 2022 - Arab News
Is the work-from-home debate already over?
For the most part, the worst of the Covid pandemic is over. People are getting back to their normal lives. But does a “normal life” mean coming back to the office? That’s up for debate. Workers at AT&T say they’re being forced to return to the office early and have started a Change.org petition to make their company’s pandemic work-from-home policies permanent. Apple employees, upset with their company’s return-to-office orders, have launched a petition saying the company has risked stifling diversity and staff wellbeing by restricting their ability to work remotely. Meanwhile a few big-name corporate leaders are pushing back.
29th Aug 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 26th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullIs remote working fuelling a loneliness epidemic? | theHRD
With the four-day working week being trialled across 70 British companies and 3,300 workers, and calls for more hybrid and flexible working opportunities, the one method that doesn’t appear to be operating as well as we’d thought is full-time remote work. Amid growing concerns about loneliness in remote workers, it is also proving to be a real threat to work-life balance and contributing to a lack of trust between managers and employees.
25th Aug 2022 - The HR Director Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullWhy disconnection in remote work comes from unclear organisational values, not physical detachment
Steven Bartlett’s interview with Malcolm Gladwell in a recent episode of his podcast, The Diary of a CEO, sparked backlash from the digital nomad community and remote and hybrid workers alike, casting further light on the work from home debate. Contrary to Gladwell’s assertions, remote and hybrid work are not the issue at hand. The disconnect happens when employees are not onboarded into the company's mission and their values and therefore do not feel a sense of drive and belonging. Leaders should focus on onboarding new employees as thoroughly as possible, telling a compelling story about the mission of the organisation and encouraging new starters to seek connection.
24th Aug 2022 - People Management
Remote work gives UK counties new chance to become tech hubs
Ten counties in the UK could be home to a new generation of tech talent after the rise of remote work across the country, according to new research. With Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg suggesting that 50% of the company’s workforce could be working remotely by 2030, the strong likelihood is that other tech organisations will follow suit, meaning areas of the UK with a lower cost of living could become far more desirable for those wanting to escape city life.
24th Aug 2022 - FE News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote working ‘hurt research collaborations’
The first study of its kind estimated that a lack of in-person interactions have hampered innovation as academics spoke only to those they knew already.
23rd Aug 2022 - Times Higher Education
Apple's remote work struggles suggest there's no going back on working from home
Efforts by CEOs to push workers back to the office are failing, as it's becoming increasingly clear that the world of strictly in-office work is gone. Some employees at Apple are pushing back against an order from CEO Tim Cook to return to the office three days a week starting next month, the FT reports. Cook wants to hang on to the "in-person collaboration essential to our culture," according to the report.
23rd Aug 2022 - Axios
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 23rd Aug 2022
View this newsletter in full13 Handy Essentials That'll Help You Work From Absolutely Anywhere
The thing about working remotely though, is that while it opens up a lot of opportunities, it’s not always easy to do it well. But, the good news is that there are lots of handy tools that can help to make working effectively from anywhere (and we mean anywhere) far simpler. From noise-canceling headphones ideal for those of us who get easily distracted to super powerful charging banks, we’ve rounded up all of the essentials you’ll need.
22nd Aug 2022 - Huffington Post UK
Increased health warning for Australians working from home
More than 40 per cent of Australians working from home do not have a suitable workstation or the correct equipment, a new study has found. The research from the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA) has prompted a health warning, urging workers to correct their poorly set up home workspaces to avoid any physical injuries. It comes as chiropractors across Australia reported a huge spike in people presenting with work-related injuries.
22nd Aug 2022 - 9News.com.au
Keeping Hybrid Workers In Sync, Digitally And In-Person
Working in an office full-time can be a downer, but full-time remote work has its issues as well — such as social isolation and invisibility. The best approach is hybrid work, in which workplaces function more like college campuses, offering flexibility, along with places to collaborate and learn. At least that’s the ideal. The reality is hybrid work can be more complicated. Consider the stress of hunting down information. For more than three in four managers and employees, it means daily stress, a recent survey of 27,000 managers and workers across the globe, released by OpenText, finds.
22nd Aug 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow to Cowork Remotely With Friends—or Strangers
Working remotely from home is now far more common than it used to be. That brings with it plenty of advantages, but also a few challenges, such as the need to stay motivated and on task when there are no colleagues around and so many distractions just a click away. To try and tackle this problem, some people are turning to strangers on the internet—strangers who will sit with them, connected over a video call, while both parties study or work or do whatever needs to be done. It may sound like a bizarre solution at first, but it works better than you might think. It adds a low level of accountability without much additional effort.
21st Aug 2022 - Wired.co.uk
How workplace bullying went remote
Bullying has long been an issue in workplaces, and encompasses a wide spectrum of behaviour, typically associated with in-person work. A familiar scenario might be a domineering boss publicly berating an employee to humiliate them, or a group of colleagues leaving the office for lunch together, deliberately leaving another behind.
For some employees, remote work has provided relief and distance from the everyday distress of dealing with such incidents. Yet there is also evidence that, as companies have increasingly switched to remote and hybrid models, workplace bullying has not only continued but thrived, often in more subtle ways – especially as technology has opened new avenues for unkind behaviour.
19th Aug 2022 - BBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 19th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullAs businesses embrace fully-remote work, does company culture suffer?
A growing number of companies have instituted policies allowing any employee to work fully remote, including Twitter, Meta (Facebook), Airbnb, 3M, Atlassian, Lyft, SAP, Slack, Spotify, and VMware. Many are taking a cue from employees who want to work in a fully virtual world, choosing to shutter offices and manage remotely; other organizations have permanently closed offices that were only used infrequently by a small number of employees. It's not just large firms; smaller companies are getting on the remote-only train, too. Online job consultancy Remote.co has created a list of 25 small companies that are fully virtual for job-seekers.
18th Aug 2022 - ComputerWorld
How To Build And Sustain A Remote Work Culture With Engaged Employees
The pandemic showed many companies that their employees could flourish in a fully or partially remote work environment. Assess your company’s goals and capabilities. Talk to your teams about how they feel they work best and what can help them achieve their desired goals while keeping work processes running smoothly. As with any team of high performers, leaders may need to be the guardians of their team’s personal time occasionally. For example, remind team members not to send emails or check work messaging apps outside of working hours. People need to disconnect.
18th Aug 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullSpurred by Remote Work, All-Virtual Companies Thrive
A couple years ago, as the Covid crisis struck, forcing just about every company to operate as a virtual enterprise, run out of living rooms and home offices. While many have called employees back to the office at least part of the time, others have discovered they operate just fine — or even better — as 100% virtual enterprises. It is estimated that at least 16% are fully remote, and 62% of employees work remotely at least part of the time. Leaders of what are now all-virtual companies say the forced virtualization of 2020 turned out to be a pleasant surprise for them.
17th Aug 2022 - Forbes
No, a recession won’t kill remote work. It will actually strengthen it
Extensive evidence shows that remote work is more productive. A Stanford University study found that remote workers were 5% more productive than in-office workers in the summer of 2020. By the spring of 2022, remote workers became 9% more productive, since companies learned how to do remote work better and invested into more remote-friendly technology. A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, meanwhile, found that productivity growth in businesses widely relying on remote work grew much faster than industries where in-person contact is needed.
17th Aug 2022 - San Francisco Chronicle
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Work Is Hurting Productivity, New York-Area Firms Say
More New York area service firms think remote work is hurting productivity than helping it, according to a survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Among firms from a wide range of industries outside of manufacturing, 30% reported a negative effect on productivity, while 20% indicated a positive effect. The remaining half noted little change, per the data released Tuesday.
16th Aug 2022 - Working Remotely
Are You a ‘Digital Nomad’? European Locales Want Remote Workers
Many remote workers indulged their wanderlust during the pandemic, taking their laptops and passports to far-flung destinations. Now many parts of Europe are enticing them to come stay awhile longer. Nearly a dozen European countries, from Latvia to Croatia to Iceland, have introduced longer-term visas to attract affluent remote workers from abroad. Others, including Italy and Spain, have similar plans in the works. Many, such as Greece and Estonia, are also wooing these so-called digital nomads with tax breaks and other perks. Some European cities and villages have also started their own remote-worker campaigns as a way to boost their economies and sustain local service jobs.
16th Aug 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 16th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow to Have an Inclusive Workplace--Even When You're Still Working From Home
More than two years into the pandemic, the remote working schedule endures. In spring 2022, 58 percent of American employees reported having the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week, as per management consulting firm McKinsey's survey of 25,000 American employees. Though plenty of employees enjoy the flexibility of the virtual setting, LGBTQ+ workers say they feel less supported in the remote working environment. A recent survey shows that 33 percent of LGBTQ+ employees have experienced non-inclusive behaviors such as unwanted comments of a sexual nature and being excluded socially in both the office and remote-work environments, according to a Deloitte global survey of more than 600 LGBTQ+ employees. The report shows that 20 percent of LGBTQ+ employees have only experienced non-inclusive behaviors in a virtual setting.
15th Aug 2022 - Inc.
Opinion: Fully remote work could soon vanish
As restaurants, malls and movie theaters fill back up with people, the workplace has remained nearly empty. This is partly driven by how engrained remote work has become in society. People have invested in creating workspaces in their homes, relocated to smaller towns and even taken their work to vacation resorts. Now, amidst an easing pandemic and slowing economy, companies are increasingly trying to draw employees back into the office. But many just don't want to go.
15th Aug 2022 - CNN
AT&T workers fight return to office push: ‘We can do the same job from home’
The Covid-19 pandemic sent millions of workers in the US from working in offices to working remotely. As unemployment benefits ended, vaccines rolled out, and reopenings expanded, employers and commercial real estate groups have been pushing to try to get workers back into offices. But the pandemic further exposed the issues in returning to office, from long commutes to and from work, exorbitant childcare costs, ongoing concerns over exposure to Covid-19 variants and now monkeypox, workers are pushing to keep working from home as an option as employers force a return to the office.
15th Aug 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 15th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullAre we past peak WFH?
Last week the author Malcolm Gladwell suggested it’s “not in our best interests” to work from home. He told The Diary of a CEO podcast: “If you’re just sitting in your pyjamas in your bedroom, is that the work-life you want to live? If we don’t feel like we’re part of something important, what’s the point? If we’re just doing this for a paycheck, what have you reduced your life to?” For all the fuss, working from home is still a minority activity in Britain.
14th Aug 2022 - The Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 12th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullNearly Half of Remote and Hybrid Government Employees Say Team Performance Has Improved During Past Two Years
As the pandemic has put immense pressure on government employees to deliver public services, new research finds that teleworking has improved team performance. Forty-six percent of government employees who telework – both fully remote and hybrid employees – say their team’s performance improved during the past two years. Only 35 percent of in-person government workers say their team’s performance has improved during the period, according to new research from Eagle Hill Consulting.
11th Aug 2022 - Associated Press
Gen Z worker demands include flexible work and wellness perks
When Ginsey Stephenson moved to San Francisco for work in February, she finally met and mixed with her colleagues for the first time. It was something the 23-year-old had longed for since entering the professional world out of college seven months prior. The boutique public relations firm she works for follows a hybrid schedule of three days in the office per week, meaning she no longer has to nervously message people on Slack she had never met in person. Most importantly, being in the office has helped her transition from working from her parents’ Virginia home to life as a working adult.
11th Aug 2022 - The Washington Post
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home? Here's how to make work friends anyway
According to a study by JobSage, remote workers have an average of 33% fewer work friends than those who work in an office setting, while two in three people have worked in a remote office where they never made any friends. According to another study, we are all craving work friends more than ever. In fact, according to BetterUp Labs, more than half of employees would sacrifice some of their income if it meant making stronger connections at work. With more and more people working from home, how can we all prioritise making workplace friendships?
10th Aug 2022 - Stylist Magazine
Work-From-Home Jobs Haven’t Made Things Easier for Women
Women have gained all the perks that come with flexibility during this pandemic, but they have also become one-woman safety nets.
10th Aug 2022 - Bloomberg
Half of businesses look to metaverse to facilitate hybrid working
Employers across the UK are leveraging the metaverse to help bring the office to workers’ living rooms, as they respond to the demand for hybrid working. A new study suggests that half of all organisations are now exploring the possibility of launching an online office space for their staff.
10th Aug 2022 - Consultancy.uk
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullPost pandemic Britons still spend more time working from home - ONS
British workers are spending more time working from home compared with pre-pandemic times despite the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, according to official data released on Tuesday that offered a glimpse of what the 'new normal' looks like. In March 2020 the global coronavirus outbreak triggered a radical redesign of swathes of the world economy, forcing many firms and their workers to give up on the office temporarily and adapt to working from home.
9th Aug 2022 - Reuters
Everyone’s over remote work except for the workers themselves
The economy has a case of remote work. That’s the story corporate America told in second-quarter earnings calls. To some CEOs, any ills their companies face inevitably come down to the fact of people logging on from home. As a result, if their business hinges on a steady hum of commuters, they’ve struggled to adapt to the reality of prolonged telework. To paraphrase William F. Buckley Jr., the mid-century media mogul behind the conservative National Review, many CEOs are standing athwart the remote work era, yelling for it to stop. Especially the ones whose business relies on foot traffic in core urban centers.
9th Aug 2022 - Fortune
Why overthinkers struggle with remote work
Anyone can suffer under the isolation of remote work – even for the least social people, spending workdays with only a webcam or messaging platform to contact people they once saw all the time can eventually take a toll. But this isolation can be particularly hard on one type of worker: the ‘overthinker’. These are individuals who tend to over-analyse events around and pertaining to them, and need reassurance that everything is OK.
4th Aug 2022 - BBC News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 9th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home more alluring to everyday Australians
In Australia, big businesses are trying to entice their employees back into the office for two or three days a week – but the lure of working from home is winning.
8th Aug 2022 - Sky News Australia
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote working: The countries shunning the post-COVID work trend and why
A recent study from employment site Indeed found that the number of global job listings with a remote component has soared since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly tripling from an average of just 2.5 per cent in January 2020 to almost 7.5 per cent in September 2021. Spain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom are just some of the countries seeing the greatest increases, and the United States is no stranger to the trend either. Remote opportunities leapt from under 4 per cent of all high-paying jobs before the pandemic to about 9 per cent at the end of 2020, and to more than 15 per cent today in North America.
7th Aug 2022 - Euronews
8 Ways to Balance Your Home Life and Remote Work (And Stay Productive)
Even though most of us feel our lives have returned to normal since 2020, many aspects of life across the globe have seen a radical transformation. The most obvious of these might be the workplace. According to the Pew Trust, six in 10 U.S. workers are still working remotely. About that same number are choosing to work at home. For many, this transition has its challenges. But there are strategies to making a work-at-home life more fulfilling and productive.
5th Aug 2022 - Entrepreneur
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 5th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow to minimize distractions when you work from home
The first step to mitigating distractions when working from home is to accept that you become distracted because humans are distractible. It is part of your nature. To be clear, the goal isn’t to avoid non-work at all costs. The goal is to manage distractions. Sometimes, that means leaning in. The corollary of all of this is that, to avoid distractions while working from home, you also have to avoid work distractions while living from home. Unless you truly have the kind of job where you have to be available 24/7, make sure that when you’re off the clock, you’re off the clock
4th Aug 2022 - The Verge
Five strategies for retail businesses still struggling to switch to remote work
For many people, staying productive and maintaining balance when working remotely can be very challenging. You must equip your home office with all the tools, maintain communication as if you were in the office, and many more things. Luckily, here are the five strategies to help you stay productive when working remotely in retail.
4th Aug 2022 - Retail Technology Innovation Hub
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote work ate your vacation. ‘The lines between work and life have become increasingly blurred’
A recent report from Qualtrics finds that roughly half of American employees said they work about one hour a day when on vacation. Most knowledge workers can work anywhere with a laptop and a wi-fi connection, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. But when does work stop? Since many of us stopped going to the office in March 2020, work has become an ever-present specter in our homes, and now even when we (try to) go on vacation. The truly unplugged vacation is becoming a thing of the past.
3rd Aug 2022 - Fortune
Rise of remote working is creating diversity in tech
Latin America has recently become the new forefront for nearshore IT talent, as its industry has seen rapid development in the past five years. The silver lining of the global pandemic is the rapid acceleration of diversity in technology talent because companies of all sizes realize that it takes a global village of talent to meet market demands. As part of an initiative to make the tech industry in Latin America more inclusive, many countries are working hard to make sure that US companies have a diverse roster of talent to choose from.
3rd Aug 2022 - The HR Director Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 3rd Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullHybrid work is not a perfect solution to our changing workplace
It’s a mistake and a failure of leadership to conflate forced working from home during a pandemic with true remote work. During the pandemic, many workers experienced an at-home version of the traditional work environment. In-person meetings were replaced with daily stand-up calls. Happy hours were replaced with after-work Zooms. The remote work we experienced during the pandemic lacked flexibility and autonomy. Now, many companies are pushing their employees back to the office touting “flexible” or “hybrid” approaches that aren’t actually flexible. This is a failure of management to explore a new way of thinking about work.
2nd Aug 2022 - Fast Company
Opinion: Remote working could be a game changer for local towns in these uncertain times
We must take immediate action to realise the massive opportunity remote work presents for the development of towns and villages across rural and regional Ireland. The national debate on the cost of living and predicted recession must take into account how geographical location impacts people’s access to good quality job opportunities. There is a clear argument that remote work can be an effective win-win solution in times of crisis, as was clearly evidenced during the pandemic. We now need to recognise that remote work has the potential to be a significant mitigating factor if the predictions of a recession, or an escalation of the energy crisis, are to materialise.
2nd Aug 2022 - TheJournal.ie
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 2nd Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullThings we've learned working from home
When we started working from home in March 2020, many of us who had not worked at home before may have begun with certain assumptions about what it would be like and what we would need. It’s now over two years later, and while we’re now able to spend time in the office, most of us are spending the majority of our working time at home. We asked The Verge staff members about what they’d learned about working at home. In response, people talked about the need to get away from the desk and to get away from work, the challenges of working in the same space with family, and various strategies for staying sane while staying in the house.
1st Aug 2022 - The Verge
Hybrid work is here to stay: The shift helps young professionals focus on priorities & work-life balance
We're in the middle of a remote working revolution. In the UK, though remote working was slowly growing before the pandemic, in 2020 the number of people working from home doubled. While this rapid rise can be explained by COVID lockdowns, a recent survey conducted with 2,000 London workers found that six in ten employees still regularly work from home despite restrictions no longer being in place. And most don't want that to change.
1st Aug 2022 - Economic Times
Australia's Covid-19 wave at record levels, prompting push to work from home again
Australia's surging Covid-19 outbreak has prompted debate about whether workplaces should again be encouraging staff to work from home. As hospitalisations reached record levels last Tuesday (July 26), the health authorities and experts have urged employers to allow staff to work from home if feasible. The nation's chief medical officer Paul Kelly warned on July 19 that Australia was "at the start of this wave, not the end", and that staff should talk to their employers to see if they can work from home. "If it's possible for you to work from home during the next couple of weeks, that will make a big difference," he told Channel Seven. Some of Australia's biggest firms have heeded this advice.
1st Aug 2022 - The Straits Times
Londoners Leaving the City in Droves as Covid Trend Persists
The push to leave London sparked by the coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of slowing down even after millions of workers returned to their city center offices.
Almost 8% of the British homes purchased outside of the capital were bought by Londoners in the first half of the year, the same proportion as a year earlier when the post-Covid rush kicked off. That’s up from 6.9% in the first half of 2019, the year before the the pandemic struck, according to data compiled by broker Hamptons. Buyers have flocked to the countryside in search of more green space after being cooped up in their homes during a series of lockdowns in 2020, taking advantage of more flexible working patterns and pent up savings.
1st Aug 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Aug 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home ‘considerably more effective’ than masks on children
A pandemic adviser to the federal government says people should work from home if they can and warned employers not to expect their COVID-infected staff to continue working while ill. Professor Jodie McVernon, one of Australia’s most influential epidemiologists, said workplaces had long been shown to be catalysts for COVID-19 spread through the community and if it was possible for people to work from home during the current wave, it was a “sensible thing to do”.
31st Jul 2022 - Sydney Morning Herald
Four reasons the shift to hybrid working is set to stay for young professionals
Before the pandemic, employees in their 20s were by far the least likely to work from home. In 2022, 64% of 16 to 24-year-olds we surveyed reported working at home for at least part of the week. This figure is in line with 25 to 49-year-olds (65%) and in fact higher than for people over 50 (48%). Other research also shows that young professionals now engage in hybrid working – dividing their time between their home and their workplace – and may prefer this model to being in the office full time.
31st Jul 2022 - The Conversation
'Desk-based social work that can be done from anywhere': Ofsted issues warning over remote working
Remote working practices introduced during Covid are putting the quality of social work practice at risk, Ofsted has warned. The inspectorate particularly highlighted the practice of people working remotely for employers many miles away and raised concerns about the impact on peer support and learning of remote working, in a report this week on recovering from Covid.
31st Jul 2022 - Communitycare.co.uk
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 29th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home debates must include what 'home' actually is
In lockdowns, those who were able to work from a dedicated office in their large home or a converted shed in the garden had a very different experience from those in crowded flats. Now that the world is opening up again, employees’ decisions to move further away from work are causing tensions. Some employers have stepped in to help with housing costs. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a professional organisation, says most assistance is geared towards subsidised rental deposits or moving-in allowances.
28th Jul 2022 - Financial Times
Why Remote Work Shouldn't Be Up for Debate
In the immediate aftermath of Covid-19 lockdowns, many companies found their wings as newly minted remote work operations. While this was a move made out of necessity, more than a few decided to make the shift permanent. The reality is, that working in an office is how things were done for generations. Many who are now in positions of leadership have worked their way up through this system and understand it, find comfort in it, and may assume it is the only way that anything meaningful can be achieved on a wide scale.
28th Jul 2022 - Entrepreneur
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullDigital nomads seek sun, sea and sustainability as remote work booms
Remote and flexible working has boomed since coronavirus lockdowns lifted globally, backed by major companies from AirBnB to Twitter and a rising number of nations issuing digital nomad visas which allow people to stay and work for up to two years. The typical profile of a digital nomad is shifting, as island-hopping 20-somethings are joined by online workers in their 30s and 40s travelling with partners and children, experts and researchers say. But concerns are growing over their environmental impact.
27th Jul 2022 - The Taipei Times
New Covid Variants Will Fuel Fully Remote Work This Fall
The battle over fully remote work is heating up this summer as more traditionalist business leaders are demanding that their employees come to the office much or all of the time. The same struggles are happening at smaller US companies, as well as across the globe. Yet what these traditionalist executives are failing to realize is that the drama, stress, and tensions caused by their demands won’t matter. Fully remote work will win this fall.
27th Jul 2022 - Psychology Today
From Bali to Bermuda: 6 tropical destinations that make it easy to live and work remotely
Many “digital nomads” can do their jobs from anywhere — and they take advantage. These workers have no set business location and earn their livings by working remotely from anywhere in the world. In response to the growing trend, more and more countries are making it easier than ever to work remotely. That includes a number of tropical locations that can make your job feel like a vacation year-round.
27th Jul 2022 - CNBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 27th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullGen Z, rejoice: Most of the bosses who insist on return to office will retire soon
Executives are divided along generational lines when it comes to their top concerns in implementing flexible schedules, according to new research by the Future Forum. While polling executives’ concerns regarding flexible work, the research consortium found that older managers (aged 50 and over) cared most about hybrid-work schedule coordination and then productivity and learning. Coming in last in their priorities was inequities surrounding flexible work. The issue of inequality surrounding remote and in-person work options, meanwhile, was the number one concern for younger executives.
26th Jul 2022 - Fortune
Costa Rica Offers Digital Nomad Visas To People Who Are Working Remotely
Costa Rica is providing a digital nomad visa scheme. The talks about introducing the visa scheme have been on since August 2021 but it has now finally been put into effect. Here’s how you can qualify for the visa scheme – you will have to work in a foreign or a non-Costa Rican company and the work allows you to work remotely. To secure your stand, you will have to earn a minimum of $3,000 (Rs. 2,39,320.20 approx) per month.
26th Jul 2022 - Outlook India
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 26th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking-from-home comforts create new class divide
Earlier this month, unions covering white-collar workers began a campaign for the right to work from home to be included in future enterprise agreements, arguing, among other things, this will keep their members safe from new COVID variants. It didn’t take long for the Victorian government to agree with the Premier quickly conceding last Friday that working-from-home arrangements will be a feature for the state’s employees going forward. The evolution of WFH from an emergency measure, for which public servants received compensation, to a here-to-stay part of the landscape has come quickly.
25th Jul 2022 - The Age
Need to strike a healthier work-life balance when you work from home? These apps can help.
Is there such a thing as work-life balance now that so many of us are working from home? A bevy of experts and happy WFH-ers say there is – especially with the help of the latest tech tools and expert tips.
25th Jul 2022 - USA Today
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullIs Hybrid Work Killing Remote Summer? Yes, but It Doesn't Have To.
For more than two years, many knowledge workers have enjoyed the unfettered freedom to spend weeks or months at a time taking Zoom meetings from a lake house or filing reports while driving across the country. Now, some companies maintaining an in-office component are carving out time for people to work from anywhere, among them American Express Co., which offers 30 days. This past fall, Amazon.com Inc. went from planning to have employees in the office three days a week to letting directors of individual teams decide how frequently they will go in. The company has said it wants the majority of people to be able to easily travel to the office for a meeting on a day’s notice, but it’s still reserving four weeks of remote work for almost all corporate employees.
24th Jul 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Boomers, bosses and Elon Musk are all wrong about remote work
The remote-work debate rages on into its third year. Elon Musk may claim that remote workers are pretending to do their jobs, but residents of New York City and San Francisco can tell you that there’s just no going back to the before-times of the five-day commute. And bosses—particularly boomers—remain steadfast supporters of returning to the office, despite the fact that just about all employees want to work from home at least some of the time. Slack’s latest Future Forum survey installment showed a clear divide between managers 50 and above, who really don’t like remote work, and younger ones, who are frankly pretty chill about the whole thing.
24th Jul 2022 - Fortune
The future of remote work, according to 6 experts
Whether you’re a remote work booster or a skeptic, there are lots of unanswered questions about what happens next for remote work, especially as Covid-19 restrictions continue to fade and as fears of a recession loom. How many people are going to work remotely in the future, and will that change in an economic downturn? Will remote work affect their chances of promotion? What does it mean for where people live and the offices they used to work in? Does this have any effect on the majority of people who don’t get to work remotely? If employees don’t have to work in person to be effective, couldn’t their jobs be outsourced?
24th Jul 2022 - Vox.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home: major Australian employers respond to latest Covid health advice
Telstra and Westpac have advised staff to work from home if they can following national health advice recommending that employers make changes to limit the spread of Covid during the winter wave of infections. On Tuesday, the chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) – comprised of all state and territory chief health officers – had reiterated its advice which “called on employers to allow work from home if feasible”. But after the advice from the commonwealth’s top medical adviser a number of government departments have not yet shifted their work settings, and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, stopped short of asking bosses to let more staff work from home instead of the office.
20th Jul 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullAustralians urged to work from home as COVID hospital cases surge
Australians have been urged to work from home and wear masks indoors as the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 nears record levels. The country is in the midst of a third wave of coronavirus, driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, and earlier this month broadened access to second booster shots to deal with the surge in cases. Daily cases climbed to 50,248 on Tuesday, the highest in two months. Some 5,239 Australians are currently in hospital with COVID-19, just short of the record 5,390 recorded in January. “We need to do some things differently at least for a short period of time,” Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told ABC Radio on Wednesday, as he predicted the number of people admitted to hospital will soon hit an all-time high.
20th Jul 2022 - Al Jazeera English
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullI'm Black. Remote work has been great for my mental health.
How many racist scenarios, comments, and situations would I have avoided enduring if I didn’t need to come into the office? That psychological toll is why many African American employees are opting out of going into the office and embracing remote work. The average Black employee can share tales of daily racial incidents. Black workers already take on a disproportionate amount of stress at work. All of that stress is made worse by racism, which has a tremendous impact on the mental and physical health of the Black community
17th Jul 2022 - Slate
How to land a totally remote job without any remote work experience
If you’ve read that having no remote experience will prevent you from landing a job, think again! After all, everyone had to have a first remote job at some point. It turns out, there are many ways to position yourself as a qualified remote candidate with only in-office experience in your past. There are ways to highlight the skills and experience you have in a way that will make you a competitive candidate for remote work. While you may not have years of experience working remotely, by being creative, you can demonstrate that you have what it takes to be a successful remote worker.
