Read the full article at: www.timecamp.com

This has been a significant year of change across the globe, particularly in the workplace as we have all had to adapt and rethink our workforce strategies. As we look to find the answers to the right, wrong, and most effective ways to move forward in the new normal in 2021 and beyond, one thing is for certain: remote work practices are here to stay. Whether your team is fully remote or is a hybrid of remote and in-office, the workplace has forever been affected. Major companies like Facebook and Twitter have already set a precedent by allowing employees to work remotely, permanently.

As a remote-centric company with 750+ employees spanning 35 countries, remote work has been ingrained in our DNA since Auth0 was founded in 2013. Over the past seven years, we have found success in giving our team the freedom to do their best work on their own terms, regardless of location. Here are a few key lessons we learned on how to make remote work successful.

Read the full article at: chiefexecutive.net

Will Remote Working Become the New Normal?

At its core, the coronavirus pandemic is a distinctly human crisis, and one that has caused more than 35 million cases and a little over one million deaths.

However, it would be naive to underestimate the financial and socio-economic impact of Covid-19, which has been visually presented here by Best Casino Sites. 

This has also changed the labour market beyond all recognition, with remote working having become increasingly commonplace since March. But will this trend continue into the future, and does it represent the number normal in the workplace?

The Facts About Remote Working During Coronavirus

There are plenty of statistics which highlight the rise of remote working in the UK, some of which hint at the fact that this trend could remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Let’s start with the basics; with one study discovering that the Covid-19 pandemic had reshaped the leading technological priorities for 95% of businesses. 

Read the full article at: workology.com

What does the future hold for remote workers? And what will post-pandemic workdays look like—back to the office, working from home or a hybrid? While the light at the end of the tunnel seems within reach, companies across the globe are scrambling to create the future workplace. One way to predict the future of work is to understand people’s remote work experiences over the last year. And based on recent reports, one thing is clear: remote work has left an impression. The Limeade Institute’s Employee Care Report 3.0 found that 100% of formerly onsite workers said they’re anxious about returning to the office, 71% said they were concerned about less flexibility and 77% said they’re worried about exposure to Covid-19.

Preference For Remote Work

FlexJobs ran a survey of more than 2,100 people who worked remotely during the pandemic from March 17, 2021 through April 5, 2021. They found that, not only do employees want remote work post-pandemic, 58% say they would absolutely look for a new job if they weren’t allowed to continue working remotely in their current position.

Read the full article at: www.forbes.com

COVID-19 led to a remarkable increase in remote work. But as vaccinations ramp up, employers will soon have to decide whether they’ll continue to offer remote work arrangements once the pandemic has passed. As companies weigh the costs and benefits, there’s one factor that employers shouldn’t overlook: diversity. 

New data from LinkedIn suggests that offering remote jobs may make it easier to build more gender, educational, and generational diversity into your workforce. Compared to men, women are significantly more likely to apply to remote jobs. A job seeker’s education and age can also make them more or less likely to seek out remote jobs. 

Read on to see which groups are most likely to be interested in a remote job — and learn how remote applicants may have different priorities than most when it comes to considering a potential employer.

Read the full article at: business.linkedin.com

You can be just as productive when working remotely – if not more so – but there are challenges as well as benefits.

Work culture is the experience you have that is based on what you see and hear while you are at work. It is a feeling that you have when you think about your coworkers and your work environment. That experience or feeling can be positive or negative, depending on how people conduct business and work with each other. Work culture is shaped by the level of respect, rapport, trust and collegiality employees have between each other.

 

Every employee has the opportunity and responsibility to shape the culture in which they work, including the new and more prevalent virtual working world. So, don’t wait for your boss to take the lead. Here are five ways you can contribute to your organization’s virtual work culture and set the tone for a new “normal:”

 

1.     Keep your camera on during team video calls.

If you are on a Zoom meeting with your team and you have your camera off, people are going to notice. Video meetings can be exhausting, and you may not want to always be seen. But not having your camera on when your teammates have their camera enabled can make your colleagues question what you are doing and your commitment to the team. Keep your camera on during team video calls. Stay engaged. Be part of the team.