17th Jul 2022 - Fast Company
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 15th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote work spurs a national wage leveling in tech
As more employees work remotely in the aftermath the global COVID-19 pandemic, salaries based on where in US they live are showing signs of leveling. For example, a recent study by fintech startup Carta found that salaries for tech startup employees in Seattle now match those of workers in San Francisco, which is a tech market salary leader. “As remote work becomes a fact of life, [startup] founders are increasingly faced with a key decision: should they adjust compensation by location?” the Carta report said. “The vast majority of companies (84%) do take location into account when deciding on compensation packages.”
14th Jul 2022 - Computerworld
Is it up to employees to fix the remote-work promotion gap?
It’s well-known that proximity plays a role in promotions: managers are more likely to know workers they spend more time with better, give them key assignments and, as a result, develop their careers. And now, in the wake of the pandemic, it’s also becoming clear some managers view in-office workers more favourably, due to concerns they have that employees who work from home could be less engaged. This represents a concern for remote workers: if managers are biased towards colleagues they see more often, will home-workers be able to compete – or might their choice of work location leave them overlooked, potentially stigmatised and struggling to move up the ladder?
14th Jul 2022 - BBC News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home to become normal, PwC Taiwan says
Working from home is likely to become a regular arrangement even though the world is increasingly emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan told a forum in Taipei. PwC’s US arm has introduced a permanent remote working model for its 40,000 employees, who need to travel to the office three days per month or less, for key meetings or training courses, PwC Taiwan human resources head Alan Lin said.
13th Jul 2022 - The Taipei Times
Hybrid work could mean employers are overlooking disabled staff
Disabled employees are concerned they will lose out on opportunities at work due to working remotely. New research from The Work Foundation found 70% of disabled workers said it would negatively impact their physical or mental health if their employer did not allow them to work remotely. However, a majority (70%) of those with multiple impairments or conditions in the research said they felt opportunities to stretch and grow at work would go to those in the office instead.
13th Jul 2022 - HR Magazine
Why CEOs are so WTF about WFH
At a sinner debate for NYSE, after one CEO asked a question about the merits of hybrid work, the conversation became highly emotive. A show of hands revealed most CEOs disliked the policy of remote working. Another showed most were only getting their staff into the office for two days a week at best. As the debate raged, it turned this economics dinner into something more like a communal corporate therapy session. “It’s the biggest single issue,” the boss of a Midwest industrial group forlornly admitted.
13th Jul 2022 - Financial Times
More professionals interested in companies that offer work-from-home indefinitely
More professionals are looking for jobs at companies offering permanent remote work, reveals a survey by BridgeLabz, a marketplace for deep tech talent. About 91.47% of the participants said they are interested in joining the company offering remote work indefinitely, 48.81% of respondents prefer working remotely, and 27.78% prefer the hybrid model, says the Work Model Preferences survey
13th Jul 2022 - People Matters
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 13th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullSome Companies Are Going Remote—and Upgrading to New Offices
CentralReach’s new home offers some encouraging news for office-building owners, who have worried that the rise of remote work might lead some companies to cut costs by dumping most or all work space. Many companies are finding they prefer a mix. But CentralReach’s new headquarters signals other challenges for property owners. Companies are largely shunning older buildings and usually need less space overall. Even though CentralReach’s new office will be larger than the one it is leaving, the company is hiring more staff and anticipates it will ultimately have less space per employee.
12th Jul 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
New study reveals benefits of hybrid working for disabled workers but some fear choice between health and career progression
Eighty-five per cent of disabled workers in the UK say they are more productive working from home, new research by the Work Foundation reveals. In a survey of hundreds of disabled workers across the UK, 80% agree remote working would either be essential or very important when looking for a new job, and 66% ideally want to work remotely 80 - 100% of the time. Seventy per cent say that not being allowed to work remotely would negatively impact their health, but most fear remote working will damage their career progression.
12th Jul 2022 - EurekAlert
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 12th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in full‘We cannot retreat’: Businesses warn a return to work from home won’t work for them
In Australia, major business groups have rejected advice from state and federal chief health officers to consider allowing employees to work from home, warning that the fledgling economic recovery since the end of harsh lockdowns would be jeopardised.
While no state or territory government is contemplating a reintroduction of mask mandates indoors or work from home orders for now, they are not ruling it out if the winter wave of COVID-19 cases worsens or health advice changes.
11th Jul 2022 - Sydney Morning Herald
Why remote work will win this fall
The monumental battle over remote work is heating up this summer as more traditionalist business leaders are demanding that their employees come to the office more often. What these traditionalist executives are failing to realize is that the drama, stress, and tensions caused by their demands won’t matter. Remote work will win this fall. That’s because of the new COVID-19 variants, which may lead to 100 million infections in the fall. The most dangerous is BA.5, which is much more resistant than prior variants to protection from COVID caused either by vaccinations or prior infections.
11th Jul 2022 - Fortune
Millennials and Gen Z — your days of remote work could be numbered, says author
As the workforce adapts to a “post-pandemic” landscape, it could be in the interests of both employers and employees to return to the office full-time, Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn’s first chief HR officer, has said. Younger workers — those in Gen Z and the lower range of the millennial age bracket — looking to advance their careers could especially stand to gain from a return to pre-pandemic norms, according to Cadigan, whose book “Workquake” explores how the pandemic could could pave the way for a better workplace model.
11th Jul 2022 - CNBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullWow, what a view! China’s ‘digital nomads’ seek paradise while on the clock
Known as ‘digital nomads’, many were born out of China’s strict pandemic measures – but families and friends are still trying to process this new way of life. China’s remote-working trend is in its early stages, but even local governments and businesses are taking stock and looking to capitalise on development opportunities.
11th Jul 2022 - South China Morning Post
Big Cities Can’t Get Workers Back to the Office
More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, exasperation is growing among business, city and community leaders across the U.S. who have seen offices left behind while life returns to normal at restaurants, airlines, sporting events and other places where people gather. Even after many employers have adopted hybrid schedules, less than half the number of prepandemic office workers are returning to business districts consistently. The problem is most pronounced in America’s biggest cities.
10th Jul 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Remote work: What will the Govt's new law look like?
When Covid hit, people across Ireland and around the world were united as bedrooms and kitchens became offices and working from home became the norm. But what was once unifying has now become somewhat divisive, when it comes to drawing up formal policies on remote working. That divergence was reflected in the long list of recommendations made by the committee members who outlined 20 changes they'd like to see made to the remote working bill.
10th Jul 2022 - RTE.ie
Dutch remote working legislation: could the UK follow suit?
The Dutch parliament has approved legislation making it compulsory for employers to consider employee requests to work from home as long as their field of work allows it. While the remote working legislation got the green light by the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the proposal still needs to be approved at the Dutch senate before it is passed into law. People Management questions whether the UK could consider following this example.
10th Jul 2022 - People Management Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullNetherlands Poised to Make Work-From-Home a Legal Right
As U.S. companies struggle to entice workers back to offices, the Dutch parliament approved legislation to establish home working as a legal right, setting the Netherlands up to be one of the first countries to enshrine such flexibility in law. The legislation was adopted by the lower house of the Dutch parliament Tuesday, and will now head to the Senate for final approval. Under current Dutch law, employers may reject workers’ requests to work from home without giving a reason. The new legislation forces employers to consider such requests and give a reason if denying them.
7th Jul 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
The key to managing new era of work: Trust your people
Rolls-Royce North America chairman, CEO and president of defense Tom Bell says the pandemic transformed the way he thinks about work. It’s no longer a place, but an activity. As such, leaders must turn to their workers to navigate this new era, he says. “Suspend your disbelief just a little bit, and ask your people how they could be best productive,” Bell said in an interview with The Washington Post. “Our people will have great answers for us if we just trust them.”
7th Jul 2022 - The Washington Post
Right to seek remote work must be extended, committee says
In Ireland, employees should be able to make a request to work remotely without being required to have at least 26 weeks of service in their job, an Oireachtas committee has recommended. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment has said the grounds upon which an employer can refuse a request under the Government’s draft remote working Bill are “cumbersome” and should also be revisited.
7th Jul 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Working May End As Organisations Switch To Hybrid Mode Post Covid-19 Pandemic
Remote working may soon be over in India as organisations are switching over to hybrid model, a survey by real estate firm CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd has said. According to the survey 73 per cent of office space occupiers in the country are evaluating hybrid working arrangements going forward instead of granting work from home to its employees. This survey has said will be taking place as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are slowly reeling back.
6th Jul 2022 - Outlook India
Marginalized Employees Say Remote Work is More Equitable, but at the Cost of Hiding Their Authentic Selves
As HR departments work to make their organizations more equitable and inclusive, new research from Software Advice suggests that remote work may at first seem like the best format for reducing workplace bias and discrimination, but survey data reveals it often means employees are sacrificing their true identity at work.
6th Jul 2022 - Businesswire
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 6th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullAmericans Willing To Take 10% Pay Cut In Order To Work Remotely With Their Dogs
Nearly a quarter (23%) of dog owners said they would be willing to take a 10% pay cut if they could work remotely with their dog, according to a new Forbes Advisor survey of 2,000 employed American adults. Men (31%) were more likely than women (19%) to be OK with a salary reduction if it meant they could work remotely to be with their canine companion.
5th Jul 2022 - Forbes
Post-COVID return to office: Some workers bring back reminders of home
According to “Why Working from Home Will Stick,” published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, only 82% of employees have come into the office as much as their employers desired, and 43% responded that the employers did not punish those who came in less frequently than required. Managers have two choices in these scenarios: not enforce the in-person work hours and appear weak, or enforce the work hours and anger employees, said researcher Nicholas Bloom, economics professor at Stanford University. He added that some workers don’t need to come in every day to get their jobs done and could be more productive at home.
5th Jul 2022 - USA Today
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 5th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home? These are the must-have home office upgrades
If we can be grateful for anything from the pandemic, it is that employees have realised the benefits of working from home. Professionally and on a personal level, a flexible working arrangement provides benefits for workers and the business. If you’re sticking with a flexible work arrangement, then it might be time to consider potential upgrades.
4th Jul 2022 - 7News.com.au
Back to the Office: Over 70% of Japanese Companies No Longer Implementing Remote Work
In a Tokyo Shōkō Research survey, 29.1% of companies currently had employees working from home, which was a 7.9-point drop from the previous survey in October 2021 when it was 37.0%. Of those still implementing remote work, 56.9% were large enterprises, while 24.4% were small and medium-sized companies. Overall, 27.2% of companies said that while they had implemented working from home, they had now stopped; a significant increase from 20.7% at the time of the October 2021 survey
4th Jul 2022 - Nippon.com
A 39-year-old remote worker says the flexibility to live his life is worth being 'underpaid' at his job
Remote-work flexibility has become an important factor for people pondering their next career moves. Over 4 million Americans a month have quit for 11 consecutive months in the Great Resignation — or Great Reshuffle — according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition to better work and higher pay, people also don't want to go into the office. In fact, 64% of respondents in a recent global ADP survey of 32,000 people said they had or would consider looking for a new job if their employer wanted them to return to the office full time.
4th Jul 2022 - Insider
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe ‘great resignation’ is pushing companies to offer these remote-work jobs in South Africa
International companies are increasingly outsourcing their skills as working remotely becomes the new norm around the world. In the US, a shortage of applicants to tech companies has led to economic hubs such as Silicon Valley trying something new and offshoring jobs to other countries reports BusinessInsider. As globalisation continues to increase, the ‘great resignation’ is spurring tech companies to move jobs to developing economies.
3rd Jul 2022 - BusinessTech
The return-to-work wars shows the gap between employers and workers
More than two years into the pandemic, organizations are grappling with whether to reopen workplaces. A new Microsoft report says that about half of the leaders it surveyed are looking to end remote work in the next year. Insider spoke with 10 industry leaders who shared why they are embracing remote and hybrid work for the foreseeable future.
3rd Jul 2022 - Business Insider
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Jul 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe six big things we've learned about hybrid work so far
As many countries have eased pandemic-era restrictions, enabling employees to resume in-person work, the choice for many companies has been a hybrid set-up: a combination of in-office and remote days. Although it’s true a small number of companies have pivoted to entirely distributed models, an overwhelming number of bosses have called for their employees to start spending at least some time back at their desks. As a result, we’re starting to learn what hybrid work actually means – at least to some extent. We’re past the point at which hybrid work was a fuzzy concept, and now have both research and worker experiences to understand more about what it means for people to work in hybrid environments, as well as what works and doesn’t.
30th Jun 2022 - BBC News
Return-to-the-office mandates are creating inequities for some workers
Employers across the United States are mandating employees return to the workplace after more than two years of letting them work from home during the pandemic. Some workers say return-to-work mandates may not only cause stress but potentially harm them. Some say remote work has allowed them to thrive, be efficient and have access to more job opportunities. But office mandates have reintroduced old problems to the future of work, exacerbating inequities related to health conditions, disabilities and discrimination, they say. And some companies have rolled out what workers say are inconsistent and inefficient policies.
30th Jun 2022 - The Washington Post
With Digital Nomad Visa Programs Everywhere, Remote Working Is the New WFH Trend
In the new world of work, there’s a new type of employee: The business-leisure traveler. It’s the latest attempt to find a happy medium between working arrangements like Airbnb Inc.’s — where staff can work anywhere, anytime — and those at companies like Tesla Inc., whose chief executive officer Elon Musk tweeted that unless employees turn up in the office, “we will assume you have resigned.”
30th Jun 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 30th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullAs the return-to-the-office debate rages in the U.S. and Europe, the matter is already settled in Asia
Many employers in the U.S. and Europe are desperate for employees to return to the office to boost productivity and collaboration, but many of the bribes and threats they’ve introduced so far have failed. Employees who’ve spent the better part of two years logging on from home are reluctant to forfeit the flexibility, comfort, and convenience of remote work. But in other pockets of the world, employers won that tug of war without breaking a sweat. After spurts of working from home, white-collar employees in the finance hubs of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo mostly are back at their desks.
29th Jun 2022 - Fortune
Employers need to embrace new tech for new ways of working
A new study about employee morale and motivation post-pandemic found that while 97% of business leaders think hybrid work environments will not damage corporate culture long-term, there are negative consequences to having so many people working remotely. Genpact’s Tech for Progress 360: Engage employees, strengthen company culture study found that 76% of respondents from organizations who adopted new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics during the pandemic strongly agreed that their company can maintain its culture in a hybrid working environment.
29th Jun 2022 - TechRepublic
87% Of Workers Spend An Average Of Three Days Working Remotely
A new survey from McKinsey shows that 58% of US workers currently can work wherever they want at least once a week. The report suggests what experts have been predicting for years: flexibility is the future of work. For 35% of respondents, this means being able to work remotely up to five days a week as companies accept the role that workplace agility can play in productivity, recruitment, and retention.
29th Jun 2022 - Allwork.Space
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 29th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullEmployers could be sued if they cut remote and hybrid workers salaries, lawyers say
Employers giving pay cuts to remote and hybrid workers could face discrimination lawsuits, employment lawyers have said. Companies that pay higher salaries to workers who come into the office risk being subject to sexual discrimination lawsuits, due to the fact women are more likely to work from home than men, lawyers told City A.M.
28th Jun 2022 - MSN.com
How To Ensure Every Generation Has A Great Remote Work Experience
To successfully lead the workforce through the transition into permanent remote or hybrid work, leaders must consider different perspectives, needs and preferences, taking care to provide the tools and support everyone requires to have a great remote work experience.
28th Jun 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullIf employees want to work from home, managers should let them or risk losing top money-making talent
As the stock market contracts and the tech industry likely faces a downturn and belt-tightening, there’s some predictable chatter that employees working from home or hybrid may suffer. But any leader who penalizes or rolls back flexible work policies at this moment is making a massive mistake. In uncertain times, you need to keep top talent — nowadays that means providing flexibility not only in where people work, but when.
27th Jun 2022 - MarketWatch
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 27th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullYelp closes three US offices, says remote work is its future
Yelp is closing three of its U.S. offices after finding most of its employees prefer to work remotely. In a blog post Thursday, Yelp Co-Founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said the company will close its offices in New York, Washington and Chicago on July 29. The online review and reservation company also plans to downsize its office in Phoenix. The offices the company is closing were its most “consistently underutilized," with only about 2% of workspaces in use each week, Stoppelman said.
26th Jun 2022 - SFGate
Home working could make up to a fifth of London office space redundant
As much as a fifth of office space in London and south-east England may not be required in the post-pandemic world of work as employees spend less time at their desks, according to a property survey. The new workplace flexibility being offered to staff by their employers could leave office blocks empty across Britain’s towns and cities, the real estate consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) found in its latest office market report, as companies cut back on the amount of space they rent.
26th Jun 2022 - The Guardian
Is working from home a legal right? Two Dutch lawmakers say it should be
The ability to work from home after the pandemic has become a hotly debated topic in the U.S., with many office workers clamoring to hold on to their newfound flexibility and some CEOs remaining staunchly in favor of a return to offices. But other countries are taking steps to enshrine working from home as a permanent legal right. Two lawmakers in the Netherlands are planning to submit a proposal to the Dutch Parliament to begin treating remote work as a legal right for citizens, before legislators leave for summer recess on July 3, Bloomberg reported.
26th Jun 2022 - Fortune
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullHalf of employees now work from home full or part-time, research finds
More than half of employees in Scotland are now working from home either all or part of the time, research has found. A new report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found 15% of employees in Scotland are now fully working from home, while 39% work in a hybrid pattern.
23rd Jun 2022 - The Independent
How a Recession Could Weaken the Work-From-Home Revolution
Clearly, the pandemic and the brisk economic recovery helped remote work in several ways. The coronavirus closed offices, and the ensuing tight labor market gave workers power to quit jobs, fight for more money, and reject the purgatorial tradition of a daily commute. But just as the Uber-for-Everything revolution relied on a specific set of economic conditions that shifted very quickly, remote work might be sensitive to brisk economic changes.
23rd Jun 2022 - The Atlantic
Is remote work effective: We finally have the data
When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered workplaces nationwide, society was plunged into an unplanned experiment in work from home. Nearly two-and-a-half years on, organizations worldwide have created new working norms that acknowledge that flexible work is no longer a temporary pandemic response but an enduring feature of the modern working world. The third edition of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey provides us with data on how flexible work fits into the lives of a representative cross section of workers in the United States.
23rd Jun 2022 - McKinsey
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 23rd Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullGen Z has soured on remote work after years of Zoom school
For the youngest employees, working from home isn't everything. Less than a quarter (23%) of Gen Zers feel remote work is “very” or “extremely” important to them, per the National Society of High School Scholars’ 2022 Career Interest Survey. The report, which polled nearly 11,500 high school and college-aged individuals, says that remote schooling during the pandemic may have turned swaths of Gen Z off from remote working. So, too, might starting a new job over Zoom.
22nd Jun 2022 - Fortune
The Future Of Work: How Much Flexibility Is Good For Employees?
What is the future of work? The jury’s still out, but one thing is clear – flexible working is part of it. The question is, what will that flexibility actually look like? Could a four-day week be the answer? Seventy firms and 3,300 employees in the UK are about to find out as they embark on the world’s biggest trial of this new working pattern. Or is Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky closer to the mark with his prediction that we’ll all be living and working from anywhere ten years from now? Alternatively, perhaps asynchronous working – as advocated by remote-first organizations like GitLab – is the way forward, where employees will have free rein over their location and hours.
22nd Jun 2022 - Forbes
80% Of UK Workers Note Depleted Mental Health Due To Remote Work
Much has been written about the perks of working remotely. Employees gain more flexibility, freedom in their environment, while employers can cut down on their overhead costs. However, for some professionals, the negatives of this work model have outpaced the positives. For Cat, a remote worker based in London, working from home seemed like a reasonable arrangement due to the pandemic. But as time went on, the isolation began to take its toll.
22nd Jun 2022 - Allwork.Space
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote working is here to stay: what businesses must now consider
Businesses quickly implemented remote work policies to regulate employees’ productivity and adherence to their terms of employment. More than two years down the line, with the national state of disaster now over and Covid reaching endemic status, how do businesses and employees navigate the changed world of work? Dr Richard Malkin, chief executive officer of Workforce Healthcare, says: “Remote work is definitely here to stay. Employers are still encouraged to have staff on rotation and working remotely to reduce numbers in offices and minimise risk.
21st Jun 2022 - BizCommunity
GitLab CEO: ‘Remote work is just work’
Spring 2022 was slated to be a big season for workplaces. After two years of false starts, it seemed as though companies across every industry had set their sights on this season as the time to return to the office. Or, as some are calling it, the return to work. But from where I’m standing, I don’t think there ever was a time when we stopped working. Employees haven’t just been biding time and treading water since they were sent home in early 2020—they’ve been working harder than ever
21st Jun 2022 - Fortune
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullPeople working from home feel less sense of belonging to work culture
Almost half of workers feel working from home has diminished their feeling of ‘belonging’ to an organisation, according to the Employee Job Satisfaction Report [registration] from recruitment firm Morgan Phillips. According to the poll, UK workers feel they are treated well by their employer (58 percent quite well and 27 percent very well), but half are still considering changing their jobs, with 17 percent looking for a change in 2022.
20th Jun 2022 - Workplace Insight
The new workplace: what young starters need to know
Leaving education and joining the world of work is a “jolt” for graduates. “They don’t know what employment is about,” says Chris Hirst, chief executive of the advertising agency Havas Creative. The challenge, he says — both for employers and the new employees themselves — is how quickly graduates can become “really useful” without the same level of “nurturing and structured learning” they received at university. Graduates whose university education was disrupted by the pandemic, and whose only work experience might have been a remote “placement”, are about to enter workplaces that are grappling with hybrid work, as well as squeezed training budgets. The benefits of online learning for graduates are that they can learn at their own pace and replay lessons. Now, employers are exploring how to bring their latest recruits up to speed with new working patterns and organisational culture, as well as developing their soft skills
20th Jun 2022 - Financial Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 20th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullIs remote work worse for wellbeing than people think?
Remote work has been heralded as a solution to some of the problems of our fast-paced, pre-pandemic lifestyles. For many, it’s meant the opportunity to spend more time with their children, or use time that they would have previously wasted commuting pursuing more fulfilling hobbies. But new research into remote work and wellbeing has shown mixed results – in Microsoft’s 2022 New Future of Work Report, researchers found that although remote work can improve job satisfaction, it can also lead to employees feeling “socially isolated, guilty and trying to overcompensate”.
19th Jun 2022 - BBC News
Keeping Remote Work In Perspective
As workers, employers, and analysts try to understand the pandemic-induced increase in working from home, there’s a vigorous debate on remote work with economists like Adam Ozimek, Matthew Kahn, and Nicholas Bloom arguing the data show a major change. Although we don’t know the long term implications of these trends, some popular commentators may be going too far, too fast.
19th Jun 2022 - Forbes
How Work-From-Home Setups Have Changed
“Investing in a future that’s uncertain is tough,” said Dr. Emily Anhalt, a clinical psychologist and co-founder of the mental health start-up Coa. “If you want to go back to the office, and you don’t want to stay home, there’s less of a chance you’ll drop money on a fancy background.” Even Dr. Anhalt said she was hesitant to give up on the notion that any day or month she might be returning to her prepandemic routine: “I didn’t really take the time to grieve the life I was living before,” she said. “Getting to see my patients in person, getting to see their body language.”
19th Jun 2022 - The New York Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in full24 essentials to help you work remotely outside
Taking your work outdoors offers numerous benefits — recent research from the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology found the change of scenery enhanced test subjects’ cognition, mood and creativity. Sitting outside also provided respondents with a greater sense of freedom and autonomy, which ultimately helped boost work productivity and enjoyment. While working outside comes with its own set of challenges — you’ll need to be prepared for inclement weather and low device battery, for example — you can easily set up a practical workstation that makes you look forward to tearing through your to-do list. Whether you’re working in your backyard, in your favorite café’s patio or at the park, here are 24 essentials to help you work outdoors.
16th Jun 2022 - CNN
65% of remote working UK staff are less likely to take sick leave
New research has revealed that two-thirds (65%) of UK employees said they are less likely to take sick leave when working remotely. HR software provider Breathe conducted a survey across 1,264 UK small to medium sized enterprise (SME) employees, looking into the current state of wellbeing among them and asking a range of questions covering sick leave, mental health and remote working. The data revealed that among those who felt unwell but did not take sick leave, 32% could not financially afford to take time off work, 25% were too busy to take time off and 20% felt pressured to work through it.
16th Jun 2022 - Employee Benefits
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 16th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullHybrid working did not reduce economic divides, research finds
Remote working has not led to a reduction in the UK’s geographical economic divides, a report by the Resolution Foundation has found. The think tank’s Right Where You Left Me? report found that while the regional employment gap has reduced, the wholesale move to remote working caused by the pandemic has not helped to level out regional inequality. It said London was the “epicentre of the big shift towards remote working”, with prosperous areas including Richmond-upon-Thames and Bromley, as well as further afield in Rochford, Essex, among those that saw a net increase in workers – gaining more resident remote workers than they lost office workers.
15th Jun 2022 - People Management
These are Gen Z’s top work priorities—and remote isn’t one of them
In the past few years, workplaces have changed significantly due to the Covid pandemic. Employees had an increased need for different perks and support like hybrid and remote work, child care, and expanded health benefits. Though many of these remain a priority, for Gen Z, expectations for the workplace have changed significantly, according to a survey from the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS).
15th Jun 2022 - CNBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 15th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullA huge number of employees are rebelling against in-office mandates. The battle is just beginning
Only 49% of employees expected by their employer to return to the office are actually going in five days a week, according to a study from WFH Research, first reported by Quartz at Work. And around 40% of workers still working remotely at least one day per week said they'd quit or look for another job if their employer mandated a full-office return. The findings are the latest from Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven J. Davis, who have been surveying 2,500 to 5,000 working Americans on work-from-home attitudes every month since 2020. May’s data revealed that forcing employees to come into headquarters isn’t always effective. Remote work still has traction, even among workers that have received ultimatums.
14th Jun 2022 - Fortune
More Malaysians want flexible job arrangements, fewer working remotely
The number of Malaysians working remotely has dropped by 18% to 51% compared to last year, but more than half of them want employers to offer flexible work arrangements, a survey found. In its 2022 employer brand research survey in Malaysia, human resources solutions agency Randstad said nine out of 10 respondents “took matters into their own hands” to improve their work-life balance. Some 44% of them were working flexible time slots while 33% worked remotely more frequently. Meanwhile, 23% said they worked overtime less to ensure better work-life balance.
14th Jun 2022 - Free Malaysia Today
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullStates Experiment with Hybrid or Remote Models for Employees
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, social distancing quickly became necessary, and anyone who could work remotely did. Both the private and public sectors discovered the need for remote work infrastructure — edge computing, private and public clouds for data storage, extended broadband to support network connectivity, and a host of collaboration platforms. Now, as both sectors reopen, many government employees are being asked to return to offices.
13th Jun 2022 - StateTech Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 13th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullCity of London Offices Still Not as Busy as Before Omicron
City of London workers are yet to return to the financial heartland in numbers seen before the spread of the omicron variant. About 60% to 70% of City employees are back at their desks, according to data compiled by Google, which tracks the movements of some of its users. That’s less than the 75% commuting prior to the omicron wave taking hold in late 2021. Businesses pushing for a return to the office continue to meet resistance from employees enjoying a better work-life balance as a result of not having to travel in every day. Almost 80% of London-based staff working remotely at least once a week say the experience has been good for them, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Policy Institute at King’s College London.
12th Jun 2022 - Bloomberg
Why employees don't want to return to the office
The reasons the return to the office isn’t working out are numerous. Bosses and employees have different understandings of what the office is for, and after more than two years of working remotely, everyone has developed their own varied expectations about how best to spend their time. As more and more knowledge workers return to the office, their experience at work — their ability to focus, their stress levels, their level of satisfaction at work — has deteriorated. That’s a liability for their employers, as the rates of job openings and quits are near record highs for professional and business services, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
12th Jun 2022 - Vox.com
Third of UK workers experience tech issues working remotely
New research has revealed that a third of UK office workers experience problems with their workplace technology which, on average, can take over three days to be replaced. What does this mean for already struggling IT departments when 8 in 10 people in the UK agree that flexible working is here to stay? Simply put, this means that IT departments need to get smart about how they support their workforce
12th Jun 2022 - Business Matters
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullThink Working From Home Won’t Hurt Your Career? Don’t Be So Sure
Office hard-liners like Tesla CEO Elon Musk have made clear that “a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week” is the only way to thrive, or even survive, at his company. The leaders of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase also don’t hide their disdain for remote work. While telecommuting may be fine in certain roles, people in the upper ranks “cannot lead from behind a desk or in front of a screen,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in his annual shareholder letter this spring. Yet other businesses are promising “hybrid equity,” insisting some employees can enjoy the conveniences of working from home without compromising their ambitions.
9th Jun 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Hybrid working post-COVID: how young professionals can optimise their time in the office (and why they should)
As we move on from pandemic restrictions, we’ve seen a strong, global demand for more flexible forms of working, particularly to retain an element of remote work. While some employees want to work from home permanently, most want what’s coming to be regarded as the best of both worlds: hybrid working. Only a minority of workers now want to return to the office full time. One group which may be particularly keen on hybrid working is young professionals. And for this group, time spent in the office could be especially valuable.
9th Jun 2022 - The Conversation
Asynchronous remote work: 5 tips for success
In 2022, we’re turning off Slack and Zoom and shifting to an asynchronous work model, in which people work when it best suits them and teams no longer need to be simultaneously present. Perched alongside hybrid work, asynchronous remote work leads to better resource management, reduces waste, and boosts employee satisfaction – all of which improve overall productivity and efficiency.
9th Jun 2022 - The Enterprisers Project
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 9th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullGovernment reveals free 'hot desks' for remote workers
The Irish Government has announced a series of new initiatives to support remote working including a voucher scheme that will give workers free access to local digital hubs. Under the plan, at least 10,000 hot desk facilities will be provided free of charge to existing hub users and those availing of the facilities for the first time.
8th Jun 2022 - RTE.ie
How Marginalized Workers Can Make the Most of Remote Work
The pandemic threw a wrench into office cultures around the world, and some companies have permanently given up their office space. Others have used this moment to drastically rethink remote and hybrid work possibilities. The bright spot of this tragedy may be that there is a little more empathy for the worker. Or at least a little more flexibility.
8th Jun 2022 - Wired
Time and money: why Londoners refuse to drop working from home
Londoners are working from home mainly to avoid the time and cost of travelling to the office, according to a study that shows most believe they are unlikely to return to five days in the office again.
8th Jun 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote workers may soon be able to live and work tax-free in Bali, under a 5-year ‘digital nomad’ visa
As companies like Airbnb adopt a “work-from-anywhere” model, prospective “digital nomads” need to think about where they want to base themselves. Perhaps the sun-drenched vineyards of Tuscany? The gleaming skyscrapers of Dubai? Or how about the sandy tropical beaches of Bali? Remote workers hoping to log in from the seaside villas lining the coast of the Indonesian island may soon get their chance, as Indonesia's tourism minister Sandiaga Uno told Bloomberg on Monday the country is developing a new “digital nomad” visa to attract higher-spending visitors.
7th Jun 2022 - Fortune
Here’s where most Brits are working remotely, according to Airbnb
Lots of people are still working from home, while others have tested the limits of remote working. So-called ‘digital nomads’ have been more ambitious, taking their jobs to new places (sometimes even abroad) and working from exotic locales. A lot of those nomads are using Airbnb to work their way between remote working spots. In fact, so far this year one in five Airbnb users has said they’re using the site for remote working, while the platform has reported a third increase in long term bookings – indicating that travellers are more frequently fusing work and leisure.
7th Jun 2022 - Time Out
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote, hybrid work dividing Canadian employees as many required on-site
Remote work flourished during the pandemic as companies temporarily closed their offices, but it has created a schism among Canadian workers. While 40 per cent of work in Canada can be done remotely, experts say, that means 60 per cent of workers are unable to access this benefit because they are required to be on-site.
And that can create resentment and a backlash from workers viewed as essential, such as nurses, ambulance workers and retail employees, who were applauded during the pandemic but are unable to realize the benefits that come from working remotely, said change management expert Linda Duxbury
6th Jun 2022 - Global News
Flexible work won't solve employee isolation and loneliness
When work shifted to remote settings for many employers in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies assumed the situation would be temporary. However, as months stretched into years, much of the working population found that they enjoyed working remotely, at least part of the time. n a 2021 remote work survey, background check provider GoodHire found that 68% of employees preferred working from home, with nearly half declaring they’d either quit or search for new jobs offering remote work if their employers ordered them to return to the office. Many employees expressed they’d take a pay cut or forfeit benefits in exchange for remote work options.
6th Jun 2022 - Fast Company
Working remotely? How to talk to your boss if you're worried about being overlooked
As the return-to-office debate drags on, some executives are sending the message that long-term flexible work will come at a price, namely losing out on opportunities to get ahead. Leaders have the most power to stop proximity bias by being conscious of it and changing up processes, like by letting remote participants speak first during hybrid meetings. But some will still default to thinking in-person work gives the best results, so you’ll need to speak up about keeping your remote flexibility while also “showing up” in a way they’ll understand. Advocating for yourself as a remote worker can feel daunting, but it’s not too different from working in an office and being encouraged to socialize or “walk the floor,” says therapist, author and podcast host Esther Perel. You’ll just have to be more upfront about it and change up how you get face-time with your manager or their boss.
6th Jun 2022 - CNBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 6th Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullNo more remote working? Then I quit, say 30% of employees
Almost one third of Irish workers would move jobs if their remote working requests were not facilitated, according to a government-backed survey. The research by NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission highlighted demand for remote working and indicated that employers’ flexibility in this area — or lack of it — was playing a role in people deciding to quit their jobs. Twenty-seven per cent of 8,400 respondents said they had changed employer since 2020 with 47 per cent of these indicating that remote working was a key factor in their decision as their new employer offered better opportunities in this area.
5th Jun 2022 - The Times
Out of office? How working from home has divided Britain
More than a third of the UK’s office-based workforce is still working from home to the anger of some bosses – and politicians. Is hybrid working the new normal, or can firms tempt employees back full-time?
5th Jun 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Jun 2022
View this newsletter in fullTwo rural towns are giving remote workers free housing for a month, in the hopes they’ll stay longer
Last month, the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship launched a unique program called “The Wilds Are Working: A Remote Lifestyle Experience,” with the goal of luring remote workers to rural corners of the state. Bellefonte, a town of 6,276 about 10 miles north of Penn State, and Kane, a McKean County town of 3,500 on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest, were chosen as the pilots for the program. Rural “zoom towns” across the US have launched similar programs, some of them giving workers $10,000 to relocate there for one year.
31st May 2022 - The Seattle Times
Remote jobs: Why tech professionals are the only ones who can choose where to work
Digital nomads existed long before the pandemic. But new work modes became more common as the pandemic lingered, enabling many workers to embrace a new lifestyle. The advent of flexible work, which Ángel Sáenz de Cenzano, LinkedIn’s country manager for Spain and Portugal, believes will one day become widespread in every company that can operate remotely, opens up a world of possibilities for workforces. This is especially true for those with technology jobs, perhaps the only professionals these days who can choose where they want to work.
31st May 2022 - El País
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 31st May 2022
View this newsletter in fullOne third of workers willing to change job for remote work, survey finds
Researchers from the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission have revealed that almost one third of workers are willing to move to a new job to secure their remote working preferences. The findings are from the third annual National Remote Working Survey. The survey gathered responses from more than 8,400 employees, in late April and early May, on their current experience of remote working
30th May 2022 - BreakingNews.ie
Cisco highlights massive upside of working from home
Cisco has delivered the second major study in a week by a US gamechanger underlining the huge benefits of people being allowed to work from home. Employees say hybrid work makes them happier and more productive and calls for more to be done to make it more inclusive. In a nutshell, Cisco says that hybrid working has helped improve employee wellbeing, work-life balance and performance across the UK.
30th May 2022 - Business Weekly
Americans who work from home are getting more productive
People who work remotely are reporting being more productive than they were early on in the pandemic, according to data from Stanford University professor Nicholas Bloom. Bloom, who’s been studying remote work since before it was cool, has teamed up with other academics from the University of Chicago, ITAM, and MIT since May 2020, to conduct a huge ongoing survey about employees’ work arrangements and attitudes toward remote work. In April, people who worked remotely at least some of the time reported being about 9 percent more efficient working from home than they were working from the office. That’s up from 5 percent in the summer of 2020.
30th May 2022 - Vox.com
Online education and the mental health of faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan | Scientific Reports
While the negative impact of the pandemic on students’ mental health has been studied around the world, very little is known about the mental health of faculty and staff. This research aims to examine mental health among Japanese faculty members who taught online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited 537 university faculty members and assessed their mental health using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), both retrospectively (during the academic year before the onset of the pandemic) and during the pandemic.
30th May 2022 - Nature.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 27th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow Airbnb settled on a permanent remote work strategy
Airbnb is among a group of companies that has eschewed the hybrid approach in favor of a permanent remote strategy. Here's how the company arrived at the decision and how it's affected recruitment.
26th May 2022 - The Business Journals
Workers in the office feel less connected compared to those working at home
CEOs hellbent on getting workers back in the office say that being physically together boosts connectivity. Turns out that’s not the case. Only one in six people feel strongly connected at work, with on-site employees the least connected of all, according to a study from consulting firm Accenture. Some 22 per cent of fully remote workers say they feel “not connected,” while the share for those in the office is nearly double.
26th May 2022 - Financial Post
How To Stay Connected To Your Team While Working Remotely
Clearly, remote work is here to stay. Not only does it give employers more hiring options, but it also benefits employees. Research from Owl Labs found that remote and hybrid employees were 22% happier than workers in an onsite office environment and stayed in their jobs longer. Also, remote workers had less stress, more focus and were more productive than when they were onsite. As it turns out, working remotely benefits employees both mentally and physically. However, remote work still has its challenges. It can be difficult to maintain consistent communication with your team, which can increase feelings of loneliness and isolation. Yet strong work relationships are essential to stay productive and boost morale.
26th May 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 26th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullEmployers more open to part-time working post-Covid-19, report finds
The furlough scheme brought in by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic did not just save millions of people from unemployment and economic hardship, but may have had a lasting effect on the ways in which their employers allow them to work in the future, according to a new report out today (25 May). Introduced in March 2020, and further modified in July that year to allow for a part-time furlough option, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) enabled organisations to reclaim up to 80% of the wage costs of employees that could not work during the pandemic. Successful in avoiding mass redundancies during a time of crisis, new research from Cranfield School of Management and the CBI has found the scheme may also have ongoing benefits, by increasing employer openness to and knowledge of how to facilitate part-time working.
25th May 2022 - Cranfield University
Is the ‘remote work window’ about to close?
The newfound flexibility many workers experienced amid the pandemic has made an indelible mark. The ability to better balance work and life as well as ditch the commute has been a hugely positive side effect of a chaotic time – and now, millions of employees refuse to go back. Consequently, demand for jobs that offer at least some element of remote working has soared
25th May 2022 - BBC News
UK firms more open to flexible working, study finds
The majority of companies have become more flexible about employees working from home after the coronavirus pandemic reshaped the world of work. Employers in the UK are more open to facilitate part-time working and other forms of flexible working as viable options for their business, a study by Cranfield School of Management and CBI Economics found. Figures showed that the furlough scheme, which enabled firms to bring staff back to work on a part-time basis and furloughed the remainder of the time, has changed firms’ perceptions around working practices.
25th May 2022 - Yahoo Finance UK
UAE jobs: employees prefer hybrid and remote working models
Nearly 90 per cent of UAE employees want to work either in a hybrid or fully remote working model in the future, according to a survey by California-based technology company Cisco. Offering flexibility to employees is also key for companies to attract and retain talent in a post-Covid-19 working environment, with 61 per cent of UAE professionals saying they would be less likely to look for a new role if given the opportunity to work either remotely or in the office only one or two days a week, Cisco said
25th May 2022 - The National
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote working brings record number of women into labour force
The number of women participating in the labour force in Ireland has reached a record high due to a shift to remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the European Commission. The female participation rate jumped over the course of the pandemic to reach 72 per cent, according to Eurostat data, a sharp increase from the pre-pandemic level of about 67 per cent to bring Ireland well above the European Union average.
24th May 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullMore than 80% who worked from home in the pandemic say they will do hybrid working in future
More than eight out of 10 people who had to work from home during the pandemic are planning to carry out hybrid working in future, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). And the proportion planning to work primarily from home rose from 30% in April 2021 to 42% in February 2022. It shows that many people are ignoring the government's calls to return to the office in favour of what can be a better work-life balance.
23rd May 2022 - Sky News
Working from home: Why woc don't want to return to the office
Many of us have embraced a new normal despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This new reality that has so far shaped our 2020s has seen us spend more time working from home and has shifted our definition of work – and for many women of colour, this idea of remote working has alleviated many of the stresses that come with working in an office where you are often a minority. A new study conducted by Harvard Business Review found many women of colour who work in the tech industry don’t want to return to the office, with 81% of women saying they experienced at least some racism. In comparison, 90% said the same for sexism.
23rd May 2022 - Stylist Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 23rd May 2022
View this newsletter in fullFive telltale signs you need a ‘chief remote officer’
When Darren Murph created his “head of remote” role at the software maker Gitlab in 2019, he couldn’t have known how quickly the idea would catch on. Or why. By the end of the first year of the pandemic, with knowledge workers everywhere getting used to the idea of working from home at least part of the week, and possibly forever, companies like Meta and others began hiring people to fill positions similar to Murph’s. With more companies choosing to stick with hybrid and remote work after the pandemic, and more employees demanding it, is the “remote lead” here to stay?
21st May 2022 - Quartz at Work
Remote work: 5 tips to keep your teams healthy and successful
Respondents in a recent Harvey Nash Group Digital Leadership Report, agree that remote work has improved work-life balance and productivity, offering increased flexibility, less time commuting to and from work, and more time engaged in work. On the flip side, over half (54 percent) reported a decrease in the mental wellness of their tech teams. Even as COVID restrictions are increasingly relaxing, the tech industry still favors flexible work arrangements, both in location (59 percent) and hours (64 percent) according to a Gartner survey of digital workers. Therefore, both tech and human resource leaders must work together to build stronger connections and promote a healthier, happier workforce in this new normal.
21st May 2022 - The Enterprisers Project
How Will Remote Work Effect The Media Industry
Though statistically the pandemic is starting to recede, the work-from-home culture is statistically looking like it is going to stay. Known societally as The Great Resignation, how much will this cultural phenomenon affect the media industry and society at large. The rise in remote working is set to have an impact on numerous fields. Before the pandemic, the opportunity for remote work at high paying jobs was just over 3%. Today it’s at 15%. The pandemic acted as a seismic catalyst to workplace policy, with potential proof of concepts being found that people work longer and more efficiently remotely, with the next step potentially being to decrease the standard workweek to four days instead of five.
20th May 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 20th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullFlexible, remote working an opportunity to improve work-life balance: Survey
According to Deloitte’s 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, these generations are deeply concerned about unemployment, education, and mental health issues. Additionally, good work/life balance, positive work culture, and access to learning opportunities are the top priorities for these generations when choosing a new workplace. The survey also indicates a growing demand for hybrid/remote work arrangements as it helps them save money and allows them to spend more time on a hobby and with their families.
19th May 2022 - The Financial Express
What In-Home Daycare Educators Know About Making Remote Work Better
Nichelle Wardell is a family childcare (FCC) educator, a licensed childcare provider who cares for children in her own home in Stamford, Connecticut. She opened her FCC business in 2020, joining thousands of providers across the country who have supported families throughout the pandemic. And these workers, who teach countless children colors, shapes, and letters, also have lessons for an older age group: remote and hybrid workers. For many remote workers, especially those at the beginning of their careers, one of the greatest challenges of not being in an office has been finding opportunities to learn from older mentors.
19th May 2022 - TIME
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 19th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow to realise the potential of a hybrid work model
The pandemic has irrevocably changed office culture, rapidly evolving a trend for remote working into a core part of the mainstream employee experience. While remote working is here to stay, the consensus from employees themselves is that a return to some regular office-based interaction is important. In fact, Barco hybrid meeting research shows that eight out of ten office workers are in favour of a hybrid work model, with most, on average, willing to work from home just one and a half days per week. Understanding this, most businesses have already started to implement various kinds of long-term hybrid systems, which can offer a mix of office-based and remote working.
18th May 2022 - The Independent
Apple lets employees work remotely as Covid-19 again surges in US
Apple has once again delayed its full return-to-office policy while maintaining two days a week at the workplace for the time being amid the fresh surge in Covid infections in the US. According to The Verge, the tech giant has told workers in an internal memo that "we are extending the phase-in period of the pilot and maintaining two days a week in the office for the time being". Those who are in the current two-day-per-week pilot will have the option to once again work remotely if they feel uncomfortable coming to work. Apple has also asked its employees to wear masks at work.
18th May 2022 - Business Standard
Success of pandemic remote working should count if staff wish to operate from home, TD says
Successful periods of working from homes by employees during the pandemic should be taken into account when staff request the right to operate remotely in future, an Oireachtas committee has heard. Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly said it “makes a bit of a mockery of two years of successful working from home” if people cannot rely on the fact when they seek to continue to do so or to move to a hybrid working arrangement. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Leo Varadkar published a draft version of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2022 in January.
18th May 2022 - The Irish Times
How to take ownership of your professional development working remotely
Remote working can mean less face time with your colleagues, so it’s important to be proactive about your own professional goals. Torunn Dahl, head of talent, learning and inclusion at Deloitte, said that there is “a stronger onus on the individual to prioritise time for developmental conversations” in the world of remote work. “These are less likely to happen across the desk or walking between meetings, so they have to be scheduled and time needs to be dedicated to it.” Dahl added that while being remote “doesn’t necessarily change the approach to development”, it will still require “a blend of formal learning programmes, feedback from leaders and clients and learning on the job”.
18th May 2022 - Siliconrepublic.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow to make remote work eco-friendly
As the shift to hybrid working begins amid a climate emergency, 2021’s Working From Home: The Sustainability Question report on building a more sustainable future of work is more relevant than ever. While the report provides an actionable roadmap for responsible employers, we delve into how HR can lead the way on greener remote work strategies.
17th May 2022 - HR Magazine
Five Remote Work Tips For Digital Nomads
Now that remote employees and digital nomads have proven their value—and that we can handle it all from afar—flexibility is no longer a perk. It's an expectation for many. Remote work shouldn't be a luxury or a perk for organizations—it should be a basic, obvious benefit. And it is for those who evolved over the last two years and are now more in tune than ever to both shifting employee and consumer habits.
17th May 2022 - Forbes
Lesson from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs: Take a Hard Line on Return-to-Office at Your Own Risk
Amid this global experiment in the future of work, the strenuous efforts of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs to get employees back in the office are two case studies worthy of close real-time examination. The details of what happened at both banks differ slightly, but the big-picture takeaway is the same. Take a hard line on return-to-office schedules at your own risk.
17th May 2022 - TIME
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullLet them eat cheese… working from home is here to stay
The post-pandemic office is entirely different from how it was before. Teleconferencing and technology have collided with cultural shifts, and people want to better integrate their work self with the rest of their life. There is evidence that new working patterns which give workers agency, flexibility and a mix of in-office social time with self-managed, less monitored work is productive. Professor Nicholas Bloom of Stanford showed in a study of 16,000 workers that productivity can rise by as much as 13% on this basis. Data from Ipsos consistently shows that across all demographics flexibility to work differently is desirable, with 65% saying they are more productive when they work flexibly.
16th May 2022 - The Guardian
Why do employers still not trust people to work from home?
The pandemic has proved not only can people work from home, but they can do so effectively. So why is the topic of trusting employees to do a good job while WFH still dominating conversation? Dr John Blakey, founder of The Trusted Executive Foundation – which helps CEOs create a new standard of leadership defined by trustworthiness – says it’s all down to old-fashioned ways of working, and leaders unable to let go.
16th May 2022 - Metro.co.uk
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 16th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullBeijing extends work-from-home guidance in several city districts
Beijing on Sunday extended guidance to work from home in four districts of the Chinese capital, including the largest, Chaoyang, as the city tries to stop a COVID-19 outbreak. Beijing found 55 new cases in the 24 hours to 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday, 10 of which were outside areas that under quarantine, officials said. The city is scrambling to stamp out such community infections.
15th May 2022 - Reuters
Remote work: Challenges balancing surveillance and privacy
Remote work has become more widespread in many of Canada’s industries during the COVID-19 pandemic, and lawmakers are starting to take this labour landscape into account, seeking new ways to balance productivity and privacy. Last month, Ontario became the first province to pass a new transparency law requiring companies to establish policies to tell their employees if and how they are being electronically monitored while at work, whether in a physical office, in the field or at home.
15th May 2022 - CTV News
UK ahead of European peers on shift to working from home
The UK’s shift to homeworking has made it an outlier among most other advanced economies, according to an FT analysis, as the size of its professional services sector and more flexible labour market are expected to prevent a return to pre-pandemic levels of office occupancy. Months after the last Covid restrictions were lifted, the latest available data show that commuter numbers are still almost a quarter down on levels seen in February 2020, before coronavirus took hold in the UK.
15th May 2022 - Financial Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 13th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullVenice woos foreign remote workers in pivot away from tourism
Pérez González is one of 16 Spanish, French and Greek employees of the IT company Cisco who have relocated to Venice in a pilot project run by the US company and Ca’ Foscari. Every day he picks a place to work from four locations offered by Cisco, including a 15th-century palazzo, meaning his commute is a short walk through Venetian architecture and canals. Gianmatteo Manghi, chief executive of Cisco Italy, said: “Covid made us realise we could work remotely and increase productivity and we imagine companies will start to attract staff by offering them a month a year in a beautiful city.”
12th May 2022 - The Times
Bored Of Your WFH Space? Here’s How To Give It A Proper Refresh
Working remotely comes with a load of pros (no long dreary commute being a major one), but if your work setup at home isn’t right, it can have a serious impact on your mood and productivity, not to mention job satisfaction. Perhaps your home office felt like a dream at first, but is now as messy and uninspiring as the actual office. Whether it’s overly cramped thanks to a lack of storage, bland and boring because you’ve run out of steam, or causing you actual physical pain, it’s time to make some changes. The good news is that some simple buys, from a healthy houseplant to the right desk chair, can make all the difference – and needn’t cost a lot either.
12th May 2022 - HuffPost UK
HR expert calls on bosses to address 'silent bullying culture' in remote working
Nicky Jolley, founder and managing director of HR2day in Darlington is calling for employers in the North East to ensure that remote working isn’t causing a ‘silent bullying culture’ in their business. Research conducted by The Law Society for Mental Health Awareness Week found that since remote working became more prolific during 2020, incidences of bullying, harassment and dysfunctional relationships were going unnoticed by bosses. Newer employees were less likely to feel comfortable reporting remote bullying and harassment, because they did not feel they knew their managers well enough, having not established themselves face-to-face.
12th May 2022 - Business Up North
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 12th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullApple employees reject return to on site work in open letter
A group of Apple employees collectively calling themselves “Apple Together” has released an open letter to executives criticizing the company’s Hybrid Work Pilot program for what they perceive as its inflexibility. Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a memo in March requiring all employees to work on-site two days a week from May 2 and three days a week by May 23. In the letter, the employees explained that their “vision of the future of work is growing further and further apart from that of Apple’s executive team.”
11th May 2022 - IT World Canada
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullTech Industry Warns That More Remote-Work Jobs Are Headed Out of U.S.
Tech-industry representatives are coming to Capitol Hill this week to warn that the remote-work trend will lead to more offshoring of software developer and other technology jobs unless the U.S. admits more high-skilled immigrants. Remote jobs in tech jumped by more than 420% between January 2020 and last month, growth that was intensified by the pandemic, according to a jobs data review by Tecna, a trade group for regional tech councils. In February, more than 22% of all tech jobs were listed as remote, compared with 4.4% in January 2020.
10th May 2022 - Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Work Doesn’t Negatively Affect Productivity
A research team from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health found that employee and company resiliency may be enhanced through the opportunity for employees to work remotely during natural disasters and other events that cause workplace displacement.
9th May 2022 - Lab Manager
Many Germans still work from home despite end of COVID requirement - Ifo
The proportion of German people working from home fell only slightly in April, according to a survey published on Monday, despite the country lifting remote-working requirements brought into force to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ifo economic institute said its survey of 9,000 companies showed 24.9% of German employees worked from home at least part of the time in April, compared with 27.6% the previous month. “This means the number of people working from home remains at a high level following the abolition of the remote-working obligation on March 20,” said Jean-Victor Alipour, an Ifo expert on working from home.
9th May 2022 - Reuters
Remote working causing six-out-of-ten parents to suffer burnout | theHRD
Research reveals that 59 per cent of working parents have experienced burnout in 2022, increasing their stress levels and frustration at work. The survey of more than 2,000 UK SME employees highlighted how working parents are pulling off the ultimate balancing act. Excluding partner support, nearly half (47 per cent) of surveyed working parents said they never had childcare support at home, while 45 per cent had help occasionally, and only seven per cent said they always had help available.
9th May 2022 - The HR Director Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 9th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullAirbnb CEO: The office is 'anachronistic' and 'from a pre-digital age'
For Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, working at the office is now a relic of the past. In an interview for Time's The Leadership Brief, Chesky said he believes the office is "an anachronistic form" that's "from a pre-digital age." His comments come after Airbnb announced earlier this week that it will let employees work remotely forever with no pay cut, citing the ability to widen its talent pool and noting the company had its most productive two-year period ever while working remotely.
8th May 2022 - Business Insider
Remote Work Doesn't Negatively Affect Productivity, Study Suggests
A research team from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health found that employee and company resiliency may be enhanced through the opportunity for employees to work remotely during natural disasters and other events that cause workplace displacement. This study, which was published in IOS Press in February, offers important insights into information workers who have become increasingly used to and interested in working remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
8th May 2022 - Texas A&M Today
How to Instill a Culture of Learning Into Your Hybrid Workplace
A world of uncertainty and continuous disruption requires agility from individuals and organizations. To stay agile and innovative, you must take this opportunity to root your culture in learning. This article outlines three ways to instill a culture of learning into your hybrid workplace to ensure that every employee in your organization has the tools and skills they need to take on future challenges.
8th May 2022 - ATD
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 6th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullLaw firm says employees can work from home full-time – but only if they take a 20% pay cut
A U.K. law firm has decided to offer its employees the option of working from home full-time, but on the condition that they take a 20% pay cut. The London-headquartered law firm Stephenson Harwood has also offered its employees the option of a hybrid model, working up to two days remotely for the same salary. A spokesperson for Stephenson Harwood said this was “consistent with the approach taken by many City law firms.”
5th May 2022 - CNBC
Remote Work 2 Years Later: What We've Learned
The 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index reported that 50% of mid-level managers said their companies are making plans to return to in-person work five days a week in the year ahead, but 52% of employees are considering going hybrid or remote. Tech companies have delayed return-to-office dates many times over, but more solid plans are being enacted this spring. All eyes are on the big four—Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta (Facebook)—as smaller companies look to take cues from their moves.
5th May 2022 - PC Mag
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 5th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Future of Work Isn't Fancy Tech. It's Remote Work and Smarter Management
The days of every employee working full time in a shared office are gone, and workers know it. Eighty percent of workers in a survey from Citrix and OnePoll said it was important they be able to do their jobs from anywhere. Hybrid work also benefits companies, leading to a 35 percent reduction in quit rates with zero impact on performance or promotions. Remote work has become such a mainstay that recruiters now see any "We're coming back to the office!" announcement as an invitation to poach that company's engineers. This shift to remote and hybrid work represents an opportunity for business leaders to learn how to effectively manage a distributed workforce, and it's not through more awful Zoom calls or sneaking tattleware onto employee laptops.
4th May 2022 - Inc.
74% of employees would join a company only if they can work remotely or hybrid: Mercer's 2022 study
Upskilling and reskilling of the workforce are the two biggest priorities for India Inc's chief executives this year, reveals Mercer's 2022 Global Talent trends study. Talent acquisition, employee engagement, sickness and productivity are other key concerns while employees are looking for a flexible work environment as at least 74% of those surveyed said they will join an organisation only if they can work remotely or in a hybrid engagement. More than half of HR leaders cite flexibility as a key lever for sourcing, attracting and retaining a diverse talent pool and a similar majority believe that they can build cultures and practices that are adaptive by design to cater to a flexible model.