 

2.     Dress professionally.

It is tempting to keep your pajamas on or put on sweatpants and a t-shirt. It is easier and more comfortable than putting on a collared shirt and blazer. But try to resist. Wear what you would wear if you were in the company’s office. You want to continue showing up and showing up well.

 

3.     Be enthusiastic.

If you want to work in a positive work culture, you and your colleagues need to communicate and engage with a positive and inquisitive mindset. Being enthusiastic does not mean having to smile all the time or use a lot of exclamation points. Ask for an assignment. If you are in search of new opportunities within your organization, reach out to people at your company to network and learn more about their career trajectories. Show that you continue to be excited to work and collaborate with your teammates.

 

4.     Proactively support your teammates, if you sense it would help them. 

While the physical distance separating you from your colleagues may make you feel less a part of the team, you can still be a team player. You can still support your colleagues. Part of being a successful team member is having the emotional intelligence to sense whether a colleague needs help.

 

You might ask your coworker if it might be helpful to them if you proofread a slide deck or conducted some brief research on competitors that could bolster the proposal they are writing. Supporting your coworkers promotes teamwork and collegiality, which are both critical to fostering a positive work culture.

 

But don’t step on people’s toes or usurp an opportunity for your colleague to shine. Ask your teammate if and where you can be of help. Support them. Don’t supplant them.

 

5.     Get personal.

Getting personal can also help to lessen the feeling of isolation or detachment that your coworkers may feel working from home. Ask how your colleagues are doing or something simply like if they have read any good books lately. Talking about things outside of work can help people to feel connected on a more emotional level. 

 

You don’t have to get overly personal. You don’t have to share everything about your life or every feeling that you are experiencing. You should avoid asking about very personal topics. Keep the conversation light. 

 

Fostering positive work culture requires people to feel comfortable opening up about other things than just work. When colleagues feel comfortable talking about outside interests and activities, they tend to have stronger relationships that help with working together professionally.

The coronavirus pandemic has given the job market an unexpected shakeup, with millions of workers across the globe filing for unemployment. However, many companies have successfully transitioned to remote work despite these alarming figures, even hiring new employees through digital recruitment.

 

If you’re one of those lucky people who have recently landed a job during these unprecedented times, chances are you’re wondering how you can get used to a new work environment without meeting your employers and colleagues face-to-face.

 

Here are TopMBA’s top seven tips to successfully start your remote job and ensure that you have a smooth and successful transition.

Investigate the company culture

A virtual office is a strange place, and it can be hard to find out what your new company’s culture is. Make sure you research your employer extensively and ask yourself: what are the values that I need to comply to? How should I approach other employees? What attributes are people rewarded for in this specific workplace?

 

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with these, it’ll be easier for you to feel part of the company and your dedicated team.

Get to know your line manager

Having a good relationship with your line manager is crucial and will also aide you successful transition into the company. Make sure you consistently schedule one-on-one calls to get to know them better and talk through the ambitions you have for your new role. They might even offer you some additional development and training opportunities that’ll allow you to progress quicker within the organization.

Explain the way you work

In normal circumstances, it’d be easy for your managers and colleagues to find out how you work. However, starting a job remotely means that you won’t have those in-person interactions that allow people to get to know you, which might cause some short-term difficulties.

 

For this reason, we recommend that you be proactive and talk through your work preferences with your new team. Some of the topics you might want to cover include scheduling, teamwork, communication and commitments outside of work hours.

Make sure you have the right equipment

This might seem like an unnecessary step, but don’t underestimate the importance of having the right set-up at home.

 

If you feel like you lack specific equipment, such as desk chairs, microphones or screens, bring it up with your employer. They’ll likely provide it for you, or at least give you enough allowance to purchase it yourself.