4th May 2022 - Times of India
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th May 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Changing Campus Workplace: What Deans and Department Chairs Need to Know
The workplace is changing, in higher ed and beyond. As more employees demand greater flexibility and seek remote-work options, how will colleges adapt? Our virtual forum, “The Campus Workplace: What Deans and Department Chairs Need to Know,” offers advice for managing from the middle, balancing institutional policies with staff and faculty requests.
3rd May 2022 - The Chronicle of Higher Education
How We Renovated Our House So It Was Perfect for Working From Home
Reimagining and renovating a home to be more suited to remote work requires an unflinching inventory of your work-from-home pain points and a clear sense of the different types of work you and your family members need to do from home. And you must be prepared to reshape your home during the process—not just make easy fixes like putting a desk in a spare room.
3rd May 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 3rd May 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Future of Work Is Flexible. Will Higher Ed Stay Stuck in the Past?
We are in a transformational moment in higher education. Business as usual wasn’t working well for a lot of faculty and staff in 2012, and it’s less likely to work in 2022. Institutions positioned for success in the next decade will seize this opportunity by prioritizing new approaches to working conditions and building better workplace cultures. “Intermittent flexibility” isn’t going to cut it.
2nd May 2022 - EdSurge
Staff at London law firm can work from home full-time – if they take 20% pay cut
Staff at a top London law firm have been told they can work from home permanently – but they will have to take a 20% pay cut. Managing partners at Stephenson Harwood are offering lawyers and other staff the option as City firms try to move beyond solely office-based working in a post-pandemic cultural shift to flexible and remote models. Junior lawyers at the company have starting salaries of £90,000, meaning anyone taking up the officer would lose about £18,000.
2nd May 2022 - The Guardian
Airbnb to let staff work from home indefinitely
Airbnb is to let its employees work from anywhere for as long as they like, the accommodation platform has said. Its staff will be able to work from home or the office and move anywhere in the country they live without their pay being affected, the company said. The move is in contrast to the likes of Google in the US, where staff who work from home may see their pay cut. Other tech firms who have flexible working policies include Cisco and Microsoft.
2nd May 2022 - BBC News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 29th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in full43% of workers likely to quit jobs for better pay, career opportunities and flexibility
A new global survey has shown that 43% of workers are likely to quit their jobs in the next 12 months for higher pay, better career opportunities and more flexibility. According to the EY 2022 Work Reimagined Survey, 80% of employees want to work remotely at least two days a week while 22% of employers want workers to come back to the office five days a week. Amid soaring inflation, the study shows that the main motivation for employees seeking new jobs is a desire for higher pay.
28th Apr 2022 - RTE.ie
Working from home could have a dystopian future if staff aren't valued
Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, Square and Slack have all announced that they will allow employees to work from home permanently. But for all their talk of boosting productivity and creating a better work-life balance, the move to hybrid work can come with a cost – literally. Facebook and Twitter will pay less for certain work-at-home staff, and Google could slash their salaries by up to 25 per cent. Along with such pay cuts comes a new generation of home surveillance software, which tracks employees’ online activities, while sometimes using live video feeds to measure how long they sit at their desks. And you can forget about organising a union in a virtual workplace where every private message you send can be read by your boss. So far, these companies haven’t received much pushback, because most employees think of remote working as a perk.
28th Apr 2022 - New Scientist
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow the best companies to work for are thriving despite the Great Resignation
Caring about employees as people and being flexible to their needs has been key for companies on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list as they adapt to a new work culture thanks to the pandemic. Leaders from four of the companies who made this year’s list were joined by Michael Bush, chief executive officer at the Great Place to Work Institute, and Fortune CEO Alan Murray for a call to discuss best practices that helped them retain employees through the Great Resignation and other challenges.
27th Apr 2022 - Fortune
'Bossware is coming for almost every worker': the software you might not realize is watching you
A survey last September of 1,250 US employers found 60% with remote employees are using work monitoring software of some type, most commonly to track web browsing and application use. And almost nine out of 10 of the companies said they had terminated workers after implementing monitoring software. The number and array of tools now on offer to continuously monitor employees’ digital activity and provide feedback to managers is remarkable.
27th Apr 2022 - The Guardian
Employers can make remote working a success by listening to research
Early in 2020, workers around the world were plunged into a new reality of remote working. In doing so, they also participated in a series of unexpected global experiments: social scientists have spent much of the past two years analysing what happens when face-to-face exchanges are replaced by online meetings. And their results are starting to come in. The pandemic has taught the world about hybrid working. Now, there’s growing evidence for employers to use when deciding about the future work environment.
27th Apr 2022 - Nature.com
Brainstorming on Zoom Hampers Creativity
For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant no more commutes, no more showering, no more putting on pants—just virtual meeting after virtual meeting. Some research shows this adjustment might not impact workplace productivity to any great degree. A new study, though, suggests otherwise. The research, published today in Nature, found that video calls, as opposed to in-person meetings, reduce creative collaboration and the generation of novel ideas. The results indicate that while the mental cogs keep running more or less smoothly when working remotely, group innovation might be hindered.
27th Apr 2022 - Scientific American
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 27th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullNew college course to support bosses managing a remote workforce due to pandemic
A new course will support company owners managing a remote or ‘hybrid’ workforce due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Level 4 and Level 5 programmes will be delivered by Northop Business School – part of Coleg Cambria – and are aimed at directors, senior leaders and HR employees who faced the unprecedented challenge of switching operations online during lockdown.
26th Apr 2022 - fenews.co.uk
Job-life satisfaction highest amongst those who work remotely - CSO
People who worked remotely, either before or during the Covid-19 pandemic, were more satisfied with their jobs and lives, a new survey from the Central Statistics Office shows. The CSO’s Personal and Work-Life Balance Survey found that 39 per cent of employees worked remotely at some stage last year compared with just 8 per cent who availed of some form of remote working before the Covid-19 pandemic forced many people out of their workplaces.
26th Apr 2022 - The Irish Times
Workers Are Winning the Return-to-Office War Because They're Right
The masks are coming off. Restaurants are filling up. International travel is resuming. But one thing is missing from this picture of returning normality: the rows of office workers bent over their desks. Just over two months ago, I wrote that returning to the office was the great class struggle of our time. I’m happy to report that, so far at least, the workers are winning. In the U.S., office occupancy rates seem to have flatlined at about 43% according to Kastle Systems, which collects figures on the number of workers who are working at their desks in America’s ten largest business districts by measuring key swipes. Occupancy rates fell to 42.8% on April 13, having risen to 43.1% on April 6. Across the Atlantic, London’s occupancy peaked at 42% last month.
26th Apr 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 26th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in full71% of UK workers say work-from-home platforms cause distractions and mistakes
Far from solving the UK productivity and Great Resignation crisis – new research reveals that the overuse of collaboration tools like Teams and Zoom during the pandemic has led UK workers to make more mistakes, with younger age workers reporting these tools make them feel disengaged from their company and colleagues.
25th Apr 2022 - Business Leader
Don't Want To Go Back to the Office? Your Boss Might Cut You a Deal
The coronavirus pandemic introduced millions of Americans to the concept of working from home—and many are no longer keen on returning to the office full time. A Pew Research Center study released in February found that 61 percent of employees who were working from home were doing so by choice, rather than because their office had not reopened. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the majority were doing their job remotely because they had no other option. Some companies have also welcomed the shift in working practices to remote or hybrid models.
25th Apr 2022 - Newsweek
Survey asks people if they would relocate or change job in order to work remotely
Two years on from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers at NUI Galway have launched their latest bid to capture people’s experiences of remote working and their preferences heading into the future. The National Remote Working Survey for 2022 will be the third such annual survey undertaken since 2020 and the first since the lifting of restrictions which could have paved the way for a mass return to the office earlier this year. Professor Alma McCarthy, who co-leads the project, said that the way we work “has changed dramatically” since the pandemic and it is “timely to capture the trends, preferences and career choice impacts two years on”.
25th Apr 2022 - Irish Examiner
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullHybrid and remote working require a shift from managing to leading
Frans Campher, CEO of Integral Leadership Dynamics, says companies are only beginning to realise the scope of the challenges posed by hybrid working and that the consequences, good and bad, won’t really become apparent for another two years. In the meantime those that want to thrive will need to transform from organisations that manage people to organisations that lead them. “What’s not going to work is managers who feel they have to control the heck out of everything, and who see hybrid as a loss of control,” he says.
24th Apr 2022 - The Irish Times
Remote working is a 'mixed bag' for employee well-being and productivity, study finds
Adapting remote and hybrid work policies to employees' specific work-life situations can result in increased well-being and productivity, but many employees are stuck in an increasing number of low-quality meetings when working remotely, according to a new study.
24th Apr 2022 - Phys.org
How HR should be involved in developing strong virtual leadership
Hybrid working has unsettled workplaces: there’s a mess of policies and practices, issues of trust and engagement. It’s been the same story over the past 20 years – with the setting up of global virtual teams and the response to the pandemic emergency, HR teams have taken a back seat: they have preferred to support managers as and when needed, watched situations emerge rather than take a clear stance and actively working with the business to develop strong virtual leadership strategy and culture. HR has an essential proactive role to play in developing strategies so that leaders are proactively shaping their future collaboration; where they are leading the use of technology instead of being led by it.
24th Apr 2022 - People Management Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe sky-high cost of returning to the office
After two years of remote work, spending a day in the office can be a shock to the wallet – and rising costs are making it worse. Employees who haven’t had to budget for train tickets, takeaway coffees or new office outfits for the past two years are now acutely aware of how much it costs to spend a day at your desk. And, worse, these costs are growing. Some companies are offering financial and other incentives to tempt unhappy commuters back. But, given how aware workers are now of exactly how much an office day costs, it feels unlikely people will willingly revert to absorbing office-day expenses like before.
21st Apr 2022 - BBC.com
Remote work: Canadians struggle to disconnect, report says
A new report has found that 28 per cent of Canadians are experiencing challenges disconnecting from their jobs after regular work hours, a trend experts at LifeWorks say is continuing to impact employees' mental health. According to the LifeWorks' monthly Mental Health Index released Thursday, Canadians who are unable to disconnect from their jobs after the work day displayed a mental health score nearly nine points below the national average. The index found respondents younger than 40 were 70 per cent more likely to be unable to disconnect after regular work hours than those older than 50.
21st Apr 2022 - CTV News
Why a blanket approach to a remote working policy is unsuitable and lazy
According to the anonymous workplace survey app Blind, more than half (53%) of professionals working for technology firms in Silicon Valley prefer remote working to an office environment. Generally, as the workforce returns to the office, people remained optimistic that employers would introduce a hybrid policy to accommodate those who favor remote working and those who favor the office environment.
21st Apr 2022 - Verdict
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home, Japan's corporate warriors rethink their priorities
Japan is in the midst of en masse hiring season, when a wave of college graduates join companies in formal ceremonies after sweating through the job-interview gantlet. While this year’s ritual has a different look, with COVID-19 forcing many companies to scale back or go online, the goal has long been the same: to kick off what was often a lifetime devoted to one company. But this model that undergirded Japan’s economic rise is slowly eroding. Working from home, people have had more time to rethink their careers and lives. Many want a change.
20th Apr 2022 - The Japan Times
Best Tips To Be More Productive When Working Remotely
Working remotely for the first time in your life requires a lot of flexibility. Having the right mindset and the right home office are two of the most important things experienced remote workers rely on to do their job. Here are seven tips to help you get started.
20th Apr 2022 - PC Tech Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 20th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe end of sick days: has WFH made it harder to take time off?
Zoom calls, email and Slack channels have facilitated work during lockdowns and made it easy for employees to stay at home if they had Covid, but they have also made it harder to take sick days. Elizabeth Rimmer, chief executive of LawCare, a charity that supports good mental health in the legal community, has joined numerous webinars and virtual meetings in recent weeks attended by people struggling on with Covid. “They didn’t look good. [People] can lie in bed with their laptop and power through even if they are unwell.” Jane van Zyl, chief executive of Working Families, an advocacy group, says: “We have to be mindful that the lesson from the pandemic is flexible working and not working round the clock.”
19th Apr 2022 - Financial Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 19th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullResearch finds remote work could be key to Britain’s ‘Levelling Up’ plan
Remote work could enable over 13 million Brits to seize the opportunity to live and work outside the major cities, helping to spread economic opportunity across the UK, according to research by ClickUp. The research found that 45% of the UK workforce believe working remotely from wherever they’d like on a permanent basis is a realistic option. More than half (53%) of Brits believe that living in a major city is important to their career advancement – however if they had the same career prospects living elsewhere as they do now, only 15% of people would choose to continue living in the city.
18th Apr 2022 - fenews.co.uk
The workers taking on new 'super commutes'
Super-commuters aren’t a new phenomenon. In sprawling countries like the US, for example, some workers, mainly senior executives, have been commuting long distances for years. But the pandemic has increased this phenomenon, as more people shift to an employment model that combines remote work and occasional visits to the office. Could this new form of commuting be the future, as workers embrace hybrid, and build lives further away from urban hubs?
18th Apr 2022 - BBC.com
4 people on how their company’s switch to work-from-anywhere spurred them to move around the world
While some companies continue to debate remote and hybrid work for their teams, others are embracing a more flexible work-from-anywhere approach. Atlassian, an Australia-based software company with employees around the world, introduced its own “Team Anywhere” policy in August 2020, which allows its 7,388 employees to relocate to another city or country where the company has an established presence and accommodating time zone. Almost two years later, nearly 300 employees have moved to a new country, and hundreds more have relocated within their own country, the company says.
18th Apr 2022 - CNBC
Strong support for hybrid model allowing work from home, poll shows
There is a strong appetite among workers who began working from home during Covid to continue with a mixture of working from home and the office, the latest Irish Times/Ipsos poll has found. The findings suggest that for many people the pandemic has changed their working habits permanently. Of the 61 per cent of respondents to the poll who said they were currently working, almost four in 10 (38 per cent) said they had begun working from home during the pandemic.
18th Apr 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullReturn to the Office? Managers Shouldn’t Overstate the Benefits
Managers who would like remote workers to return to the office are frustrated. The winter Covid-19 pandemic surge is over, yet nine out of 10 people working remotely would like to continue to do so at least some of the time. Workers in the major U.S. cities say they plan to cut their time in the office by half from prepandemic levels and office occupancy rates remain low. To persuade more workers to return, a number of prominent executives have stepped up their critiques of work-from-home arrangements and doubled down on pro-office evangelism.
13th Apr 2022 - BloombergQuint
Majority of public sector workers want to keep flexible working, research shows
Three quarters of public sector workers would be more likely to stay in a job that allowed remote or hybrid working, a study has found. The report, published by the Open University and Public Sector Executive (PSE), said hybrid or remote working made organisations more attractive across the public sector, with 73 per cent of those polled saying they’d be more likely to stay in a job that offered this. This increased to nine out of 10 in the government and local authorities sector.
13th Apr 2022 - People Management Magazine
Only 10% of remote workers have claimed working from home relief
Over €171 million remains unclaimed by Irish taxpayers for Remote Working Relief alone over the last two years. Only 10 per cent of remote Irish workers have availed of this tax relief to date, according to tax-back specialists, Irish Tax Rebates. The Revenue Commissioners of Ireland have confirmed that only 58,157 claims have been received for working from home relief for 2021 at a value of €10.1 million, compared to 93,000 Working from Home claims in 2020 at a value of €13 million.
13th Apr 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 13th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullWall Street is battling to determine the future of work from home
Big banks like to stick together on major policy decisions. But as Wall Street grapples with heading back-to-work, a rare chasm is growing between the finance giants. The implications of these choices, and the resulting stratification of policies will likely ripple through the world of finance and out to Main Street in the coming months. Citigroup's chief executive Jane Fraser announced in March that the majority of the company's 210,000 employees will be allowed to go hybrid with three days in the office and two days at home each week. UBS made similar plans last month with the launch of their Virtual Worker Framework that will allow some US employees to work 100% remotely. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are taking hardline approaches, requiring employees to come into the office five days a week.
12th Apr 2022 - CNN
One or Two Days in the Office Is the 'Sweet Spot' of Hybrid Work
Just one or two days in the office is the ideal setup for hybrid work, according to a new study, as it provides workers with the flexibility they crave without the isolation of going fully remote. The findings, in a paper from Harvard Business School, were based on an experiment in the summer of 2020 where 130 administrative workers were randomly assigned to one of three groups over nine weeks. Some spent less than 25% of their work days in the office, some were in more than 40% of the time, while a third “intermediate” cohort landed in the middle, translating to a day or two per week. That subset turned out more original work than the other groups, and “this difference was significant,” the authors wrote.
12th Apr 2022 - Bloomberg
Work remote, get paid less? The battle dividing offices will define the future of work
These developments come as no surprise: the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that up to a quarter of workers in advanced economies will work permanently on a hybrid basis, ie partly from home, several days a week. Discussions about RTO (returning to the office) are increasingly fraught and in flux. There is no uniform model or agreement. The case for going into an office regularly is having to be made to the workforce – and many are rejecting it. Meanwhile, CEOs have to grapple with employees who want more flexibility, the ability to work remotely and even the ability to choose their working hours – and this without a paycut.
12th Apr 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 12th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe simmering tension between remote and in-office workers
As pandemic restrictions end, more and more companies are calling employees back to the office – yet the rules are not universal for all workers. Some bosses are allowing exceptions for individuals or particular groups of workers – moves hard to explain in the return-to-office world. While mandating certain behaviours from most employees, they’re allowing others to retain special arrangements. But with some employees across an organisation working with very different attendance rules, tensions are beginning bubble to the surface, impacting workplace dynamics.
11th Apr 2022 - BBC.com
Still Working From Home? These Practical Products Will Help Keep You Sane
At least half of UK workers are still working remotely at least some of the time, according to a YouGov study, and the novelty has well and truly worn off. Working from home has some incredible perks, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with a few issues. Who would have thought working from your sofa could feel so exhausting? But there are plenty of simple remedies to remove the stress, boost productivity and keep your mindset in check. The right products can really help.
11th Apr 2022 - HuffPost UK
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullReturn-to-office mandates will soon be 'very outdated,' says Atlassian's head of distributed work
Companies that adopted permanent remote-work policies during the pandemic are doubling down on their commitments to flexibility while major companies like Google and Twitter call employees back to offices this month. But it’s only a matter of time before in-person requirements become passé, says Annie Dean, who leads distributed workforce strategy at Atlassian, an Australia-based software company. “This conversation will seem very outdated as the next generation of leaders rises in the workplace,” she tells CNBC Make It, adding that “in the future, work is not a place. It can happen anywhere.”
10th Apr 2022 - CNBC
59% say remote working has afforded them a higher salary
Almost three-fifths (59%) of remote workers said the practice has afforded them a higher salary, according to research by global compliance and payroll technology organisation Deel. Its survey of more than 700 individuals working remotely in 86 countries also found that just under two-thirds (64%) found it had helped them to increase their savings, thanks for factors such as salary increases, as well as reduced travel and housing costs. In addition, three-quarters of respondents said working remotely had afforded them a better work-life balance, while 51% said it had resulted in increased productivity and 35% said it had helped them to obtain their dream job.
10th Apr 2022 - Employee Benefits
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullEmployers still reluctant to formalize hybrid and remote work language in offer letters
For most white-collar employers, the typical company policy around working from home over the past two years has always been subject to change, depending on the severity of COVID-19 infections in a particular jurisdiction. Some companies, largely American banks such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have publicly asked their employees to return to the office, with few exceptions. But there is a growing body of evidence that most workers have gotten used to doing their jobs from the comfort of their own homes, and aren’t prepared to give that up.
7th Apr 2022 - The Globe and Mail
Return to Office: 1/3 of San Franciscans Expect Permanent Remote Work
About a third of San Francisco area voters in a poll by the Bay Area Council said they expect to do their jobs from home permanently, a shift that could subdue the level of growth of the tech hub hit hard by the rise of remote work. In the poll, 29% of respondents working remotely for at least part of their time said they were also going to a workplace, and 23% said they expect to do so within six months.
7th Apr 2022 - Bloomberg
How to get the most out of remote work
Being able to work from home has many advantages, but there are also big challenges to staying productive. The key to being able to take advantage of remote work is to come up with a clear plan to overcome challenging situations such as distraction, procrastination, and lack of productivity. Here are some tips for working from home effectively.
7th Apr 2022 - Entrepreneur
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullYoung Canadians hoping to move up find hybrid work model challenging
Like many companies, Fuse has embraced a hybrid model of working remotely and in the office, which means junior employees looking to reap those in-person benefits have new challenges to navigate. Early-career employees have typically had the benefit of an in-person work environment as they look to develop their skills, understand workplace norms and progress professionally. To make the most of their time in office, junior employees should make sure to ask their colleagues and managers lots of questions around how things work and what success looks like
6th Apr 2022 - Global News
9 things to consider if you want to work remotely all the time
The dramatic changes brought to our working world by the Covid-19 crisis led to an overnight increase in remote working. However as we transition into a new era of work, rather than returning to nine-to-five office-based work, remote work is looking likely to become far more common. Has the pandemic provided you with your first experience of working from home for an extended period of time and you’re finding you’re enjoying it? How can you determine whether a permanently remote role really is right for you? There are a few questions to ask yourself before you start the job search process
6th Apr 2022 - Siliconrepublic.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 6th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullWhy leaders need to focus on the negatives of remote work, too
There are costs to the remote work lifestyle —particularly when it comes to mental health. For some employees, such as parents or those caring for a family member, remote work can be a godsend. But what if you’re someone who lives alone? Or someone who struggles with depression or anxiety? For these workers, remote work can increase loneliness and exacerbate existing mental health issues. So what can employers do? Aside from offering expanded mental health services to employees, as 39% of employers have since the pandemic started, there are a few important steps your leadership team can take.
5th Apr 2022 - Fast Company
The best places to work remotely in the US
People across the country continue to work from home after COVID-19 policies forced them out of the office, but the ease of remote work might depend on where a person lives. WalletHub compared the 50 states and Washington, D.C., across 12 metrics, including internet access and cost, cyber security and share of the population working remotely before the pandemic, to determine the best places in the U.S. to telework. Workers in New Hampshire enjoy the best cybersecurity, while remote employees in California pay the lowest average cost for internet access.
5th Apr 2022 - The Hill
Recruitment in the age of remote working – how to get it right
Is remote work here to stay? Do companies expect a return to office working? Will hybrid working become the norm? These are the questions that have been continually asked over the past year since offices began to open their doors. Having been unexpectedly thrust out of offices and into bedrooms, kitchens and home offices, people were given the time to reflect on and take a step back from their routine and daily commutes. This pause allowed people to decide on the areas of their work which they wouldn’t want to return to and which they would – a return to the office five days a week, or even any, was one of these. While the specifics of this new way of work are still to be agreed one thing is for sure, remote working is here to stay and businesses need to recognise this or risk being left in the past. However, with this new evolution of work, how do companies adapt to this and more specifically, how do they hire a remote workforce while maintaining a strong company culture?
5th Apr 2022 - HR News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 5th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullWelsh Government in Bid to Boost Remote Working
Pandemic lockdowns heralded a new era of remote working. And the shift looks set to remain a key aspect of the UK’s workplace culture as many workers prove reluctant to give up the positive benefits of ditching the commute and businesses discover the upside of reduced costs and access to an increased talent pool. The Welsh Government is now pushing to lock in these benefits with its new Remote Working Strategy, which outlines the government’s ambition to achieve 30% of the Welsh workforce working at, or near, home during this Senedd term.
4th Apr 2022 - Business News Wales
WFH forever? Two years into a work-from-home revolution, some may never return to the office
More than 60 per cent of jobs can't be done from home. For the millions of frontline workers who need to physically be somewhere to complete their work, things won't change much. However, the Productivity Commission, the government's think tank, found that about 35 per cent of jobs have aspects that allow them to be done at home. These jobs tend to be better paid, more likely to be full-time, and the workers tend to be female. As our economy continues to evolve, that percentage is likely to expand.
4th Apr 2022 - ABC.Net.au
Remote work vs office life: Lots of experiments and no easy answers
With some people returning to work in the office and others continuing to log in from home, managers will need to create a hybrid workplace that successfully blends in-person collaboration and remote working to keep everyone happy and productive. Three executives at the recent DTX Tech Predictions Mini Summit explained how their companies are using a range of tools and techniques to build the workplace of the future.
4th Apr 2022 - ZDNet
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullWork-from-home tech you deserve to pep up your temporary office
Working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t have to be a dreary, dawn-to-dusk task if you have the right environment to work in. We take a look at gadgets that can help you work better, or bring cheer to your day.
3rd Apr 2022 - South China Morning Post
Italy's new law is good news for remote workers and digital nomads
Digital nomads will finally have a place in Italy, lawmakers have confirmed after months of speculation. The new visa for remote workers was approved and signed into law on 28 March, ending concerns that it was cut from a draft of the decree seen in January. The news has, understandably, caused a buzz among the growing ranks of professionals who have untethered themselves from office-based jobs during the pandemic. Where better to balance life online with getting out onto the gorgeous piazzas, hills or azure coasts of Italy?
3rd Apr 2022 - Euronews
Remote work steadily declines in US, but some resist return to office
At the height of the pandemic lockdowns in May 2020, more than one-third of U.S. workers were doing their jobs at least partly from home, shifting perceptions of workplace flexibility. Ever since, the share of workers telecommuting because of COVID-19 has steadily declined, falling to 22.7% of the workforce in February 2021 and 10% last month. Now those numbers appear likely to dip lower. But return-to-office plans have been met with skepticism from people who say working from home improves productivity and mental health. Some workers of color said telecommuting enabled them to avoid insensitive comments they faced in the office.
3rd Apr 2022 - Chicago Tribune
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Apr 2022
View this newsletter in fullPlan aims for 20% remote working for civil service
In Ireland, the government has announced a plan that will allow workers in the civil service to apply for a minimum of 20% remote working. The 'Blended Working Framework' will allow employees to request remote working arrangements and seek a review if their application is refused. Access to blended working will not be an automatic entitlement, regardless of any previous remote working arrangement during the Covid-19 pandemic. Civil Service employers are being encouraged to support and facilitate access to blended working wherever practicable.
31st Mar 2022 - RTE Online
Government hails ‘major shift’ on remote working for civil servants
In Ireland, tens of thousands of civil servants will now be able to work remotely at least some of the time. The Government has hailed the move as a “major shift” in working arrangements for around 40,000 civil servants, which will see officials able to work from home at least 20% of the time. It also partly formalises many of the remote-working reforms ushered in overnight by the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago.
31st Mar 2022 - Irish Examiner
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 31st Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullAmid Covid surge in Ireland, employers urged to assess if it's safer for staff to work from home
Thousands of employers are being urged to assess if their workers would be safer working from home or wearing a face mask in the office as Ireland battles with a highly infectious form of Covid-19. The new guidelines are issued by CIPD Ireland, the representative body for human resources professionals, with 6,000 private and public employers. The Government signalled there will be no return to official mandatory restrictions despite the spread of the rampant BA2 form of Omicron but there are calls for “leadership” on Covid-19 issues.
30th Mar 2022 - Independent.ie
Could a move overseas save you from the UK's cost of living crisis?
A fifth of all UK workers are now considering moving overseas to work remotely in a bid to swerve the increasing cost of living in Britain. One study out this week suggests more than six in every 10 workers are now considering working remotely from another country, with reasons ranging from the weather to lost faith in government and, most common, the rising price of life in the UK. The research of more than 2,000 full-time workers by benefits platform Perkbox, is backed by a further study of more than 500 UK business leaders who say they “aren’t against” the shift to remote working.
30th Mar 2022 - The Independent
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 30th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullEmployers urged to offer staff “choice of flexible arrangements” in Welsh Government’s strategy to increase remote working
More businesses across Wales are to be encouraged to to offer employees the “choice of more flexible working arrangements” as part of a remote working strategy released by the Welsh Government. The pandemic forced many companies to rethink how they operate after the UK and Welsh Government introduced a strict “work from home requirement where possible” in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus.
29th Mar 2022 - Wrexham.com
America is entering the great experiment of hybrid work
This spring, workers are finally heading back to the office en masse and into another untested and ambitious experiment in work life: hybrid working. “This is a brave new world – we’re doing something we’ve never done before, which is we’re going to go, en masse, hybrid,” said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford. Many companies that are bringing their workers back to the office are doing so on this basis, meaning they are allowing employees to do a mix of in-person and virtual work during the week. Some workers will be expected to work a set number of days in the office; others will get to choose which days they want to come in.
29th Mar 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 29th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullHybrid workplaces for offices aren't working.
Hybrid schedules are supposed to provide the best of both worlds: all the benefits of working from home (no commute, more focus, hanging out with the dog, whatever it may be) plus the benefit of in-person collaboration with colleagues. The problem is … much of the time, it isn’t happening that way. Instead, a lot of people who have returned to their offices for some or all of the week have found that they’re the only ones there, or others are staying isolated in their offices, and all communication still happens over email, Slack, or Zoom. As a result, they’re spending time commuting to and from the office and dealing with all the hassles of in-person work but without any of the promised payoff.
28th Mar 2022 - Slate
The rise of the rural remote worker
About 3,000 Portuguese workers have so far taken advantage of the MAIS rural employment grant, which was introduced in March 2020. Many of the initial recipients are Portuguese citizens who worked overseas but decided to return home at the outset of the Covid-19 outbreak. As part of a wider effort to attract foreign workers, meanwhile, Portugal recently extended the scheme to all EU workers and anyone holding a valid work visa. Portugal is not the first country to try luring professionals into rural areas. Local authorities in Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Croatia and the US are among those to have offered cash incentives over recent years.
28th Mar 2022 - Financial Times
The workers with social anxiety fearing the return-to-office
Experts say anxiety has rocketed among young people during the pandemic, and although there’s little data on exactly how many people are dealing with it, it’s estimated that 12.1% of US adults experience social anxiety at some point in their lives. Employees are just starting to trickle back into the workplace, so we’re still in the early stages of understanding how in-office work will affect people who are coping. However, European schools are already reporting a spike in school-return refusals among children due to mental-health and anxiety problems exacerbated by the pandemic. If kids’ behaviours are the harbinger – especially because social anxiety affects younger people more – it’s possible we may see a similar trend manifest in the workplace.
28th Mar 2022 - BBC News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe pandemic opened the door to remote working, now we need to support this way of working for future generations
The way people work has significantly changed since the pandemic and the Welsh Government is keen to do all it can to help lock in the positive benefits experienced by many and encourage more businesses to adopt this new approach to working. In a strategy published today the Welsh Government sets out its plans to work with businesses, trade unions and key stakeholders to help more employers to adopt a more agile and flexible approach within their workplace, so that employees can make a choice on the way they work, whether that’s locally from a shared work space, from home, or a mixture of both.
27th Mar 2022 - fenews.co.uk
How to Create a Thriving Hybrid and Remote Work Culture
The pandemic has forced organizations to recognize that they need to adapt their work culture to a hybrid and remote future. Employees may have different office schedules: Some essential employees might be there full-time, others will be there 1-3 days a week, and some may be fully remote. However, the danger of a sense of resentment building up between “haves” and “have nots” around schedule flexibility calls for a work culture that addresses such issues. Leaders who want to seize a competitive advantage in the future of work need to use research-based best practices to create a culture of “excellence from anywhere” to address these concerns.
27th Mar 2022 - Psychology Today
You want to work remotely. Your boss wants you back in-person. Here’s how to negotiate
Because of work-at-home benefits like more family time, more sleep (on account of no commute) and better work-life balance, many employees are staunchly against reverting to old ways. For some workplaces, this is a non-issue. Many bosses are embracing the new world of hybrid work, and some are taking it a step further by introducing year-round summer Fridays—the practice of ending work a few hours early before the weekend—or even four-day workweeks. But other employees may not be so lucky, with bosses who are intent on bringing everyone back in-person, despite the mountain of evidence that it doesn’t increase productivity or foster collaboration in any meaningful way.
27th Mar 2022 - Fortune
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullWorking culture has changed – can the public sector keep up?
When the pandemic hit, many of the UK’s 5.7 million public sector employees took part in the largest remote working experiment in history. At the same time, many were also thrust on to the frontline of the country’s response to the Covid crisis. According to the Office for National Statistics 42% of public sector workers worked flexible hours in 2018, compared with 21% of private sector workers. However, only 3% of public sector workers reported that they worked mainly from home, compared with 17% of people in the private sector.
24th Mar 2022 - The Guardian
Mental health at work: the tech helping businesses to assist struggling staff
Loneliness and anxiety afflict many people working remotely, but companies can support employees with an array of technologies. For many businesses, technology could play a role in helping employees’ mental wellbeing. One solution is the use of app-based surveys that enable employees to set out their concerns and feelings about their workplace environment. This is an effective way of ensuring that employers take into account the diverse and differing needs of their workforce, says Kate Cavanagh, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Sussex.
24th Mar 2022 - The Guardian
5 misconceptions about remote work, debunked
According to the Pew Research Center, only 23 percent of workers in jobs that could be done from home were frequently working remotely before the coronavirus pandemic. During the pandemic, that number peaked at 71 percent and is currently at 59 percent. While a majority of those workers early in the pandemic said they were working from home because their offices were closed, the proportion has flipped, and now the majority say they’re working from home because they want to. Remote work has evolved from a rare ad-hoc accommodation to a preferred way of life.
24th Mar 2022 - The Washington Post
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in full7 Ways Work You Can Improve Your Health While Working from Home
It turns out that increased job flexibility can significantly reduce anxiety in your personal and professional lives. If you manage time wisely, remote work can even equip you to take better care of your mental, emotional and physical needs. However, not everyone is thriving while working from home. As the pandemic drags on, the line between your job and home life can blur and heighten stress levels. Luckily, a simple shift in priorities can help you feel good again and dramatically improve your health and happiness.
23rd Mar 2022 - bbntimes
UBS offers US wealth unit staff option to work remotely full-time
UBS has begun offering some of its US-based employees the option to work remotely full-time in an effort to meet staff demand for greater flexibility and increase retention, the group announced on Wednesday. The Swiss bank and wealth manager is rolling out a new work program, the Virtual Worker Framework, that will allow its eligible US staff to access UBS’s tech platform and attend meetings and other in-person events remotely. The firm’s US-based Global Wealth Management employees are seeing the first phase of the rollout of the new program, UBS said
23rd Mar 2022 - Citywire
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 23rd Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullWork From Home: Small Home Office Inspiration for Redesign
One of the best things about working remotely is the flexibility aspect, yet it can also be a distracting affair unless you find an organized space to call your own. If your home has no room for a separate office, there are still plenty of ways to set aside a dedicated workspace. Check out this small home office inspiration to help you get organized and boost your productivity.
22nd Mar 2022 - News Anyway
Returning to the office: How these employees pushed back
Many companies have been working remotely on and off since March 2020, and despite the rise of the Delta and Omicron variants, many companies have recently expected employees to return to the office. But throughout the pandemic, office employees have found benefits of remote work that they don't want to give up: There's no commute, you can exercise during breaks and eat healthier when there's not an office lunch involved, and your schedule is more yours to make time for what's important to you, like picking your child up from school or starting and finishing work earlier. They're joining a movement called the Great Resignation — a wave of workers quitting their jobs after realizing they want better.
22nd Mar 2022 - Business Insider
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullWhat if Working in Sweatpants Unleashed Your Superpowers?
What do we wear while working remotely? Whatever we want. Even as we are called back to the office, we might take some of our new sartorial selves with us. We’ve gone casual, yes—goodbye hard pants—and we’ve also gone weird, authentic and free. Forget dressing for the job you want—dress for the environment you’re in, says Erica Bailey, a doctoral student in organizational behavior at Columbia University and the lead author of a recent paper about remote work attire and productivity. The big reveal: wearing business attire didn’t consistently increase participants’ feelings of power. Throwing on comfies while working from home, however, boosted the workers’ feelings of authenticity and engagement, indicating that they were more immersed in their tasks and more present.
21st Mar 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
This CEO's Remote Work Policy Is Only 10 Words. It May Be the Best I've Ever Heard
As employers and business leaders everywhere grapple with employee preferences on remote work, they might take a page out of Gravity CEO Dan Price's playbook. When Price recently polled employees to find out where they wanted to work, only 7 percent said they prefer to work in the office. Thirty-one percent requested a work/home office hybrid solution. And a whopping 62 percent said they would prefer to work only from home. "Do whatever you want," Price said recently on Twitter. "As a CEO, what do I care?" Price then summed up his recommended policy in just 10 words: "If you get your work done, that's all that matters."
21st Mar 2022 - Inc.
Surviving remotely: What impact did remote work have on employee psyche?
What impact did the massive and abrupt move to remote work have on the employee psyche? William Becker, associate professor of management in the Pamplin College of Business, attempts to answer this and related questions in his recently published research, "Surviving remotely: How job control and loneliness during a forced shift to remote work impacted employee work behaviors and well-being." Becker's paper investigates the impact of job control—or a person's ability to influence what happens in the work environment—and work-related loneliness on employee work behaviors and well-being during the massive and abrupt move to remote work amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
21st Mar 2022 - Phys.org
International remote working here to stay | Ruth Holmes
KPMG International has released new insights on international remote-working practice as flexibility and hybrid working options become crucial to talent management and employee experience. Among the key takeaways is that rather than diminish the appetite for global mobility and international relocation, virtual and remote working practices can be dynamic tools for meeting employer and employee needs around talent attraction and retention, and boosting cross-border working.
21st Mar 2022 - Re:locate Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullTwo years later, remote work has changed millions of careers
The pandemic thrust the working world into a new reality in March 2020 as offices closed and millions of people were forced to learn how to do their jobs from home. Two years later, employers and workers are still adapting to a new normal and trying to figure out what the future of work might look like. Some companies are determined to return to the way things were and get everyone back into the office. And some have embraced remote work, allowing employees to work from home full time or part of the time. But many workers are deciding to chart their own course
20th Mar 2022 - MSN.com
50% of companies want workers back in office 5 days a week–why experts say this strategy could fail
After two years of working from home – and seeing return-to-office plans derailed by new Covid-19 variants – a growing number of companies are eager to get employees back to the office. About 50% of leaders say their company already requires or is planning to require employees to return to in-person work full-time in the next year, according to new research from Microsoft, which surveyed 31,102 workers around the world between January and February. This number stands in sharp contrast, however, to what employees really want: flexibility. In the same report, 52% of workers said that they are thinking of switching to a full-time remote or hybrid job in 2022.
20th Mar 2022 - CNBC
Legislation delays risk squandering remote working progress – unions
Irish workers are slipping back into “old habits” of turning up at the office five days a week because of Government “foot dragging” over new laws to bolster working from home rights, trade unions are warning. Congress, the umbrella organisation for trade unions, said delays to promised legislation have created a “vacuum” which threatens to squander a once-in-a-lifetime chance to copper-fasten widespread remote working.
20th Mar 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe 'ghost colleagues' of the remote workplace
More than two years since the start of the health crisis, fewer than 30% of knowledge workers around the world are working from the office every day. That means that many employees are interacting with far fewer co-workers than at their desks. A 2021 Microsoft study of its own staff showed switching to remote work meant “employees didn’t just change who they worked with, but also how they worked with them”. At the company, business groups (such as work teams) and informal communities (such as friendship groups) became less connected; people in different groups connected with each other 25% less than before the pandemic. Groups also became static, as workers hung on to existing connections instead of making new ones.
17th Mar 2022 - BBC
Home working 'helps to attract staff but not keep them'
Working-from-home policies are helping companies to attract new staff but could be harming their chances of retaining them, a survey has found. Nearly three quarters of companies whose staff mostly work onsite say they have found it more challenging than usual to recruit, compared to half of employers whose staff mostly work from home. Four fifths of employers that operate completely remotely, however, reported an increase in resignations, compared to half of employers with staff who never work from home, according to the survey from CIPHR, an HR software company. Tamara Littleton, founder and chief executive of The Social Element, a social media marketing agency with 250 staff who all work remotely, said that staff retention had become more difficult in the past two years.
17th Mar 2022 - The Times
The demand for flexible work 'will only accelerate' in coming years as workers feel more empowered
In the past two years, work has changed tremendously as many people shifted to remote work, went through a career change, or quit working altogether. One thing that seems to be favored amongst most workers, however, is flexibility. According to Nick Lillios, CEO of Nowsta, a workforce management platform, 2022 is the year for flex work. In 2020, many Americans were forced into hybrid and remote work models after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. And according to a recent report from Apollo Technical, an IT and engineering agency, 72% of workers now prefer a flexible work model over returning to office full-time.
17th Mar 2022 - CNBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullWFH has killed networking as we know it. Here’s how Gen Z plans to adapt
A good internship or first job can help you build connections that will propel your career forward not just in the immediate future but for decades. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, most of these relationships were forged in person. But what happens when those connections exist only in cyberspace? It’s an issue facing the oldest members of Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) as many in-person internships and entry-level roles disappeared during the pandemic, and many white-collar jobs remain remote. It’s created new barriers for these young professionals as they learn how to navigate workplace norms and foster relationships without a physical connection to their colleagues.
16th Mar 2022 - Fortune
How will remote work impact the careers of younger workers?
As backing for strict Covid restrictions fades in countries like the UK, the question of whether mass working from home should be phased out is being hotly debated. Most polls suggest that a majority of employees who can do so want to spend less time in offices than they did pre-pandemic, and most commentators think they’ll get their wish. So economists, sociologists and other experts have been keeping themselves busy predicting how such a pivotal shift in working norms will impact different groups, and whether these impacts will be mostly positive or mostly negative. One group that is getting a lot of attention are career-starters working in white-collar industries; younger people who have never been part of the pre-pandemic working world and who are in roles that could be done remotely indefinitely.
16th Mar 2022 - Economy
Survey: Four in 10 workers in Singapore choose remote work over bigger bonus
If given the choice, 41% of workers in Singapore would rather continue working remotely than be offered a bigger bonus, according to a survey by recruitment agency Randstad. In a Business Times report, the company’s Singapore and Malaysia managing director Jaya Dass said remote work may have allowed employees to enjoy benefits such as saving time and money from commuting, which allowed them to experience more personal time and better productivity. “Employers that intend to make hybrid work a permanent feature of their workforce culture after the pandemic should also start to roll out policies as soon as they can to retain their workforce,” she said.
16th Mar 2022 - The Star
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 16th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullMore firms rely on services to support remote workers' mental health
As prolonged teleworking due to the coronavirus pandemic leaves remote workers feeling isolated, an increasing number of Japanese companies are using online services such as personal consultation software to look after their employees’ mental wellbeing. Network technology company NTT Communications, which currently has about 80% of its employees working remotely, has adopted specialized software to arrange online consultations between the workers and their superiors.
15th Mar 2022 - The Japan Times
This Dreamy Remote-Working Scheme Will Pay You to Relocate to the Catalan Countryside
From dramatic mountain ranges to quaint little towns full of dusty masias, rural Catalonia is one of Europe’s most beautiful regions. Once you get a taste of the autonomous Spanish region’s countryside charms, you’ll never turn back – or at least that’s the idea behind the Catalunya Rural Hub initiative. The scheme, which is a partnership between the Catalan government and the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, aims to attract professionals working in the digital industries to Catalonia’s rural areas. It’s an attempt to build on a pandemic trend which saw lots of people realise that they didn’t have to live in cities and that they could live and work remotely from the countryside instead
15th Mar 2022 - Time Out
4 in 10 Singapore workers would give up bigger bonus for remote working: Survey
After working from home for close to two years, 41 per cent of workers in Singapore would rather continue working remotely than receive a bigger bonus, a survey by human resources solutions agency Randstad found. This is likely due to various benefits these employees experienced while working remotely, such as saving time and money from commuting, having more personal time and higher productivity, said Ms Jaya Dass, managing director for Singapore and Malaysia at Randstad. Among the respondents, at least 80 per cent received a salary increment in 2022, with 9 per cent of these employees seeing a pay rise of more than 20 per cent.
15th Mar 2022 - The Straits Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 15th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in full7 ways to ease the transition from remote to hybrid work
Make no mistake: the office is still important, it’s just no longer for routine daily tasks. It’s instead ideal for things like creative collaboration, team building, and career advancement. So, for the good of both your business and your workers, you need to find ways to evolve your office so that it becomes a destination of choice that your employees want to be a part of and will make the occasional trip for. Here are seven things you need to address to get your employees coming back.
14th Mar 2022 - Fast Company
Pandemic fuels demand for courses on remote leadership
Leading teams remotely was part of the curriculum at many business school MBA programmes before the coronavirus pandemic, but it has gained new relevance in an age when teams can be working from home or from the office in the same city, meeting only via Zoom calls and WhatsApp messages. Research last year by business school accreditation body the Graduate Management Admission Council found that the subject now scored more highly than other areas of study for prospective MBA students — 57 per cent of those interviewed said leadership and change management training was a must-have in their ideal degree course, more than the 49 per cent who felt entrepreneurship teaching was essential.
14th Mar 2022 - Financial Times
Blue-sky thinking: new rules allow digital nomads to work in the sun
The pandemic locked us down, but at the same time freed many workers from the confines of the office. A new breed of digital nomads emerged – people who took their laptops, jumped on planes and set up shop in some of the most beautiful parts of the world. And with them have come schemes to make it easier for them to stay for months on end. Barbados was one of the first countries to formalise arrangements with its “welcome stamp”, launched in June 2020. The schemes all run in a fairly similar fashion: workers pay to apply and get the right to stay in the country while working for an employer based elsewhere.
14th Mar 2022 - The Guardian
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullBig Read: Covid-19 pandemic caused biggest shift in work in decades
Millions across the West quit their careers during the pandemic – often opting to retrain for dream jobs, or downsizing for happiness. In London, due to white-collar concentration, half of all employment is now either based at home or is “hybrid” work, where staff go into the office a few days a week. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the figure is about 20 per cent. New research shows hybrid working is more popular in Scotland that anywhere else in Britain. A recent poll of UK corporate leaders by the Centre for Economics and Business Research found increased remote working led to better customer satisfaction, higher productivity, and happier staff.
13th Mar 2022 - Herald Scotland
End of the office? 1 in 3 won’t consider a new job unless they can work remotely
The pandemic has fundamentally changed the American workweek, a new study reveals. In fact, only one in 15 remote workers expects to be back in an office for five days a week. In a recent survey of 2,000 fully remote or hybrid-remote employees, more than a third (35%) say they wouldn’t even consider a new job unless it includes the option to work remotely. Despite the benefits and comforts of remote work that many respondents cited, it does come with challenges. The remote environment has made it more challenging for people to communicate with their co-workers and manager (48%), have their work recognized by their peers (44%), and maintain a work-life balance (44%).
13th Mar 2022 - Study Finds
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullWhy Americans are choosing remote work over going into the office
The workweek in the US has fundamentally changed — only 1 in 15 remote workers expects to be back in an office for five days a week. In a recent survey of 2,000 fully remote or hybrid-remote employees, more than a third (35%) of respondents said they wouldn’t consider a new job unless it includes the option to work remotely. More than three-quarters (76%) said they’d even apply to a role outside of their current industry if it were completely remote. That may be because 77% have found simple pleasures in working from the comfort of their home. However, the remote environment has made it more challenging for people to communicate with their co-workers and manager (48%), have their work recognized (44%) and maintain a work-life balance (44%).
10th Mar 2022 - Yahoo News
Could the post-pandemic, hybrid workplace boost gender equality?
As the world enters its third year of dealing with COVID-19, the landscape for office-based employees is almost unrecognizable. And as flexible work plans become the new normal, for many workers daily commutes, chats in the office kitchen, and loud colleagues are a thing of the past. Even as the world celebrates International Women's Day today, however, some things haven’t changed when it comes to the workplace experiences faced by women working in the tech industry. While flexible work and the emerging hybrid office have ushered in a new perspective on both where and how people work, initial research indicates women now face bigger barriers than ever before.
10th Mar 2022 - Computerworld
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullTokyo men's time on housework, child care unchanged amid pandemic, remote work: study
The time men spend on housework and child care has not changed much since before and after the coronavirus outbreak in Japan, even though working from home became more common among workers, a survey by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has shown. In June 2021, when the Japanese capital was under a COVID-19 state of emergency, the metropolitan government asked a total of 5,000 women and men living in Tokyo online about how much time they spend on house chores and child care, as well as their remote work conditions. When the weekly average of time spent on housework and child care per day was tallied among 2,000 women and men who live with their spouses and preschool age children, women spent eight hours and 54 minutes, while men spent three hours and 34 minutes. Compared to a pre-coronavirus 2019 study, for women it was an increase of 20 minutes, while for men it was just a one-minute increase.
9th Mar 2022 - The Mainichi
Workcations: The travel trend mixing work and play
We’ve been taught to keep work and play apart. Yet more of us are still taking workcations, years into the pandemic – and reaping the benefits. The trend could be here to stay. Last year, a whopping 85% of 3,000 Indian workers said in a poll that they took a workcation in 2021. Over a quarter of Canadian workers say they want to take one this year; in a global study of eight countries, 65% of 5,500 respondents say they plan to extend a work trip into a leisure one, or vice versa, in 2022.
9th Mar 2022 - BBC.com
Scotland's strong adoption of hybrid working 'could give economy multi-million-pound boost'
On average, Scottish employees now want to work 2.8 days a week from home – a rise of 254 per cent compared with before the pandemic, and above the UK-wide figure of 2.35, according to a Virgin Media O2 Business study with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). Additionally, Scottish respondents said they enjoyed an additional 1.7 hours of leisure time a day on average when working remotely, which scaled up equals 442 hours a year or almost 20 extra days. The research also found that of those employees who indicated a willingness to relocate thanks to remote working, Scotland could see an influx of 238,000 workers.
9th Mar 2022 - The Scotsman
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 9th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullJoining a company remotely? Here's how to bond with your colleagues
Getting to know new colleagues through a box on your screen while working from home can have its challenges. Recent hires already have a lot on their plates when it comes to making a good impression, but forging relationships with your new co-workers should also be a high priority, even if you've never met them in person.
"It is very important to build personal connections with people at work," said Jennifer Benz, a senior vice president at human resources consulting firm Segal. "If you have those strong personal relationships at work in the tough times and the good times, you are going to have a better support system, and that's really important not just for your happiness, but also for your professional success."
8th Mar 2022 - CNN
What Are the Effects of WFH? Bosses Show Burnout From Hybrid Office Setup
If your manager seems crabby lately, consider this: Six in 10 of them say their mental health has been hurt by the pandemic, according to a new survey from Prudential Financial. That has 40% of managers saying that they are prioritizing their mental health over their career, according to the nationally representative survey of 2,000 workers. Of managers whose direct reports are working remotely, 44% said the hybrid work model had already left them burnt out.
8th Mar 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullIs Remote Work Actually Better for the Environment?
With the daily commute all but cancelled during successive Covid-19 lockdowns, many have assumed that WFH will lead to environmental sustainability gains. Indeed, such dramatic changes in mobility, production, and consumption patterns, temporarily reduced global CO2 emissions by 17% in April 2020 compared to peak 2019 levels. But what seemed like a promising trend soon faded away: emissions are now almost back at pre-pandemic levels, even as employees aren’t. Indeed, our research also shows that WFH is not a clear win for the environment.
7th Mar 2022 - Harvard Business Review
5 Tips To Thrive In A Hybrid Work Environment
All signs point to the fact that hybrid work is here to stay. That's because employers finally acknowledge that employees desire the best of both worlds and aren't willing to compromise. According to the 2021 Work Trend Index, over 70% of workers want flexible remote work options to continue, while over 65% crave more in-person time with their teammates. As a result, 66% of business leaders are preparing to redesign office spaces to better accommodate hybrid work environments. At the same time, there are challenges with a hybrid work model. If you find yourself exhausted and overwhelmed, here are five tips to thrive in a hybrid work environment.
7th Mar 2022 - Forbes
UK Managers Expect Companies to Cut Work From Home Policy After Covid
Two thirds of managers expect cuts to remote-work programs and the majority say they value flexibility, mental health programs even so they expcect cuts to work from home policy afater COVID.
7th Mar 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullNew offices for the hybrid era? Many companies are on board
If you build a shiny new office building, will your employees show up to work in it? Many U.S. companies are banking on it because they believe working in person is better for collaboration and training young employees. So even though most employees are still working from home offices and dining room tables today, some companies are willing to spend big on showplace headquarters. Businesses recognize there is a place for offices despite the fact that they plan to give workers more flexibility to work from home and might see cost savings from limiting their real estate holdings.
6th Mar 2022 - ABC News
Twitter Employees Can Work From Home ‘Forever’ Or ‘Wherever You Feel Most Productive And Creative’
In a Tweet, Parag Agrawal, the new CEO of Twitter, who took over from Jack Dorsey, announced that he’d continue the option of working remotely “forever,” as other tech companies are calling for workers to return to the office. Twitter will reopen its offices starting the middle of March. Employees will still be allowed to work remotely or come into an office if they’d prefer that choice. Agrawal wrote, “Business travel is back effective immediately, and all global Twitter offices will open starting on March 15. Decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe traveling for business, and what events you attend, should be yours.” He added, “Wherever you feel most productive and creative is where you will work and that includes WFH full-time forever.”
6th Mar 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th Mar 2022
View this newsletter in full5 Practices To Maximize Remote Meetings And Prevent Them From Taking A Toll
In just two years, the paradigm of work has shifted along with its impact on our mental health and well-being. For Webex by Cisco, this means it’s time to make meetings better, according to chief marketing officer Aruna Ravichandran: “The pandemic has taught us a lot. At its inception, organizations were focused on business continuity, including getting employees up-and-running on video conferencing tools. As companies look at a hybrid approach to working, we’re focused on purposeful innovations that create value and enable people to strengthen their own work-life balance such as real-time translations, AI-powered technology to capture body language, build stronger connections and monitor your digital footprint.” By implementing healthier meeting practices and prioritizing wellness, remote and hybrid working no longer has to take a toll.
3rd Mar 2022 - Forbes
Twitter to reopen offices March 15, though remote work remains an option
Twitter will reopen its offices in the middle of this month, though employees will still be allowed to work remotely, according to an email from CEO Parag Agrawal to staffers. Agrawal, who was promoted to CEO in November, is taking a slightly different approach than Jack Dorsey, his predecessor and a Twitter co-founder. Dorsey told employees in the early days of the pandemic two years ago that they could work remotely “forever” if they wanted to. Agrawal said he’ll still honor that policy, but he warned that “distributed working will be much, much harder” and said “there will be lots of challenges.”
3rd Mar 2022 - CNBC
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 3rd Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote jobs can change work for good — if you work in the right place
Working from home has become so popular that over 40% of employees said they’d look for a new job or simply quit if required to go to the workplace five days a week. Among women and people of color, an even higher share of workers said they’d depart if they lost the remote option. Women with young children especially value flexibility. Of course, many jobs cannot be done remotely because front-line workers must work on-site where they’re needed. Nationwide, just over a third of private companies increased remote work since the pandemic, according to a 2021 business survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2nd Mar 2022 - The Seattle Times
Remote working Bill panned by employers and trade unions as ‘fatally flawed’
In Ireland, a government plan to allow workers to request the right to work from home is “fatally flawed”, an Oireachtas committee has heard. The Enterprise, Trade and Employment Committee heard conflicting views on the draft remote working legislation, a flagship project of Tanaiste Leo Varadkar. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) condemned it as largely toothless and “stacked in favour of the employer at every turn”, while employers’ group Ibec portrayed it as a cumbersome piece of legislation that would impose drastic new obligations on businesses.
2nd Mar 2022 - The Independent
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 2nd Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullIs Remote Work Failing Young Workers?
Research led by associate professor Ashish Malik, head of the management discipline at the University of Newcastle, Australia, concludes the impact of technological disruptions on several workplace innovations in workplace redesign. These include flexible work designs, such as technology-mediated home-based work, remote working, teleworking, co-working, working at third spaces, including Smart Work Hubs, and other flexible work options. Although these designs have helped engage a vast majority of workforce groups, especially in the current times, organizations are finding it hard to engage with the younger workers, who require handholding as they commence their professional lives.
1st Mar 2022 - Forbes
Easing New Job Blues While Working Remotely
New job blues are tough, but not abnormal. These feelings don’t necessarily mean “I hate my new job!” - they simply indicate that we started with big expectations and have some reckoning to do as we hit up against reality. Usually new job blues are mild and peak within two to eight weeks. The feelings recede as we settle in, get to know colleagues, and fully experience the reasons we made the change. That said, as a career coaching I’ve been noticing a new pattern lately: new job blues seem to be more intense and longer lasting for my career coaching clients who move from one remote job to another. This is happening even though they were highly intentional about their choice of job and organization and it’s a “great fit” on paper.
1st Mar 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Mar 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Work Seen More Persistent Than Planners Expect
The pandemic-era shift to remote work will likely be more persistent than anticipated, hitting the finances of U.S. cities that are banking on commuters to get back to the office post-pandemic. Two recent studies point to the long-lasting impact of work from home. About 75% of the increase in telework over the course of the Covid-19 crisis will likely stick, according to a paper from researchers at Arizona State University, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Dallas Federal Reserve. Twice as many workers will be 100% remote as before the pandemic, and one in every five workdays will be from home.
28th Feb 2022 - Bloomberg Law
Remote Work's Impact On Communities — And What It Means For Your Business
Remote work is changing where we work and where innovation happens. But, there's a larger conversation that is being overlooked: the long-term impact on our cities and communities. We used to believe that where we worked decided where we lived. That spurred a network effect that gave cities a compounding advantage. However, all of that appears to be shifting, with the rise of remote work being a contributing factor. Over the past year, as an example, about 80% of venture capital was invested outside of the Valley, which is a massive shift. Large organizations like Facebook, Salesforce and Dropbox are allowing their employees to work remotely at least part of the time. By 2025, roughly 36 million Americans are expected to work remotely, an 87% increase from pre-pandemic times, according to a report by Upwork
28th Feb 2022 - Forbes
How to find a mentor in the new hybrid work era
It can be challenging to find a mentor in the best of times, but even more so when most people are working remotely during the pandemic. Still, experts say it’s possible to find and build meaningful professional relationships online. Having mentors is also a good way for workers to stay motivated during the remote and hybrid work era, says Rachel Wong, co-founder of the online career and mentorship platform Monday Girl. “A lot of people feel stagnant right now with COVID,” Ms. Wong explains. “Younger professionals, with the ‘Great Resignation,’ are finding other ways to [create] connections and find more inspiration from their careers.” Organizations that have gone remote-only should also play their part to foster mentor relationships among their staff, Ms. Wong says.
28th Feb 2022 - The Globe and Mail
Mauritius is offering long-term visas for remote workers
Mauritius is offering long-term visas for remote workers while seeking wealthier holidaymakers to boost tourism revenue, with visitor numbers unlikely to match pre-pandemic levels for as many as four years. The Indian Ocean island nation is offering a so-called premium visa, which allows people to work remotely from the country for as long as a year, and wants richer tourists to make extended trips, said Nilen Vencadasmy, chairman of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority. “We are looking for digital nomads, who can plug in and start working from anywhere in the world,” he said
28th Feb 2022 - BusinessTech
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow flexible back-to-work plans could tap the talents of workers facing employment barriers
During the pandemic, many companies had to adjust to operating without having employees in the office. Forty per cent of the labour force is working from home, according to a January report from Statistics Canada. As pandemic restrictions are loosened or lifted, many companies are now considering what their workplace will look like in the future and how much time employees will be needed in the office. A new report from Deloitte Canada looks at the policy implications of hybrid models and how they will create and sustain economic growth that inclusive of more Canadians.
27th Feb 2022 - CBC.ca
Three Hybrid Working Misconceptions, Busted
Hybrid working is here to stay. Countless studies show that workers relish their newfound work-life balance, not to mention the time and money they save by not commuting to the office every day. And if their flexible working options don’t pass muster, they won’t stick around, with 72% of workers saying they are likely to look for a new job. Employers who are serious about holding on to top talent will need to be prepared to meet this demand, as many already do. However, several recent studies suggest that hybrid working, when different people are in the office at different times, might not be all it’s cracked up to be. It could create workplace divisions, they say, stall career development and be detrimental to employee health and mental wellbeing.
27th Feb 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow remote working could be changing children’s futures
Parents have worked in front of children for centuries. But as the pandemic has radically altered how we work, ushering in remote set-ups for many employees, some parents are finding their work habits increasingly on display in front of their children in a new way. Research has already shown that adults’ attitudes and practises can influence a child’s relationship with how they work in the future as well as how they develop – so now, when many working parents aren’t in offices as before, could these effects be exacerbated? Experts say increased exposure to work can have downsides both for children’s development as well as how they perceive the role of a job in a parent’s life. But there may be hidden upsides, too – and things parents can do to amplify the good over the bad.
24th Feb 2022 - BBC News
Majority agree to flexible working arrangements: poll
In Ireland, women, younger people and the lower paid are strongly in favour of more flexible working arrangements according to a poll carried out on behalf of the Labour Party. In a survey carried out by Ireland Thinks, 71% of respondents agreed that employees who can work remotely should have the right to do so. Some 81% of women, compared to 63% of men, agreed that workers should have the right to more flexible work.
24th Feb 2022 - RTE.ie
The 20 jobs most likely to let you WFA – work from anywhere
Cosmopolitan journalists got in touch with anonymous employee review site Glassdoor to compile a list of jobs with the most opportunities to WFA – work from anywhere. This list is ranked by the number of remote job openings – the percentage below basically indicates the number of people with the job title who have the ability to work remotely, AKA from anywhere in the world that takes their fancy.
24th Feb 2022 - Cosmopolitan
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullMore action urged on remote work health risks
Employers and the government need to do more to address the health and wellbeing risks related to remote working, and should target support at individuals who are the most at risk of mental and physical health problems. This is according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (Iosh) which has praised new recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) as “setting the standard for making remote work sustainable”.
23rd Feb 2022 - Personnel Today
U.S. business is preparing for a remote work revolution
U.S. firms, struggling to fill a near-record level of job vacancies, are increasingly promoting remote and hybrid working arrangements to recruit employees. A Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond survey found that a quarter of employers expect to have more remote workers next year. The bigger the company, the more likely it is to anticipate an increase in the number employees who will be working away from the office. These firms are also recruiting farther geographically than they used to. The findings back up recent research showing that remote and hybrid work is on the rise -- even as the Covid-19 virus recedes in the U.S. and many big banks are bringing workers back to the office in large cities.
23rd Feb 2022 - Fortune
What the Remote-Work Revolution Means for Cities
Even as they resume normal leisure activities, many Americans still aren’t going back to the office. According to data from Kastle Systems, which tracks building access across the country, office attendance is at just 33 percent of its pre-pandemic average. That’s lower than in-person attendance in just about any other industry for which we have good data. Even movie theaters—a business sometimes written off as “doomed”—have recovered almost twice as much. What once seemed like a hot take is becoming a stone-cold reality: For tens of millions of knowledge-economy workers, the office is never coming all the way back. The implications—for work, cities, and the geography of labor—will be fascinating.
23rd Feb 2022 - The Atlantic
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 23rd Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullFlex office spaces become a respite from working at home, commuting long distances
Many companies are experimenting with remote working as the disruptions of the pandemic reach the two-year milestone, says Scott Watson, managing partner of acquisitions and leasing at Crown Realty Partners in Toronto. Nine of Crown’s 34 office buildings in Toronto and Ottawa include co-working office centres. While there wasn’t any growth in co-working early in the pandemic, Crown is now seeing increased interest in suburban touchdown spaces where employees can work remotely and avoid commutes to a downtown head office.
22nd Feb 2022 - The Globe and Mail
Women, people of color happier working from home
As companies reopen offices, who goes back and who stays home could determine the trajectory of workers' careers. Women and people of color are generally happier working from home and are likelier than their white male colleagues to want to continue teleworking, according to a new Harris Poll survey of professional workers across the U.S. A hybrid workplace has the potential to become an inequitable workplace, as in-office workers have more contact with managers and executives — while those who stay home fall out of sight and out of mind.
22nd Feb 2022 - Axios
What Your Gen Z Colleagues Wish You Knew
Generation Z is getting antsy at work. Nearly two-thirds of job seekers born in the late 1990s into the early 2010s have switched industries or are considering doing so, according to a recent LinkedIn survey. What’s making them leave when they are only just getting started? A key undercurrent seems to be the lack of mentoring and access to seasoned management because they’re working remotely. To better understand where employers are failing, we talked to one young worker who recently switched jobs. Theirs is a cautionary tale for organizations everywhere, and points to how some basic, everyday management tactics can make a difference.
22nd Feb 2022 - TIME
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Feb 2022
View this newsletter in full8 Ways To Make The Most Of Being A Remote Team
When you work with people you don’t see every day, you face unique challenges. It’s not as simple as popping to your co-worker’s desk to chat about the latest project. Instead, collaboration and communication online is a top priority. And that’s without thinking about the social and cultural implications of a remote team. How do you create a strong bond between colleagues that rarely see each other?
21st Feb 2022 - fenews.co.uk
Missouri bill aims for accessible remote work options for state workers
More state workers should have the ability to work remotely in Missouri, says the sponsor of a bill designed to start the state toward that goal. The bill would establish a “Missouri State Employee Work-From-Anywhere Task Force.” The bill states the task force would work to determine the “best policies and practices” to allow state employees to work remotely and assess all types of remote-work arrangements throughout the state. The proposal puts different stakeholders on the task force, Riggs said, including members from the Legislature, government departments and the technology industry.
21st Feb 2022 - STLtoday.com
Plans to subsidise remote working hubs across country
In Ireland, Minister for Rural and Community Development and Social Protection Heather Humphreys said there are now 200 remote working hubs across the country. The minister said the average cost of using the hubs is between €15-20 a day. Workers can now book an office or desk space in their local hub through an app called 'Connected Hubs'. The Government is looking at plans at subsidising hubs
21st Feb 2022 - RTE.ie
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullShould UK workers have the right to disconnect?
In December, the Scottish government committed to undertaking ‘meaningful discussions’ on providing its employees with a right to disconnect. The announcement comes at a time when the boundaries between work and home life have become blurred or, in some cases, feel like they have almost disappeared. The link between this and burnout culture is being made, as well as the detrimental impact on mental health and wellbeing. The Scottish government's announcement follows a number of governments and employers around the world who have placed increasing focus on implementing successful ‘right to disconnect’ policies.
20th Feb 2022 - People Management Magazine
Thanks to Remote Work, Many in Gen Z May Never Work in an Office. Will It Matter?
A growing cohort of young employees have never worked from an office. They graduated during the pandemic or landed jobs just as offices began to shut down. And many of them—especially Generation Z—imagine they may never work in an office, as remote work becomes the default for many businesses. In general, they are OK with that: Many of them like being remote and want to be able to work that way. But there are drawbacks. Surveys show that young remote workers also feel unmoored and anxious. And researchers argue that the young workers may harm their personal and professional lives in the future by missing office work and the traditional experiences that prior generations took for granted: learning from older colleagues, schmoozing with bosses, settling into the rhythms of an office workday—or even just being face to face with others. It is new territory, and the experience is likely to shape these workers in lasting ways.
20th Feb 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullTransiting into a fully remote role? Here's what you might need to start
The readiness to switch up work format and ensure that business processes continue despite limitations is now more important than ever. It thus comes as no surprise that many companies are moving towards a hybrid working arrangement, where employees can work either from home or in the office when required. This gives flexibility for employees to develop a workspace best suited for them, opening up a world of opportunities where one can choose to work beside a pool, at the beach, inside a cafe, overseas or elsewhere.
17th Feb 2022 - Yahoo News
The Hybrid Work Model Is on the Rise — Here’s How to Find Work From Home Jobs
As many employers who went fully remote start to dip their toes into the water of attempting to bring their entire workforce back to the office, many are opting for the kind of flexibility a hybrid model gives in the short-term — part-time return, part-time work from home. But late last year, a report showed that nearly two-thirds of employees working remotely in the U.S. would prefer their positions stay work-from-home. The hybrid model might not be here forever, as more executives and companies get antsy about bringing everyone back for in-person work. So if you want to continue working from home, you might just have to search for (and secure) a job that was designed to be done remotely.
17th Feb 2022 - Rolling Stone
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Work Is a Choice, Not a Necessity, for Most, Pew Poll Shows
A majority of Americans who work from home today say they’re remote by choice, not necessity. That’s one key takeaway from a Pew Research Center survey, which found that the reasons for teleworking have changed considerably since the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, 61% of teleworkers who have an office say it’s their choice not to work from there, Pew found, up from about a third in October 2020. Fewer cite concerns about being exposed to the virus -- 42% now versus 57% back then.
16th Feb 2022 - Bloomberg
Research highlights importance of social chat for hybrid and remote teams
New research investigating the impact of hybrid working and the way colleagues communicate remotely has suggested that social chat is vital for workplace wellness. Researchers from two Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centres, the Adapt centre for AI-driven digital content technology and the centre for Research Training in Digitally Enhanced Reality (D-Real), have been looking into how workplace communication has changed since the pandemic. Their research acknowledged the importance of social talk or watercooler conversation as being key to workers’ wellbeing. It also provided recommendations as to how communication can be a feature of hybrid and remote workers’ lives.
16th Feb 2022 - Siliconrepublic.com
Virtual internships were a learning curve — now the future is hybrid
During the past two years, employers have faced a steep learning curve as they developed remote offerings for interns and trainees. Now a second shift is on the way — applying what was learnt in delivering virtual internships to make the most of a hybrid future. “Getting across the values of the firm can be difficult to do remotely and virtually if they [the interns] are logging on and logging straight off and being by themselves,” says Cathy Baxter, UK head of talent engagement at PwC, the professional services firm. Employers aimed to help interns feel as much a part of the team when working from home as they would in the office.
16th Feb 2022 - Financial Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 16th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullIn 10 Years, ‘Remote Work’ Will Simply Be ‘Work’
A decade from now, offices shall be used for one thing and one thing only: quality time with colleagues. This seemingly bold prediction comes from Prithwiraj Choudhury, a Harvard Business School professor and expert on remote work. “We will probably in 10 years stop calling this ‘remote work’. We’ll just call it work,” he said. A long-time advocate of “work from anywhere,” Choudhury has studied firms that went 100% remote years before the pandemic. His research showed that a hybrid workforce is more productive, more loyal and less likely to leave. With companies from Twitter Inc. to PwC now giving employees the option to work virtually forever, Choudhury said businesses that don’t adapt risk higher attrition.
15th Feb 2022 - BloombergQuint
Why Remote Work Isn’t Only Beneficial For Employees
We're nearly two years into the pandemic that's shifted many office jobs to remote work, yet the discussion around the future of work often misses a critical point. By enabling employees to work from wherever they want and focusing less on in-person gatherings, businesses can be more productive while also creating more inclusive environments and continuing to foster real connections. Although some CEOs in the tech sector continue to delay return-to-office dates, what office workers will return to isn't the environment they left in March 2020. A remote-first culture can create more engaged employees, stronger retention and improved productivity.
15th Feb 2022 - Forbes
COVID Changed the World of Work Forever
The pandemic has taught many people that the job does not have to be the way it was. This realization may be one reason that many are not going back to their old jobs. At the end of 2021, the service provider and hospitality sectors were facing major challenges in enticing people back to these low-paid, heavy-demand jobs, with many positions remaining empty. At the same time, 4.5 million Americans (3 percent of the workforce) voluntarily quit their jobs in November, reflecting both discontent with their current positions and the desire to find better ones. But solving the burnout problem cannot fall to individual workers. The workplace must change. People burn out because their employers have not successfully managed chronic job stressors. We must place a stronger focus on modifying or redesigning workplace conditions. How can job environments be places that help people thrive rather than wearing them down?
15th Feb 2022 - Scientific American
Research Explores The Economic Benefits Of Remote Work During Covid-19
If you're a knowledge worker, the Covid-19 pandemic has almost certainly meant you have grown all too familiar with tools such as Zoom. The wholesale transition to remote working has by and large been successful, with research suggesting that productivity has largely been strong during the pandemic, even if there have been possible consequences for collaboration and innovation. "If you have the right connectivity, remote working can increase the productivity across the team, but it certainly isn't without issues," Neil Parker, GM of EMEA at intelligent automation provider Laiye says. "When you haven't met someone the relationship is inevitably very different, so when you're tackling challenging situations, whether that's collaboration or more disciplinary issues, it can be difficult."
15th Feb 2022 - Forbes
Hybrid working must still allow career progression
In the UK, restrictions have now lifted and professionals can return to offices, but many businesses plan to continue with a hybrid model. In this new way of working, employees in the investment sector are considering the impacts this could have on career progression. Hybrid working has largely been welcomed by employees but stigma about working remotely remains in some organisations.
15th Feb 2022 - FT Adviser
Two-thirds of UK workers find making work friends remotely challenging, research finds
Employers have been urged to do more to encourage social connections between remote staff after a survey revealed that nearly two thirds of Brits find it difficult to make work friends while working from home. A poll of 2,500 UK workers, conducted by OC Tanner as part of its Global Culture Report, found 63 per cent said it was more challenging forming new friendships with colleagues while working remotely. Over half of those polled (58 per cent) also admitted that the office was where most of their new friendships are formed, while 71 per cent of UK workers said they valued colleague interactions.
15th Feb 2022 - People Management Magazine
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 15th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullResearch highlights impact of disconnection among remote workers
Remote working has left some employees feeling less engaged and detached from their team, according to new research that sheds light on the importance of connection in hybrid working. As more companies begin to move towards the hybrid model, new research has focused on how employee wellbeing is being addressed. The research from the SFI ADAPT Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology and the SFI Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (D-REAL) has proposed recommendations to help develop a more connected online workplace.
14th Feb 2022 - Irish Examiner
One third of Brits still working from home despite rule changes, data show
Vast numbers of Brits are still working from home, despite being free to go back to the office since the government repealed its advice to work remotely nearly a month ago. Boris Johnson announced on 20 January that in England the working from home guidance would be withdrawn immediately. Despite this, between 19 January and 30 January, 36% of working adults reported having worked from home at least once in the last seven days, according to new data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The ONS said this proportion had actually increased in recent weeks, but was still below the July 2020 peak, when nearly half of all working adults worked from home.
14th Feb 2022 - Sky News
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow to choose the best digital nomad visa and what to consider before applying
Over the last couple of years, lots of new digital nomad visas have become available in countries all over the world. There are currently 30-70 visas and permits out there. Some have been specifically designed for remote workers while others are previously existing visas that have been adapted to people who want to work while travelling. What these remote work programmes offer is peace of mind and the chance to work remotely - totally legally. That said, the choice can be overwhelming and there are lots of details to work out.
13th Feb 2022 - Euronews
Remote Workers Have More ‘Digital Anxiety’ Than Office Counterparts: New Poll
Remote workers apparently have more to worry about than their in-office counterparts. Indeed, according to a new international survey, 67% of these workers said they worry more about their online security and privacy their in-office counterparts (58%), even though there is nothing wrong that would trigger their concerns. The survey was conducted by cybersecurity firm F-Secure and included 7,200 workers from around the world.
13th Feb 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullAlmost 80 per cent of business leaders expect remote working post-Covid, say IoD
An Institute of Directors survey of almost 700 business leaders in January 2022 has shown that around 8 out of 10 organisations plan to adopt remote working in the long-term. The research found that over a quarter (27%) of directors expect their organisations to be fully flexible, with the use of remote working being down to the individual staff member, and a further 39% intend to shift towards one to four days of remote working per week. An additional 13% reported their organisation moving entirely to remote working, while just 16% are not planning to introduce any form of remote working. The IoD also found that business leaders were split on whether working from home was more or less productive.
10th Feb 2022 - Politics
Remote & Alternative Work Arrangements - Strategies for Success and Reducing Risk
Remote work during COVID-19 wasn’t and isn’t a fad. Many companies have swiftly adapted and shifted to this landscape by reassessing their capabilities, building and leveraging infrastructure, and using cost savings to provide their employees with a better, more flexible work experience. Leveraging advancements in technology has given companies more choices in how they operate and where their employees work. Employers have seen that work at scale is achievable with alternative work arrangements, and workers have benefited from being home, feeling safer during the COVID pandemic, and not having to commute.
10th Feb 2022 - JD Supra
Most company directors expect remote working to continue and many find more gets done, report suggests
Most business leaders plan to keep remote working arrangements in place, often feeling staff were more productive, new research suggests. A survey of 700 business leaders found that more than one in four expect their organisation to be fully flexible, leaving it down to individual employees where they want to be based.
Two in five respondents to the Institute of Directors (IoD) poll said they planned to allow one to four days of remote working a week. Only about one in six directors said they were not planning to have any form of remote working.
10th Feb 2022 - Evening Standard
How can I get the best out of staff who are working remotely?
Remote or hybrid working patterns have become common during the pandemic but research has shown that more than two thirds of managers have not been trained on how best to manage their reports remotely. Here are three tips to help you to get the best out of your colleagues.
10th Feb 2022 - The Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullHow virtual fashion can shake up the remote work dress code
Stow those shapeless sad-sack sweatpants. Meh to normcore avatars on Microsoft Mesh. Imagine showing up to your next virtual meeting, in a kinetic, digitally-rendered top that conveys your mood and personality? What sounds like zany science fiction is, in fact, already happening. Fashion-forward social media influencers are snapping up ready-to-wear virtual pants and tops (price range: $30 to $700) to augment their on-screen avatars. As more companies follow Microsoft and Meta into the metaverse, fashion designers like Gala Marija Vrbanic are getting in on the enormous possibilities for self-expression.
9th Feb 2022 - Quartz
How to Work Remotely From Another Country: A Brief Guide
Whether you're a professional with part-time remote-work privileges or a full-time digital nomad, plenty of places and companies are eager to cater to your wanderlust. If a shorter trip free from guesswork is all that time allows, then booking a longer stay at a hotel may be the path of least resistance even if it costs a bit more. Globally, many hotels have rolled out “workation” promotions. If you would prefer to work on-the-go for more than a month, and whip up your own meals from time to time, consider subscribing to an accommodation service. What about travelers who are perhaps a bit more independent and have an open-ended itinerary? Several nations now grant remote-working visas good for as long as a year.
9th Feb 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 9th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullRight to disconnect and less monitoring key to better remote work
Enterprises and governments should place clear limits on invasive workplace surveillance and support workers’ “right to disconnect” to reduce the negative physical and mental health impacts of digitally enabled remote working practices, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). In their joint technical brief on healthy and safe teleworking, the WHO and ILO said that although the increasing use of various digital technologies to support remote working has the potential to improve the work-life balance, promote flexible working hours and reduce time spent commuting, the negative impacts can be significant without proper planning and implementation.
8th Feb 2022 - Computer Weekly
Op-Ed: Work life will never be the same. We need some in-person days and some remote
Working from home surged twelvefold between 2017-2018 and May 2020. The pandemic is the biggest shock to American working life since the shift to military production during World War II. Employees are driving this revolution. Surveys of 50,000 workers across the country find they want to work from home 2.5 days a week on average after the pandemic. Employees working from home frequently tell me how they enjoy the freedom of being able to go to the gym or see the dentist during a week day, making up the work time in the evenings or on weekends. I enjoy the ability to pick up my kids from school on work-from-home days. Employees with young children are the most likely to want to work from home.
8th Feb 2022 - MSN.com
Brazil Authorizes Remote Work Visas
Brazil’s government is encouraging travelers to become “digital nomads” by working remotely in the South American nation. A measure passed January 24 by the country’s National Immigration Council of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security authorizes one-year visas and residency permits, an Embratur spokesman said Monday. In a program mirroring other remote-work plans that emerged following the pandemic outbreak, Brazilian visitors “may work for foreign employers while staying in Brazil, with no formal employment registered in the country” under the new policy.
8th Feb 2022 - TravelPulse
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe perils of ‘onboarding’ in a world of hybrid work
During this time of historically high worker turnover, getting new hires settled in quickly is critical. “Poor onboarding is costly,” says Becky Frankiewicz, Chicago-based president of ManpowerGroup North America, a multinational staffing company. “If it doesn’t make a new person feel welcome and clear on their role as part of the culture, then people will vote with their skills and take new offers.” Kristin Barry, director of hiring analytics at Gallup, says employees still have the same needs, whether online or off. “What’s different about the pandemic is the mode of experiencing those things”. New staff are always trying to figure out “what do we believe in around here”, Barry says, adding that “before they could do some of that sleuthing on their own, they could view the way people interact, when they gather and what happens, and could deduce the answer to some questions”. Now companies have to be more “intentional” about how they convey such messages, she says.
7th Feb 2022 - The Financial Times
Data scientists say that remote working is here to stay
The rise of digital nomads, freelancers, and remote workers has spurred the growth of co-working spaces. The sector is filling a void created by the flexibilization of work during the pandemic, which has led to more people working remotely. Around 4.5 million Americans left their jobs in November last year in the face of the “Great Resignation,” citing being overworked, underpaid, lacking benefits, and preferring to work from home or remotely. For many workers, the idea of working remotely is a dream come true. However, many employers resist the change, insisting that employees return to the office. This could change as data scientists project that remote working is here to stay.
7th Feb 2022 - Tech HQ
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Great Reshuffle: Companies are reinventing rules as employees seek remote work, flexible hours and life beyond work
Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas like remote work, flexible hours, four-day workweeks, compensation and more. This story is part of a series looking at the “Great Reshuffle” and the shift in workplace culture that is taking place right now.
6th Feb 2022 - CNBC
3 New Studies End Debate Over Effectiveness Of Hybrid And Remote Work
The debate over remote and hybrid work continues to grow. Some companies resisted, and iron-fisted leaders pulled the old hat trick (“It’s your job to work hard and deal with stress, so grin and bear it.”), arguing against the concept of remote work. Others cited productivity concerns and tactical problems that limited a supervisor’s ability to observe and coach employees. A handful of business leaders pushed back. Josh Feast, CEO of Cognito Corporation, argued that supervisors could find innovative ways to connect with and manage workers from afar “by ensuring their colleagues feel heard and know they are not alone. Exhibiting heightened sensitivity to emotional intelligence—particularly in a time where physical isolation has become a necessity—is vital.” Alice Hricak, managing principal of corporate interiors at Perkins and Will, said working from home showcases new approaches and debunks old ideas that it leads to low productivity, less visibility and little opportunity for collaboration.
6th Feb 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullWhy Listening To Your Employees Is Key To A Dynamic Remote/Hybrid Work Environment
Most employees and companies have proven that a remote workforce works, but there are companies that are looking to bring employees back to the office. Is that what employees want? From what you read and what people are telling me: not really. A recent survey found that 76% of working Americans want their company to make work permanently flexible in terms of schedule and/or location. Companies need to meet employees “where they are,” and even if your company has plans to go back in person, creating an incredible remote experience still needs to be prioritized
3rd Feb 2022 - Forbes
Work From Anywhere: The best places for remote workers that are within three hours of GMT
Interest in working flexibly or opting for a “workation” has soared since the start of the pandemic, with many workers and employers recognising that office hours don’t always have to take place within the confines of an office block. Now, a new survey has revealed that more than four out of five (84 per cent) of respondents polled say Working From Anywhere (WFA) is the new Working From Home (WFH), with respondents keen to combine a career with travelling the world. An awareness of the advantages that come with working in similar time zones has resulted in a shortlist of the 10 best countries to WFA within three hours of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
3rd Feb 2022 - The Independent
Hong Kong expands government work-from-home plans as Omicron bites
The Hong Kong government said on Thursday it would extend a work-from-home plan for civil servants as health officials warned tougher measures could follow amid a worsening COVID-19 outbreak. Aside from those involved with essential and urgent work, all other civil servants - who had been due to resume work on Friday - will remain working from home until Feb. 11. Health officials said on Thursday many untraceable transmission chains of the Omicron variant were spreading across the global financial hub - a warning that comes as many Hongkongers enjoy Lunar New Year gatherings. "There is quite severe community transmission at the moment," said
3rd Feb 2022 - Reuters
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 3rd Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullSwitzerland to Scrap Work-From-Home Requirement and Ease Other Covid Rules
Switzerland will consider lifting almost all pandemic-related rules, including showing Covid certificates in restaurants and wearing masks on public transport, later this month. The country will scrap a working-from-home requirement, turning it into a recommendation, as well as end quarantine for those who have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus, from Thursday. “Today is a great day,” Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said. “This beautiful day marks the beginning of a new stage in this long and difficult crisis. Of course, this does not mean that the pandemic is over, but we see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
2nd Feb 2022 - Bloomberg
Reason people want to keep working remotely
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article showing that some “homers”—those who eschew the office and prefer to work from home—have a secret: They have two jobs. The demands of working a full-time job from home were apparently not enough to prevent some from taking on an extra one. Ziprecruiter reports that remote workers make $66,000 annually on average, far above the livable wage. The WSJ reports that those they interviewed are on track to make $200,000 to $600,000 per year with that extra job.
2nd Feb 2022 - Fast Company
Tallinn’s got talent: Why Estonia’s capital is the best city in the world for digital nomads
Tallinn was recently ranked by one blog as the best city in the world for remote workers. Every element reinforces this reputation; Tallinn is such an optimal base, “Not because of one wow thing, but a gazillion small things that accumulate into your experience”. To make things even easier, every service is online, and foreigners can access them through the digital nomad visa – which launched in 2020 and allows location-independent workers to live in Estonia for up to a year – or e-Residency, which in 2014 saw Estonia become the first country to allow foreigners to run a business in the country from anywhere in the world.
2nd Feb 2022 - The Independent
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 2nd Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Pandemic Scramble to Legalize Home-Based Businesses
Many entrepreneurs starting companies in kitchens and garages find that city zoning codes can subject home businesses to unworkable standards — or ban them altogether.
2nd Feb 2022 - Bloomberg
Remote work isn’t hurting innovation. Work is.
Employees want to work from home. Their bosses, however, can’t wait to get back to the office. Knowledge workers think being remote makes their jobs better, while managers worry the arrangement could cause the quality of work to suffer. But in scapegoating remote work, companies may be disguising the real scourge of creativity right now: too much work. Executives were nearly three times more likely than non-executives to say they want to return to the office full time, according to Slack’s Future Forum Pulse survey.
1st Feb 2022 - MSN
Remote Work Is Here To Stay And Will Increase Into 2023, Experts Say
While some companies continue to thumb their noses at The Great Resignation and insist that employees come back into the office, data scientists at Ladders insist that the writing is on the wall. Remote work is here to stay. According to their projections, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023.
1st Feb 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 1st Feb 2022
View this newsletter in fullTokyo's Population Declines for First Time in 26 Years With Remote-Work Trend
Tokyo’s population shrank last year for the first time in a quarter century, as more businesses turned to remote work amid the pandemic. Japan has been trying for years to revive its regional economies and stop Tokyo from gobbling up more and more of the nation’s shrinking population. Now, the coronavirus appears to have done what no government policy could: stem the flow of people into the crowded city. As the pandemic heads into its third year, shifting attitudes about remote work are one reason for the change.
31st Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
Is your job at risk? The roles most likely to be moved out of the UK due to remote working
Remote working could cost swathes of Britons their jobs as firms look to move roles outside the UK, recruiters have warned. With companies "struggling to coax workers back into the office", there is "much less downside to offshoring" than there was before the pandemic, according to Randstad, one of the world's largest recruiting companies. The firm told Sky News growing wage demands are "emboldening some global employers to move jobs to low-cost centres".
31st Jan 2022 - Sky News
What Local Teams Can Learn From Global Teams About Working Remotely
Long before the pandemic, global teams faced time, distance, and communication barriers that they had to overcome in order to collaborate as a team. Since 2020, the world has irreversibly changed. As global teams augment their long-standing practices for remote collaboration with newer and better tricks, local teams that have much less experience collaborating remotely can learn a lot from them.
31st Jan 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 31st Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullPlanning for remote working offers an opportunity to resolve long-standing issues
The Irish Government has published draft law on remote working that enshrines an employee’s right to seek to work remotely, but which also gives employers 13 grounds for refusing. This may seem unexpectedly weighted in favour of employers, many of whom are anxious to at least establish the office as a designated place of work. That may be an employer’s starting point, but the progressive and wise among them are also aware a happy employee is a productive employee. The question of productivity is also answered. In most cases it has soared during lockdown and under work-from-home restrictions. The future of work favoured by employers and employees seems to be some form of hybrid model, bespoke to each particular set of circumstances: part of the week at home, part in the office.
30th Jan 2022 - Independent.ie
Remote working new normal; 82% employees prefer working from home: Study
With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing unprecedented changes in work life, a study has revealed that 82 percent respondents admitted that they prefer working from home to going back to the office. The remote work trend was initially forced on employees due to the pandemic, however, after two years remote working has become a new normal and as things settled down new habits have formed
29th Jan 2022 - cnbctv18
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 28th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullThese companies decided to go fully remote -- permanently
As the pandemic heads into yet another year, companies are still grappling with uncertainty in the workplace. Many have attempted to reopen their offices, only to be stymied by new variants or outbreaks that necessitated yet another shutdown or a delayed re-opening. So some businesses are removing the guesswork altogether by deciding to remain fully remote -- permanently. Here's what happened when these companies decided to pivot to remote work full-time.
27th Jan 2022 - CNN
Spain digital nomad visa: the new remote working hotspots
Spain’s plans for a digital nomad visa are expected to be announced in the next couple of months. As part of the country’s recent Startup Act, foreign nationals working remotely for non-Spanish companies will be permitted to live in the country without needing a full work visa. The draft law for the visa must now go to parliament, where it needs a majority to be passed - this could take until spring.
27th Jan 2022 - The Independent
Yes, You Can Find a Mentor While Working Remotely
Remote and hybrid work has upended many traditional mentorship arrangements, leaving up-and-comers in search of more seasoned professionals to learn from and help their career climb. In the absence of in-person mentoring opportunities, people in their 20s and 30s are going online to pitch themselves as remote mentees, sometimes engaging in behavior once considered gauche, such as sending cold-call emails and sliding into the social-media DMs of stars in their field. They risk not hearing back. Some prominent professionals might be wary of online messages from people they have neither met nor heard of. A number of mentees who have sought mentorship this way say they have caught the attention of people they admire because, well, everyone is online now.
27th Jan 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
What workers need to know before permanently working remotely
Remote work is a growing — and in some cases, permanent — reality for employees across the nation, and many workers have been embracing the flexibility to work from home during the pandemic. But be aware: Legal ramifications and workplace pitfalls could be abundant if you aren’t careful. As first-time remote workers settle into this new style of work, they may want to consider familiarizing themselves with a few issues that may arise.
27th Jan 2022 - The Washington Post
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 27th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe small cities and towns booming from remote work
With the pandemic decoupling work and place, it’s now possible to live in areas that haven’t historically offered jobs for certain professionals. For some secondary cities and smaller towns, this presents an opportunity to reverse brain drain, counter aging populations and inject money into city coffers. But for others, this new trend has distorted housing markets, priced-out working-class residents and brought big city problems to small cities that were wholly unprepared for them.
26th Jan 2022 - BBC News
Hybrid work: How the 'Zoom ceiling' hurts remote workers
When given the choice, the majority of workers would prefer to work remotely. And flexibility is one of the most important benefits when candidates consider a new job. But working from home can have a hidden downside, says Elora Voyles, industrial organizational psychologist and people scientist at TINYpulse. “Remote workers aren’t getting the same amount of recognition for the work that they are doing,” she says. “In particular, there’s research that remote workers are working longer hours, actually performing better, but 50% less likely to get promoted.” This is a case of out of sight, out of mind.
26th Jan 2022 - Fast Company
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 26th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote possibilities: seven tips to help you leave the office behind for good
With the world of employment changing like never before, many are increasingly finding that work is wherever you (and a trusty internet connection) are. Indeed, many small businesses are ditching their offices altogether. We asked some owners who’ve been there, done that, for their top tips on making fully remote working work.
25th Jan 2022 - The Guardian
Work from home Ireland legislation: New hubs pinpointed as remote work drive intensifies
The Irish Government is to identify locations for remote working hubs around the country as ministers meet to discuss legislation to make it a legal right for employees to request working remotely. The Irish Independent understands the Department of Enterprise is working with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in developing a new, national map which combines existing broadband hubs and childcare facilities across the country. The “mini census” will pinpoint communities which have good broadband and childcare facilities and may be suitable for new remote working hubs.
25th Jan 2022 - Independent.ie
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 25th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullPersonality, not age, determines engagement while working remotely, new study reveals
The myth that age determines remote working success has been busted by new research from Thomas International. The study- released as offices open up again but with many organisations continuing to follow a hybrid model – initially found that over-40s are 28% more likely to get lost in their work compared with their millennial counterparts. Over-40s are also 24% more likely to feel good about what they’re doing when working remotely, the study found. However it also suggests that other factors associated with older generations, such as enhanced financial freedom, better homeworking space, and increased job confidence, may be responsible for higher levels of engagement in remote working.
24th Jan 2022 - fenews.co.uk
Remote working: Bill will require employers to have written policy on working from home
In Ireland, employers will have to publish a written policy on the right for employees to work remotely, according to proposed new legislation to be discussed by Ministers on Tuesday. It will set out a framework whereby an employer can either approve or reject a request to work remotely from an employee. The WRC will also provide protections for employees against being penalised for remote working.
24th Jan 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 24th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullCompanies adopt flexible work approaches as they plan for the future of work
The traditional idea of going to the office five days a week or working 9 to 5 may be dying. Some companies are making room for more creative and flexible approaches to getting workers to do their jobs. Zoom, which many workplaces and workers relied on during the pandemic, is starting to allow its more than 6,000 workers to choose whether to work in the office, work remotely, or go hybrid, as in working remotely a certain number of days per week or month at their choosing. These approaches come as companies rethink workplace policies amid the fast spread of the omicron variant and the “Great Resignation,” during which employers are finding it more difficult to retain talent.
23rd Jan 2022 - The Washington Post
Working from home: how it changed us forever
Though England has ended its work-from-home guidance, this time, surely, for good, we won’t forget what we learned, the new ways of communicating, the particular realisations about our own mangled productivity, the importance of switching off when the work day ends. But nor will we forget what we missed about office culture, and what we appreciate afresh – the thrill of really good gossip, the unlikely community there, the change that happens when you leave the house. As many British office spaces remain vacant, it is projected that one in 10 will no longer be required by 2027, which suggests that while the grand work revolution is yet to emerge, a smaller shift, allowing a flake of flexibility, has taken place.
23rd Jan 2022 - The Guardian
Call for remote work to continue as Ireland logs 8,126 Covid cases
Ireland has logged a further 8,126 cases of Covid-19, amid a call from unions for remote and hybrid working to continue as tomorrow marks the beginning of a return to the office. Head of communications with Forsa, Bernard Harbour, said employers should not ignore the benefits of hybrid working.
23rd Jan 2022 - BreakingNews.ie
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote Working Surges as Criteria for More Jobseekers in U.K.
More jobseekers in Britain are looking to work remotely, a survey showed, indicating that the shift away from office work may outlast the pandemic. Indeed, a job search website, said 10% of its advertisements now offer remote work as an option and about 2.4% of all searches by potential candidates, up 10-fold from 2019. Britain had one of the biggest increases in remote working during the pandemic and in the share of vacancies offering it as an option, Indeed said, citing its own research and work by the OECD. Those posts were disproportionately concentrated in higher-paying, non-client facing roles.
20th Jan 2022 - BloombergQuint
More of us than ever want jobs that we can do remotely, says study
Eeven as we come out of the pandemic, the trend for remote work is likely to continue. New research from Indeed suggests that interest in roles that can be done remotely is higher than ever in the UK, showing more of us are prioritising increased flexibility. The proportion of job searches on Indeed by candidates looking for remote work has risen tenfold since before the pandemic, with the UK seeing one of the biggest rise in vacancies offering remote work out of all countries. One in ten job adverts now offer remote working options – nearly four times more than did so pre-Covid.
20th Jan 2022 - Metro
How Gen Z Feels about Remote Work Will Surprise You
For most Americans, working remotely over the last three years has been a huge adjustment, but what about the recent graduates who have never stepped foot in an office? Gen Z, which accounts for people born between 1997 and 2012, includes those who graduated from college in 2019, 2020, or 2021. Many of them have only known remote work. One in five or 20% of Gen Z employees have never worked in person. The big question is what effect this will have on their ability to develop as employees? Is it putting them behind in finding mentors, learning new skills, or networking with other professionals? What does this mean for their careers and the future of work? What does Gen Z think about all this?
20th Jan 2022 - HR Exchange Network
Could The New Hybrid Workplace Turn Some Women Into Second-Class Employees?
Many of the workplace trends of 2020 and 2021 will continue into 2022. Not only does the Omicron variant remind us that Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon, but our ideas about work are changing and, in some cases, permanently. One trend likely to remain for some time is the emergence of the hybrid workplace—with employees being given the optionality to work in the office and remotely. The freedom to be able to continue working remotely is being billed as a boon for women, allowing them to craft their own solutions to the increasingly difficult challenge of work-life balance. But what if choosing to work remotely brings a degree of freedom but also comes at a cost? What if women (and others opting for remote work) sacrifice career opportunities in the process?
20th Jan 2022 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 20th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullHere's Why Remote Work Isn't Going Anywhere in 2022
Adoption of remote work continues to skyrocket, even as a record number of Americans continue to leave their jobs. But as the pandemic shifts and changes, will these trends remain? In this segment of Backstage Pass, recorded on Dec. 22, Fool contributor Rachel Warren discusses the complex answer to this key question.
19th Jan 2022 - MSN.com
Change your settings: How a ‘workation’ banished my January blues
Helen Coffey writes about the benefits of a January 'workation', taking advantage of remote work while enjoying a change of scenery. "The post-Christmas come-down, coupled with (for this office worker) an indefinite shift back to working from home, had plunged me headfirst into a case of January blues so strong I couldn’t figure out how to snap out of it." "But it suddenly occurred to me that the very thing that had sparked struggles - the return to WFH - could also be the fix. We were back to a spot we’d been in at various points during the seemingly endless pandemic cycle. Working remotely could either be seen as a prison cell or a get-out-of-jail-free card, releasing us from the shackles of the office."
19th Jan 2022 - The Independent
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 19th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullAlmost 90% of employees would like to stay working remotely after Covid restrictions end
More than two-thirds (69%) of people, who are unable to work due to longstanding health problems, would consider taking up employment if it could be done remotely. This is according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which published findings from their pulse survey on remote working – ‘Our Lives Online’. This report looked at how our work has moved away from regular workplaces to homes, and other environments, since the pandemic began
18th Jan 2022 - Irish Examiner
Eager for New Residents, Venice Lures Remote Workers
Launched in December 2021 by the Università Ca’ Foscari and the Fondazione di Venezia, a nonprofit group that protects Venice’s cultural heritage, Venywhere aim is to convince people who can do their jobs from anywhere to do so in Venice — and its founders believe that the lagoon city, studded with crumbling palazzi and half-used spaces, is the perfect laboratory to experiment with new ways of working. Inspired by the Tulsa Remote work program in the U.S. and a slew of similar efforts from around the world, leaders in the Italian city are eager to bring in young professionals who want to live and work there, not just vacation.
18th Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
Is the ‘Zoom ceiling’ the new glass ceiling? Experts worry remote work will hold women back
There is a bias favoring those who are in the office compared to those who are not, which can keep remote workers from getting promotions and leadership positions, says Elora Voyles, people scientist at human resources software company Tinypulse. She has coined it the “Zoom ceiling” and believes it has become the new glass ceiling. It mostly affects women, people of color and those with disabilities, since they are more likely to opt for remote work, Voyles said.
18th Jan 2022 - CNBC
4 signs a company is actually invested in remote work long-term
Office workers around the country are still working remotely or in a hybrid setup as the pandemic enters its third year. In that time, companies from Twitter to PwC to Robinhood have said they’ll let people continue working from home even after the risks of Covid-19 subside. But allowing people to work from home isn’t the same thing as making the remote-work experience a good one, says Brie Reynolds, career services manager at FlexJobs. Plus, even if workers really want the flexibility to work remotely, a bad setup where people don’t feel supported could lead them to default back to offices in a post-pandemic world.
18th Jan 2022 - CNBC
Work From Home Is Becoming a Permanent Part of How Jobs Are Done
In the second-to-last week of December, 42.4% of U.S. workdays were worked from home. That’s according to a monthly survey commissioned by a trio of economists studying remote work, who couldn’t get the answers they needed from government data. It’s probably the best measure we have of how entrenched working from home has become since the arrival of Covid-19. Before the pandemic, WFH accounted for about 5% of U.S. paid full workdays, Jose Maria Barrero of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Nicholas Bloom of Stanford, and Steven Davis of the University of Chicago estimated on the basis of a government survey conducted in 2017 and 2018. That share catapulted past 60% in spring 2020, according to their Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, and has held remarkably steady at a bit above 40% since May 2021, not long after vaccines became available to all working-age Americans.
18th Jan 2022 - Bloomberg Businessweek
Airbnb CEO Joins Work-From-Anywhere Party With Plan to ‘Live on Airbnb’
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is walking the talk of his “golden age of travel,” saying that he’ll be “living on Airbnb” and staying in different locations for the next few months. Chesky, who announced his plans in a Twitter thread Tuesday, has been vocal about the pandemic changing the nature of travel as employees gain more flexibility to work from anywhere. Long-term stays, or those that are more than one month, were the company’s fastest-growing category during the third quarter and accounted for 20% of the nights booked.
18th Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 18th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullCorporate America comes around on remote work
The case for the functionality of remote work has largely been settled: The wheels of productivity continued to hum on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley and other corporate strongholds even as their sprawling offices lay vacant. Employees stayed home and learned how to live at work. And throughout 2021, profits rolled in. Corporate leaders attempting to coax employees back to the office have largely accepted the inevitability of the hybrid work model - a strategy buttressed by the reality of raging coronavirus rates, a tight labor market and the nation's more than 10 million job openings. Now they are learning to leverage its benefits, according to Adam Galinsky, a professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia Business School in New York. That includes more flexibility and less time commuting for employees, and lower real estate and operating costs for companies.
17th Jan 2022 - Yahoo News
Remote working gives S'pore edge in attracting talent, but could worsen inequality: Panel
In a world where working remotely has become more commonplace, making it easier for people to relocate, cities like Singapore, which offer not just a good business environment but also quality of life, will have a competitive edge in attracting global talent. But while the mobility of the global workforce allows Singapore to compete for talent in a way that was not possible before, this could also worsen inequality, said panellists at the Singapore Perspectives conference. That is why the pursuit of economic achievement must happen in tandem with improvements in other social dimensions, they added.
17th Jan 2022 - The Straits Times
Remote working brings biggest Gaeltacht jobs boost for 25 years
In Ireland, a desire to relocate during the pandemic may be behind the best performance by companies based in the Gaeltacht for 25 years. Údarás Na Gaeltachta, the regional authority for the region, announced the creation of 825 new full-time jobs in Gaeltacht companies in 2021, the highest number of jobs created in one year since 2008. Údarás chairperson Anna Ní Ghallachair said that during the pandemic there had been a boost as people, particularly young people relocated away from cities to work remotely.
17th Jan 2022 - The Irish Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullThe Impact Of Remote Work On Productivity And Creativity
Microsoft recently conducted an extensive study that looked at data from more than 60,000 of their employees over a six-month period, starting just before the start of the pandemic. The findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, revealed some interesting and thought-provoking insights surrounding hybrid workplaces and the potentially negative effects of remote work on collaboration, innovation and output. To sum things up: While short-term productivity may go up, long-term productivity will likely go down.
16th Jan 2022 - Forbes
Google Spends Billions On Buying Office Buildings: Is This A Sign Of The Post-Pandemic Pushback Against Remote Work?
In light of the surge of Omicron, a large number of companies, across all sectors, have pushed back their return-to-office plans. After enduring a nearly two-year pandemic, it would seem that business executives would give up on telling people to return to an office setting. Going counter to the remote and hybrid-workplace trend, Google announced Friday that it would purchase a London office building for $1 billion. The tech giants are clearly keeping all options open. It makes sense. If there is a backlash against remote work two or three years down the line, the tech companies would then have to scramble to acquire properties
16th Jan 2022 - Forbes
Working from home is a nightmare for some Quebecers, a blessing for others
In mid-December, when the provincial government recommended that Quebecers return to working from home amid rising COVID-19 case counts, many wondered whether a full return to work would ever be possible. How you feel about remote work depends on a range of factors: whether you are new or a seasoned veteran, whether you are an employee or a manager — and what responsibilities you have at home. Remote work tends to be especially difficult for new employees
16th Jan 2022 - CBC.ca
How to Mentor Remote Workers
As the Omicron variant further delays many 2022 return-to-office plans, managers would be smart to ask themselves how their younger employees can find proper training and mentorship as we enter year three of the pandemic. The person you’re managing today could be in a different city, state, or country than you are, and you’ll have to use any number of software tools to carry out the job. But regardless of the tooling, or the methodology, or the big ideas you may have, it really comes back to investing uninterrupted, thoughtful energy in another person’s success.
16th Jan 2022 - The Atlantic
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullPandemic spurs new smart home products designed to boost your health and efficiency
Spending so much time working remotely over the past 22 months, we’ve had plenty of opportunity to note what’s unsatisfactory about systems and products around the home and to dream about technology that would make life better. Manufacturers got the message with a range of new or soon-to-be-introduced products. Here’s a look at a range of new smart products aimed at boosting comfort, convenience and energy efficiency in the home
13th Jan 2022 - The Washington Post
Will remote work stick after the pandemic?
New habits are sticking—and economists have gathered the data to prove it. Take remote work. Jose Maria Barrero of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México presented results from research with Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University and Steven Davis of the University of Chicago. Since May 2020 the economists have conducted a monthly survey that, among other things, asks Americans about their plans to work remotely. A year ago, the results suggested that remote work would account for 20% of full-time hours after the pandemic. Over the past year, however, remote work has gained favour. Based on the survey results from December, the researchers reckon that 28% of hours might ultimately be worked from home. Employees who were once undecided now say they might sometimes work from home
13th Jan 2022 - The Economist
Remote work is a saving grace — and can increase productivity
Before the pandemic, working from the comfort of one’s home was a pipe dream for most people. But that’s changing. Apple, for example, recently announced its plan to implement a hybrid work program beginning Feb. 1, 2022. Apple’s remote-friendly plan isn’t particularly radical — in fact, it’s conservative compared to some other companies today. The companies behind Wikipedia, GitLab, WordPress, and PwC all have embraced work-from-anywhere policies. If the COVID-19 pandemic had any silver lining, it was that it proved the massive transition to remote work is both feasible and desirable.
13th Jan 2022 - The Hill
Fewer US remote workers feel comfortable returning to office
As Omicron infections surge across the United States, a weekly survey shows American workers are growing more uneasy about the prospect of returning to the office. Morning Consult’s weekly tracker of US adults who usually work from an office but have gone remote during the coronavirus pandemic found that 43 percent said on January 6 that they would feel uncomfortable returning to the office. That compares with 35 percent from the previous week and marks the highest reading since September. In a sign of just how reluctant workers are becoming about upping stakes from their home offices to work in person with office peers, more than half of those surveyed last week – 55 percent – said they would consider quitting their jobs before returning to the office.
12th Jan 2022 - Aljazeera.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 13th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullUniversities urged to ‘raise their game’ by allowing staff to teach remotely
Universities have been urged to allow clinically vulnerable staff to work remotely and to provide all staff with higher-quality face masks. The University and College Union (UCU) said that employers must “raise their game” and allow staff who need to work remotely “due to increased risk factors, isolation or caring responsibilities” to do so through reducing the numbers of people required on site.
12th Jan 2022 - Belfast Telegraph
Companies shouldn't waste this chance to make work more humane, says author of new book on remote work
The new book “Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home,” makes the case for organizations to rethink the relationship between work and life. Authors Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen look at why our current model of hybrid needs to evolve. Companies have a chance to restructure work so that people can have more balance in their lives.
12th Jan 2022 - CNBC
Maintaining staff health and safety while working remotely
The pandemic has seen an increasing number of employees fully embrace the opportunity to work from home. According to analysis by newspaper the i, the UK has maintained higher levels of remote work than most of Europe and has 25 per cent fewer people in workplaces now when compared to before the pandemic. Yet remote working poses some potential issues for employers, particularly when it comes to the health and safety of the workforce. Legislation under the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 states that employers have a duty of care to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all their employees, including employees working remotely.
12th Jan 2022 - People Management Magazine
Omicron Has Workers on Edge About Returning to the Office: Poll
Workers grew more uncomfortable about heading back to the office in the first week of the year and were much more likely to consider quitting if their employer demanded they return, a sign that companies’ efforts to get people back amid rising Covid caseloads face stiff resistance. The share of remote workers who would consider leaving their job if they were asked back to the office before they felt safe rose to 55% as of Jan. 6, up from 45% just a week earlier, according to pollster Morning Consult. More than 4 in 10 workers felt unsure about returning to the office, compared with 35% who said so on Dec. 30. People were also less likely to want to attend indoor sporting events, go to the movies and dine out, Morning Consult’s weekly U.S. survey found.
12th Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
Work Anywhere and Commute by Plane, Yahoo Tells Japan Employees
Yahoo Japan is telling its 8,000 employees they can work anywhere in the country -- and even be flown into work when the job requires it -- bucking the trend of companies looking to return workers to offices in the third year of the coronavirus pandemic. The program takes effect April 1 and allows employees to commute by plane, which wasn’t previously an option, the company said in a statement Wednesday. While Yahoo is best known for its internet portal in Japan, it’s a unit of SoftBank Group Corp.’s Z Holdings Corp., which also owns the Line messaging app and PayPay mobile payments service.
12th Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 12th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullThis Is A Big Deel: FinTech Startup Frees People To Work Remotely From Anywhere In The World
Companies that offer a remote-first distributed workforce can recruit and hire anyone in the world. They are no longer constrained to candidates that live within commuting distance to the office. For job seekers, they are now free to search for jobs anywhere they want. Deel, and other companies in this space, will change how people work and where they live. For instance, a person living in India, the Ukraine, Costa Rica or South Dakota was not previously able to get a great job with a Silicon Valley tech firm or at a top-tier investment bank without having to uproot their lives, leave their families and friends behind and relocate. Now that thousands of companies offer remote work options, a person can apply to a job anywhere across the globe.
11th Jan 2022 - Forbes
Working from home means working different hours, but not necessarily more
Remote work does not apply to each and every profession, but where it does, its effects are felt. As many of us have experienced by now, remote work is a mixed bag. While many people feel more productive working from home and appreciate the flexibility this offers, there are also challenges such as finding focus amid distractions and "Zoom fatigue."A recently published working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) uses hard data to explore the impact of remote work on people's daily working schedule.
11th Jan 2022 - ZDNet
Surging Covid-19 Puts an End to Projected Return-to-Office Dates
If businesses have learned one thing from Covid-19, it is to stop trying to predict when they are going to be back in the office. Companies across the U.S. said they were returning to the workplace in September, only to put off those plans when the spread of the Delta variant accelerated. Many of those same firms were poised to dust off their office desks in January. Now major banks, technology companies and other firms have scrapped those plans thanks to the Omicron variant, and a sense that Covid-19 is going to linger longer than most first imagined.
11th Jan 2022 - Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 11th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullMethods For Building A Remote Work Organizational Culture
Remote work has made it difficult for an organizational culture to take hold. According to the recent global CHRO study by the Upraise Research Council, over 62% of organizations claim to have reworked their policies to meet the requirements of the new normal. We also found that the ability to work remotely is one of the most important concerns among the employees surveyed. Managers (or leaders in particular) need to overcome the differences that cause rifts in teams and inspire everyone on their team to work toward common goals — and they have to do this in remote situations. The physical distance, however, amplifies the personal differences and the workloads of managers.
10th Jan 2022 - Forbes
Working from home has entrenched inequality – how can we use it to improve lives instead?
Home and hybrid working has been embraced by a long list of tech companies that includes Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Spotify and dozens more. Something similar seems to be happening in the financial sector. Companies ought to pay much more attention to the needs of new recruits – pairing them with dedicated mentors, ensuring they have the option of spending all or most of their working hours in a workplace, allowing them to join a trade union. For all employees, there ought to be both an entitlement to collective representation, and the kind of right to disconnect – to not have to deal with emails, calls and messages outside working hours – that has been adopted in France, Italy and Spain, and is now tentatively supported – for public sector staff at least – by the government in Edinburgh. Somewhere in all that might be the beginnings of home and hybrid working that could actually improve people’s lives.
10th Jan 2022 - The Guardian
Has working from home killed off the office slacker?
The pandemic has changed the way many of us work, and the question is no longer when we will go back to the office but whether we will ever go back. This change in the way we work has many implications. Early in the pandemic, it was assumed that people who worked from home would be less productive than people working in an office. The opposite seems to have happened. People working from home tend to be more productive and get more done in fewer hours than they did in office settings. In part, this is because work from home involves fewer time-wasting activities, such as meetings. Initially, it was also feared that workers would less collaborative and less creative working from home, but there is little evidence that this fear has come true.
10th Jan 2022 - RTE.ie
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullRemote work is protecting employees from toxic workplaces. Now, employers must do better, says expert
For many racialized or marginalized employees, the option to work from home has given them a sense of relief. Earlier this week, the Ontario government released a directive for employees to work remotely unless their job requires them to be on site as part of provincial restrictions as COVID-19 cases rise due to the Omicron variant. Colleen James is founder and principal consultant at Divonify, an equity and inclusion consulting firm. She says employers should go the extra mile and allow long-term options for remote work while addressing systemic racism and challenges to tackle microaggressions in the workplace.
9th Jan 2022 - CBC.ca
Building a remote work culture in the digital-first economy
Despite the fact that digital workplaces are the future, many are still trying to find the right balance between human and tech centered culture that will foster productivity and innovation. In the new workplace model, employees are able to work from anywhere and stay connected with their teams and employers, but at the same time, it poses many challenges, such as constantly being online, managing work-life balance, and developing social skills and peer learning in the workplace.
9th Jan 2022 - People Matters
Work-From-Home Access Is Skewed Across U.S. Race, Education Gap
Remote work is here to stay and newly released U.S. government data show how much it could exacerbate inequalities. The ability to telework differed sharply by race and by level of education in a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of workers in their late 30s and early 40s. Almost half of White respondents worked from home at least part-time during the February 2021 through May 2021 survey period, compared with 38% of Black workers.
7th Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullCanada's Royal Bank tells staff to keep working remotely
Royal Bank of Canada has advised all employees in regions including Ontario and Quebec to work remotely if their jobs allow, following advice from these provincial governments. In the past week, both Ontario and Quebec announced renewed restrictions amid a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. Royal Bank, Canada's biggest bank by market value, joins all its major rivals in keeping employees at home
6th Jan 2022 - MSN.com
The Post-Pandemic Office Should Be a Clubhouse
Nitin Nohria writes: "When I talk with senior executives about the ongoing pandemic, I often hear them wistfully yearn for a “return to work.” This choice of words is significant because it highlights how much we associate work with a workplace. But the pandemic has taught us that many forms of work, especially high-end knowledge work, can be done effectively (or even more effectively) away from the workplace. When confronted with this fact, most executives say that coming to an office at least a few days a week is essential for fostering personal relationships, developing and integrating new employees, generating ideas and building company culture."
6th Jan 2022 - The Wall Street Journal
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 6th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullHas remote working killed company culture?
Lindsay Wall is General Manager EMEA at Wongdoody, a human experience company powered by consultancy Infosys. He explains how bosses can continue to get the best out of their staff, as they return to home-working amid a massive spike in coronavirus cases. "Remote working has in fact led to the adoption of entirely new - and arguably more productive - ways of working and accelerated the use of collaboration tools like Miro and Slack to help enable communication and build and drive positive company culture. It’s accelerated the need for businesses to re-think how they work and how they deliver Employee Experience"
5th Jan 2022 - Consultancy.uk
The era of flexible work in higher education has begun
The COVID-19 pandemic immediately and drastically altered our collective relationship with work. But how will faculty, staff and administrative jobs look different going forward? In mid-November, in the brief lull between the onset of the Delta and Omicron variants, Inside Higher Ed’s The Key podcast interviewed administrators at two universities that were out in front in addressing questions a lot of individuals and organizations are wrestling with.
5th Jan 2022 - Inside Higher Ed
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 5th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in full60% of the Romanian Millennials and earliest Gen Zs prefer working remotely with flexible hours no more than twice a week
Six out of ten (60%) Romanian Millennials and earliest members of Gen Z prefer a working arrangement that allows them to work from various locations, including home, during flexible hours, according to the latest edition of Deloitte Central Europe (CE) First Steps into the Labour Market report. This trend is also seen in the other CE countries, where 50% of the respondents prefer a similar working model. By contrast, only 5% of the Romanian respondents and 10% of the CE respondents prefer the traditional model of working in an office for fixed hours.
4th Jan 2022 - Business Review
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 4th Jan 2022
View this newsletter in fullIs It Time to Embrace Work-From-Home Forever?
It’s been two years since the Covid-19 pandemic sent everyone home, and for many workers 2022 will begin and end in the same way: on the couch. Most big tech companies pushed back their return-to-office dates multiple times this year, most recently in response to the omicron variant. All the canceled return-to-office targets have the cumulative effect of making each new deadline seem less credible. After all, the major tech companies seem to be doing just fine with remote work. The next step for employers and workers will be a reimaging of our new remote reality.
3rd Jan 2022 - Bloomberg
As Europe leads on remote worker rights, will others benefit?
In a major victory for better work-life balance, Portugal last month rolled out new regulations for the remote-work era, including granting workers the “right to disconnect” by forbidding firms from contacting employees outside of working hours except in cases of emergencies. But Portugal stopped short of granting workers the right to turn off their devices and ignore messages from their bosses outside of working hours – a rule Italy enacted earlier this year. Strides are also being made in France and Germany, where employers are required to have a valid reason for turning down employee requests to work from home. Trade unions and experts in the European Union and the United Kingdom welcome the momentum to advance the rights and wellbeing of remote workers, but they want the new rules to go even further. Experts say the explosion in remote work during the pandemic has laid bare how obsolete some labour laws have become.
3rd Jan 2022 - AlJazeera
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 30th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullCan Remote Work Be Sustained? Minding The Gaps In Hybrid Workplaces
It’s clear that organizations built on forward-looking corporate cultures are ready to sustain, on a permanent basis, hybrid workplaces that provide for both remote work as well as in-office experiences. The question is, are more rigid organizations ready for this kind of model? It seems many may be seeing the light, a recent Google Workspace survey of 1,244 managers and employees and associated research project, conducted with Economist Impact finds. In the wake of the great office work dispersal, three in four executives and employees in the Google survey believe that hybrid and flexible work is here to stay.
29th Dec 2021 - Forbes
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 29th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home shouldn’t hinder promotion chances
Swinburne University of Technology researcher John Hopkins said while working from home might ordinarily hamper chances of progression, the pandemic had “levelled the playing field” for many. Associate Professor Matthew Beck from the University of Sydney Business School said he expected many firms would “judge outputs rather than inputs” in the office. “To attract talented workers, flexible work will likely need to be part of the package,” he said. "Younger workers will still need an opportunity for face time to form social and workplace culture connections.” Brendan Churchill, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, said bosses often get the impression that staff who are not present in the office are not as dedicated.
28th Dec 2021 - Sydney Morning Herald
Costa Rica jumps into the global competition for remote workers
Costa Rica is giving foreigners tax and visa breaks if they work remotely from the Central American nation. Some Costa Ricans say the advantages are unfair to locals who do remote work and pay taxes.
28th Dec 2021 - NPR
New Report Highlights Remote Working's Impact On The Workforce
A new report from The Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA’s) Internal Audit Foundation (IAF) and AuditBoard reveals how remote working has impacted the workforce, as well as how to maintain a healthy distributed work culture. According to “The Remote Auditor: Challenges, Opportunities, and New Ways of Working” report, 58% of chief audit executives (CAEs) said their teams were working mostly remotely, while 22% stated they were taking a more hybrid approach. As a result, the data showed that over half of respondents stated their organization relied on cloud-based technology to improve their remote working experience.
28th Dec 2021 - Allwork.Space
Greece Reinstates Work-From-Home Mandate, Curbs on Nightlife
Greece reintroduced measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic amid concern that rising cases will pile pressure on the nation’s health care system. As much as 50% of all private and public-sector employees will have to work from home between Jan. 3 and Jan. 16, Health Minister Athanasios Plevris said
28th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 23rd Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullPandemic Remote Work Spawns a New Class of Office Super Commuters
“Supercommuters” are the workers who — early in the Covid-19 quarantines — untethered themselves from cities where their jobs were or took new ones in far-flung locales, thinking they would be able to work from home forever. Now they’re waking up to the reality that their employers want them back, at least a few times a month. Not all of these long-haul travelers have been particularly forthcoming about their arrangements for fear of retaliation by supervisors. Others, daunted by the logistics, have resigned or moved closer to their jobs. While the U.S. workforce grew by 13% from 2010 to 2019, the ranks of supercommuters increased by 45%, according to Chris Salviati, senior housing economist at Apartment List.
22nd Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
Portugal brings forward mandatory remote working
The Portuguese government decided to bring forward the period when remote working will be mandatory to 25 December, Prime Minister António Costa announced on Tuesday.
22nd Dec 2021 - EURACTIV
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 22nd Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullCOVID: Remote working may become permanent - EU study
Going from being a health emergency to a social and economic one, the COVID-19 crisis expanded from urban areas to rural zones and it risks widening the divide between the centre and the periphery in the long term, according to a survey on the impact on territories of the pandemic that was carried out by Eurofound over three periods (spring 2020, summer 2020 and spring 2021). The possibility of remote working becoming a permanent characteristic of the world of work is one of the hypotheses. According to the survey, workers living in cities have a significantly higher probability of working remotely than those who live in less densely populated areas.
21st Dec 2021 - ANSA
Hybrid model of working likely to become norm past COVID-19 pandemic: expert
Over four million Canadians are working from home as of Oct. 2021, according to Statistics Canada, and that’s just under one quarter of the workforce. Michael Halinski, an assistant professor of Human Resources Management with the Ted Rogers School of Management, said there have been multiple benefits to the shift to remote work, but there are also challenges businesses have had to navigate. The shift has forced employees to experiment how they manage their work day.
21st Dec 2021 - CityNews Toronto
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 21st Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullHybrid working and the fight for equality in 2022
Paul Clark at Poly explains what employers need to know to ensure equality and diversity in a hybrid workplace: "Business leaders who want most staff to return to the office full-time are swimming against the tide. Soon enough they’ll find unhappy workers voting with their feet. There are new rules at play now; new expectations after 18 months or more of remote working. But the hybrid model many predict will be the future of work comes pre-loaded with a whole new set of challenges and potential pitfalls. Research shows that over half (52%) of global workers think hybrid or home workers could be discriminated against, versus those in the office full-time."
20th Dec 2021 - business-reporter.co.uk
Why remote workers are flocking to Costa Rica
Costa Rica – the most stable country in the region, which enjoys the highest standard of living among its peers – has seen an influx of remote workers who had elected to install themselves in a virtual office next to a beach or rainforest during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, with borders being reopened, many are stretching their three-month tourist visa by visiting a neighboring country before returning once more, if they have not already availed themselves of a new law, which allows for the issue of a one-year extendable visa.
20th Dec 2021 - El País
Employees call for new leadership styles for hybrid working
With more and more workers looking to maintain some of the positives they enjoyed from remote working during the lockdown months, hybrid working is bringing unique challenges for organisations. At present, less than half of employees feel their bosses are supporting their physical and mental wellbeing, while two-thirds feel they are not empowered to make their own decisions – as micro-managing leaders slip back into their pre-pandemic habits.
20th Dec 2021 - Consultancy.uk
The Big Read: Work from anywhere in the world? Easier said than done as regulations, policies play catch-up
In Singapore, as borders reopen and families reunite, employees who have become used to remote work over the past months are starting to contemplate the possibility of doing that while overseas. This has been made possible by the accelerated digitalisation across almost all industries, which enabled employees to work away from the office during the pandemic. However, bigger questions have to be resolved if longer-term overseas remote work is to become commonplace. In particular, some laws and policies governing areas such as taxation, work benefits, company-employee relationships and foreign manpower would require a rethink.
20th Dec 2021 - CNA
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 20th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullUber, Google, Ford Delay Office Return as Omicron’s Spread Threatens Business Districts
Before the Omicron variant surfaced overseas last month, employers throughout the U.S. were preparing to call back employees to the office after the holidays. Now, a small but rising number of companies have modified or delayed plans as uncertainties swirl over the severity of the variant and its resistance to vaccines. That list includes Lyft, Ford, Uber and Google, though not all point to the new variant as the reason.
19th Dec 2021 - Wall Street Journal
How to Have a Perfect Work-From-Home Friday
In a job market rife with uncertainty almost two years into the pandemic, employees have codified one practice to let them start the weekend early: work-from-home Fridays. For those long accustomed to being stuck in a cubicle until 4 p.m. or later, the great remote-working experiment has created opportunities to fine-tune schedules and get a jump on the house chores, hobbies, and family time that would have previously been relegated to Saturday. Here are some productivity hacks to achieve the perfect end to your work week.
19th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
The Five-Day Office Week Isn't Coming Back. WFH Is Here to Stay
There may be no going back to the five-day week in the office, according to a survey of workers in 25 countries. Both employees and managers found working from home during the pandemic was positive for performance and well-being, a report by the OECD found. The proportion of staff teleworking at least one day a week is expected to be much higher than before the pandemic. A separate study by OECD researchers of job postings on the website Indeed found that the substantial increase in advertised telework in Covid lockdowns was only reversed modestly when the restrictions were eased.
19th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
JPMorgan tells unvaccinated Manhattan staff to work from home
JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) instructed unvaccinated staff in Manhattan to work from home starting Tuesday, a further sign that banks and other financial firms are tightening protocols as COVID-19 infections rise and the Omicron variant spreads.
The U.S. bank, one of the most aggressive in bringing employees back to the office, previously allowed unvaccinated staff to work in its Manhattan offices provided they were tested twice a week. In a memo to staff on Monday announcing the policy change, the bank urged unvaccinated staff to get vaccinated and for eligible employees to get booster shots. It also relaxed mask requirements for vaccinated staff working in its Manhattan offices.
17th Dec 2021 - Reuters
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 17th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullBank of Montreal Asks Investment Bankers to Work From Home
Bank of Montreal has told its investment bankers they should go back to working from home, joining a growing list of companies vacating offices as Covid-19 cases climb. Canada’s fourth-largest bank instructed its North American investment and corporate banking division to resume remote work until the week of Jan. 17, according to an email sent to staff on Wednesday and obtained by Bloomberg.
16th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
City of London Workers Stay Home as Omicron Turns Off Commuters
The City of London has transformed from a raucous district with thousands of workers celebrating Christmas into a no-party zone in the space of a week. Almost half of staff didn’t go to the office on Monday, the lowest since September, according to data compiled by Google, which tracks the location of its users.
16th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
Solving The Remote-Work Productivity Questions Once And For All
A seemingly unending surge of worker surveys, scientific studies, pundit prognostications and C-suite demands have coalesced around the one intractable truth — nobody seems to agree if remote work is a productivity boon or bust. To be sure, today’s companies are highly motivated to understand this dynamic. After all, more than 80% of business leaders plan to allow people to work remotely at least part of the time. Meanwhile, as businesses look to rebound from a pandemic year, employee productivity is pivotal to their efforts. While understanding the merits and efficacy of remote work at a macro level may be impossible, any organization can assess remote work’s in-house impact.
16th Dec 2021 - Forbes
75% of S Korean firms to continue remote work scheme even after covid
Most South Korean businesses that have adopted at-home remote work programs due to Covid-19 plan to continue the policy even after the end of the pandemic, a poll revealed on Thursday. In the recent Labor Ministry survey conducted on 620 businesses currently using remote work policies, 75.2 per cent said they plan to either continue the scheme at the current level or partially downscale it when the pandemic ends, reports Yonhap News Agency. The poll said 11.3 per cent of businesses intend to stop the remote work scheme when the pandemic ends.
16th Dec 2021 - Business Standard
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 16th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in full16 Ways To Lead A Virtual Team In Remote And Hybrid Work Environments
After the Covid-19 pandemic forced most businesses to adapt to remote work environments to stay afloat during shelter-in-place, many leaders became aware of the numerous benefits that remote work has to offer. Even as life is beginning to regain a sense of normalcy, many organizations have chosen to stick with remote and hybrid work environments. As executive clients embrace remote and hybrid work environments, they may need some help getting used to leading virtual teams. 16 members of Forbes Coaches Council weigh in with their best advice for leaders who are tasked with navigating these new ways of conducting business.
15th Dec 2021 - Forbes
National Bank of Canada asks Canadian employees to work remotely as Omicron concerns grow
National Bank of Canada said Wednesday it had asked staff to work remotely, if possible, making it the second large Canadian lender to return to work from home amid growing concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant. Canada's top health official Theresa Tam warned on Monday that COVID-19 cases in the country could rise rapidly in the coming days. That has led Canadian banks and financial firms to rethink return-to-office plans.
15th Dec 2021 - Reuters
Can tech companies grow if their employees work remotely?
Dmitri Lepikhov, CEO of MightyCall, writes about remote work: "As turnover and new hires threatened to overhaul a company culture we'd worked hard to cultivate, we realized that culture cannot be forced, especially when everyone is working remotely and isn't used to each other. We didn't respond to that by removing remote work, which our staff enjoyed. Instead, it inspired us to hire candidates who are not only qualified, but who share our ideas of what corporate culture should be. Simply getting like-minded, capable people together will ensure a healthy company culture where staff enjoy working together. And if they do want to meet up, we've established hybrid work."
15th Dec 2021 - Inc.com
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 15th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullOur return-to-office survey finds a disconnect between employees and companies on remote work policies
While companies push to return to their offices, employees would rather stay at home, according to a new global survey from Insider. This gap between companies and employees shows up when it comes to who makes decisions about working models, who is consulted during the decision-making process, and how the new rules of the workplace are enforced. Fewer than half of survey respondents in most countries said their employers asked them about their preferences for their post-pandemic routine.
14th Dec 2021 - Business Insider
Australia’s working women are productivity gold. Here are five ways to help them thrive
Australian women are weary and whiplashed. Weary from two years of intense unpaid care work, including months of remote schooling their kids, and whiplashed from two severe periods of job and hours loss. As the Covid recovery picks up speed, many women are wondering what work in 2022 might look like. Employers should be too.
14th Dec 2021 - The Guardian
56% of workers looking for remote working jobs - Indeed
A new survey shows that 56% of Irish working-age adults say they will in future only consider jobs that offer flexible working, or allow them to quit the office forever. The latest monthly Job Search Survey from Indeed also shows that 18% of respondents said in future they would only apply for jobs allowing remote working. A further 38% said that only jobs that allow a hybrid or flexible approach would be considered by them.
14th Dec 2021 - RTE.ie
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 14th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullAustralia's top CEOs support workplace flexibility
Alexis George, AMP, says that "workplace flexibility is here to stay, as our people have adapted well to this way of working and want it to continue, but it’s also important to encourage the social connection and in-person collaboration that comes from the physical workplace. It’s something that’s important to me, and I’ve heard it from our employees at AMP too – the workplace plays an important role in team development and culture. We will continue to provide our people with the flexibility to work from home or the office, with specific arrangements agreed with leaders based on individual, role, customer and team requirements. I would expect that would be at least a few days for many of our people, but we continue to weigh the pros and cons."
13th Dec 2021 - The Australian Financial Review
Goldman Sachs Tells London Staff to Work From Home If They Can
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has told its London staff to work from home if they can, as the City of London’s biggest firms adjust to the latest government guidance. “Those of you who are able to work from home effectively should do so from Monday,” the lender said last week in an internal memo. The bank’s offices will remain open for those who still need to come in. Safety protocols including an on-site testing program and the wearing of masks away from desks remain in place. The guidance mirrors moves from firms across the City of London after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tightened pandemic rules to curb the spread of the omicron variant. HSBC Holdings Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc. have all told staff to return to home working if they could.
13th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 13th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullHalf of workers would consider changing roles if hybrid working was withdrawn, poll finds
Despite ongoing issues with remote onboarding, two in five HR professionals say not offering flexibility would make recruitment difficult in the long term. More than half of workers who currently have access to hybrid working would leave their jobs if it was taken away, a poll has found. The YouGov survey of 2,046 UK workers found that 51 per cent of respondents who had the choice to mix remote and office working would consider leaving their company if this flexibility was removed.
12th Dec 2021 - People Management Magazine
JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Citi Tell London Staff to Stay Home
Article reports that the City of London could be about to become a ghost town again after firms started telling thousands of staff to work from home in response to the latest U.K. government guidance. HSBC Holdings Plc told U.K. employees they should return to home-working where possible, according to a spokesperson. Those who still need to work in branches or offices have been asked to take daily Covid-19 tests.
11th Dec 2021 - Bloomberg
Parents struggle to juggle childcare with career commitments
Working from home is having an adverse effect on family life as parents struggle to juggle childcare with career commitments, according to new research. Ahead of more Plan B measures coming into force tomorrow, a survey of parents with young children showed the negative impact of continually changing work patterns. Some 71 per cent of the parents questioned have now moved to remote or hybrid working, but it is taking its toll on their mental wellbeing.
11th Dec 2021 - Daily Mail on MSN.co.uk
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 10th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullWorking from home doesn't have to suck. Here's how 'Out Of Office' can be better
Today, the phrase "work from home" comes with a lot of baggage. Though it has been several months since COVID-19 first led to office closures nationwide, remote work likely still involves Zoom fatigue, working on the couch, and rarely going outside. But two writers want to make remote work better. Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen are co-authors of the new book Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home. In the book, Warzel and Petersen explore the history of workplace culture in the United States, and how to use the shifting employment landscape during the pandemic to chart new ways of working.
9th Dec 2021 - NPR
Remote-working job surveillance is on the rise. For some, the impact could be devastating
Remote-monitoring and surveillance tools could devastate employee relations unless efforts are made to put more power into the hands of workers, the author of a report by the European Commission's Joint Research Council (JRC) warns. Kirstie Ball, who spent five months compiling the JRC's extensive Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance in the Workplace report, says an increase in employee surveillance threatens to undermine trust and commitment to work amongst staff who are left in the dark about why and how data on them is gathered.
9th Dec 2021 - ZDNet
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 9th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullWork from home again: UK tightens rules amid omicron spread
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tighter restrictions Wednesday to stem the spread of the omicron variant, urging people in England to again work from home and mandating COVID-19 passes for entrance into nightclubs and large events. Johnson said it was time to impose stricter measures to prevent a spike of hospitalizations and deaths as the new coronavirus variant spreads rapidly in the community. “It has become increasingly clear that omicron is growing much faster than the previous delta variant and is spreading rapidly all around the world,” he said in a press conference. “Most worryingly, there is evidence that the doubling time of omicron could currently be between two and three days.”
8th Dec 2021 - The Associated Press on MSN.com
Remote work's loyalty problem: Risk of 'culture crisis' rises with employees isolated at home
Working from home during the pandemic loosened professionals’ ties with the consultancies or law or accountancy firms that employed them, the Financial Times recently reported. The lifting of lockdown then encouraged job-hopping because candidates could now bond with prospective employers face to face. These are two sides of the “out of sight, out of mind” coin: heads, the isolation of remote working reduces loyalty to your existing employer; tails, the revival of in-person encounters encourages you to form an attachment with a new one.
8th Dec 2021 - Financial Post
Remote work expert: share screen, make social calls to boost inclusion
Survey after survey suggests that younger workers, in particular, feel held back by remote working. This is because they miss out on the chance to share their ideas and experience — known as "water-cooler" moments. Nick Bloom, Stanford professor of economics, has been researching the impact of remote work for two decades, and advises big tech firms about their office return. His own research has found that when it comes to younger workers, career progression can be impacted by working remotely. Bloom spoke to executive editor Spriha Srivastava about the long-term effects of working from home, and gave some tips on how to minimize the challenges.
8th Dec 2021 - Business Insider
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 8th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullRemote work was supposed to be the great equalizer. The reality? Not so much
Brian Elliott, executive leader of Future Forum and SVP at Slack, said that executives have had very different lived experiences than their employees these past 18 months or so. “The more senior you are, the better your employee satisfaction scores are going to be,” he said. Those numbers drop as you go down the ladder because more seniority means better work-life balance, autonomy, flexibility, and ability to manage stress, he explained. Elliott noted that the divide is not just about how executives and employees have experienced remote work. The groups also differ in the reasons why they want to return to the office: Executives want workers to come back together for collaboration and projects, while employees say they want socialization.
7th Dec 2021 - Fortune
How to build a collaborative culture in remote work
As we move into 2022, the rise of digitization only continues to grow and grow. Gone are the days of the nine-to-five, in-office models – replaced instead by sleek, modern, hybrid work. And while remote structures have been essential over the past 12 months – were they ever meant to be a long-term solution? One of the main issues of contention for HR leaders has been how to foster an authentic culture away from the office. How do you facilitate collaboration, boost morale, and make those important colleague connections from behind a screen?
6th Dec 2021 - Human Resources Director
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 7th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullScottish employers failing to support remote management
The majority of Scottish employers are failing to support line managers in the skills of supervising remote workers, even though more than eight in 10 believe staff are more likely to work flexible hours as a result of the pandemic. A snap poll of more than 100 Scottish businesses leaders and senior managers by Flexibility Works found that nearly two years after the first lockdown restrictions were imposed, just 31% of organisations had introduced any additional support or training for those managing remote workers. Almost two-thirds – 61% – have offered nothing at all.
6th Dec 2021 - HeraldScotland
Ford delays return-to-work hybrid plan to March amid COVID uncertainty
Ford Motor said on Monday it would push its return-to-work hybrid plan to March as the state of the COVID-19 pandemic remained uncertain. The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it will begin a pilot phase for select employees in February and March. The company had previously said it would not return to work under a hybrid work model - a combination of on-site and remote working - before January. Ford had required most of its U.S. salaried employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4.
6th Dec 2021 - Reuters
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 6th Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullHow Remote Working Has Impacted the Global Economy and the Environment
The growth of remote working is a reality at a global level. Even more so in times of pandemic, where confinement due to Covid-19 has given it greater consolidation due to the need for subsistence of companies. In fact, in Latin America this item increased by 66%, while in France and Spain remote work showed an increase of 463% and 214%, respectively. However, the positioning of remote work is accompanied by a series of factors (company-employee labor organization, definition of schedules, implementation of ICTs, constant communication, evaluation of productivity and measurement of results). These elements influence the effectiveness of workers to perform tasks, the advancement of the economy and the balance of the environment.
5th Dec 2021 - The Costa Rica News
COVID-19 changed the way we work. Will office life ever be the same?
When offices hastily closed in March 2020 to help slow the spread of COVID-19, employees expected to be back at their desks within a couple of weeks. Now, more than 18 months later, the American workplace has been transformed by what has become a massive and unplanned remote-work experiment. It’s uncertain when many offices may reopen, but it’s clear the virtual work revolution that began with the pandemic isn’t going away. “We all have to accept the fact that the workplace is never going to be the same and that there is no plan,” says Stacie Haller, a career expert. “We now have a different purview of how we can work successfully, that it can be remote.” While remote work isn’t an option in every field and hasn’t been ideal for everyone, many employees have thrived in their virtual settings and want to keep the flexibility and autonomy it has allowed them.
5th Dec 2021 - USA Today
The Promise of Remote Work Has Not Yet Been Realized
In their new book Out of Office, Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel argue that in order to realize the promise of remote work, first we need to fix our broken relationship with our jobs. Cutting the cord to the office is an opportunity to not only reduce our commuting hours, but a chance to address bigger issues in the U.S. labor force including the child-care crisis, inefficient working methods, worker burnout, toxic individualism, and work-life balance.
3rd Dec 2021 - Bloomberg Businessweek
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 3rd Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullWorkers frustrated with current video tools may have some relief as improved hybrid video calls are coming
Between the dreaded echo that occurs when two employees on their respective devices are at proximity on a video conference to trouble hearing and seeing people who join a meeting from a conference room, many hybrid workplaces are discovering that video calls can be frustrating, complex and sometimes downright inequitable. As workers brace for a hybrid environment in the long run, makers of some of the most commonly used video conferencing tools are hoping their latest updates and those yet to come will address some of the biggest pain points of video calling and provide more collaborative capabilities.
2nd Dec 2021 - The Washington Post
50% Indian hybrid workers say they are more productive when working remotely: Gartner
A recent survey by tech research and consulting firm Gartner revealed that five in 10 Indian workers reported more productivity when they worked remotely. Over 40 percent of those surveyed in the UK, Germany and France said their productivity remained the same as before. More than 30 per cent workers in Australia felt more or much more productive during work from home
2nd Dec 2021 - Business Today
Are remote workers really plugged into company culture?
Working from home during the pandemic loosened UK professionals’ ties with the consultancies or law or accountancy firms that employed them. The lifting of lockdown then encouraged job-hopping because candidates could now bond with prospective employers face to face. These are two sides of the “out of sight, out of mind” coin: heads, the isolation of remote working reduces loyalty to your existing employer; tails, the revival of in-person encounters encourages you to form an attachment with a new one. In the “absence makes the heart grows fonder” camp, though, sits work by the Financial Services Culture Board. Its 2020 assessment of thousands of UK banking staff detected improvements in scores for feedback, leaders’ honesty, and wellbeing. Those scores fell back slightly this year, but remained more positive than in 2019.
2nd Dec 2021 - Financial Times
Working Remotely - Connecting Communities for COVID19 News - 2nd Dec 2021
View this newsletter in fullFinland adopts nationwide remote work recommendation