Schedule calls with colleagues to build relationships

A harmonious team requires honest relationships between colleagues, and the same applies when working remotely. We recommend setting up informal calls with other members of your team to find out important information about the company and the roles everyone has within it. Once you’re more comfortable talking to them, you’ll likely feel more valued within the team and you’ll have made new friends who will make the transition easier.

Keep communication going

It can be hard to stay on top of things when working from home, which is why communication is a key component of remote work. Make sure you keep your manager in the loop and don’t let any problems slide – it’s perfectly reasonable to ask for help, especially in an unusual work environment

Between customer meetings and industry events, sales pros are often out of the office, but that’s a lot different than knowing you’re rarely going to see them at all. 

 

If you’re managing a sales team or are the owner of a small to medium-sized business (SMB), you may have gotten used to stockpiling a mental checklist of important issues or questions to ask sales reps once they return to their desks. This could include the status of a particular deal, how close they are to achieving their quota or even just some insight on what customers in the market are saying. 

 

Today, however, forcing employees of any kind to come into the same physical location every day is being challenged by social norms and the availability of cloud technology.

 

According to a survey by Global Workplace Analytics and FlexJobs, for example, remote work has grown by 91% over the past 10 years, and 159% over the last 12 years. 

 

Researchers at Stanford University, meanwhile, conducted a survey of their own which showed there was a 50% decrease in attrition among workers who were allowed to work remotely.

 

Both those studies represent U.S. rather than Canadian data, and they aren’t specifically focusing on sales reps, but you can easily imagine why the trends might be similar here. 

 

The impact on attrition in particular could be especially valuable to SMBs or organizations of any kind who fear losing sales reps and having to retrain new ones from scratch. For reps, meanwhile, remote work could mean reduced stress.

 

Of course, it will take more than a few statistics to convince most SMBs to offer fully remote work options for their sales teams. You need to consider the pros and cons first: 

Pro: It’s more about policy than technology

If you’re already using a customer relationship management (CRM) system via a software-as-a-service model, your reps already have the most important thing they need to do their work remotely. 

 

Many reps might already be accessing and updating CRM through their smartphone as they move between events and meetings, so in a sense they’re already working remotely anyway. The difference here is that they could potentially get even more done by not having to travel back and forth to the company headquarters. 

Con: The coaching and managing dynamics could change

There’s no reason reps can’t be given a pep talk or guidance on how to improve their performance during a phone call, but many managers or CEOs have preferred to wait until they can have such discussions in a face-to-face setting.

 

Coaching and managing remotely might feel off-putting because of a perceived lack of intimacy, or because there’s a greater risk of outside distractions. However these are all issues that can be dealt with up front.

 

If you have a regular check-in or touchpoint with a rep, for example, give them direction on how to choose the right environment to do it remotely. It might be as simple as picking a quiet room, or maybe an area where they could conduct the conversation via video rather than an audio-only interaction. 

Pro: You’re able to hire the best from anywhere

Companies can’t always afford to be set up in a major metropolitan centre with lots of employee-friendly amenities. Or they may be in a situation where they’re trying to recruit sales reps to an urban area, but the best candidates prefer a suburban or rural lifestyle and don’t want to make the commute. 

 

In those situations, remote work policies give SMBs the potential to attract the reps they want, regardless of their place of residence. 

 

Today, remote work might seem like a nice-to-have or bonus. As such policies become more common, on the other hand, employers might need to explain why they don’t allow remote work to candidates who have come to expect it, especially if they’ve grown up as digital nomads.

It's been 18 months since the pandemic sent my team home from the office, which is now a permanent situation for many sales reps and managers in our industry. As a sales manager, the biggest challenge has been maintaining the same team culture we enjoyed pre-pandemic when you had daily face-to-face interactions and social outings to build camaraderie.

Currently, I have an entire team full of engaged and productive reps who express overall satisfaction and happiness with their job, a job that is incredibly challenging but financially rewarding. The key is to hire skilled talent and ensure they fit well with the company and team culture.

Read the full article at: www.brainshark.com

As more companies ponder the future of remote work, it’s going to be important to keep remote teams engaged with your business and brand. For the past 6 years, I’ve been a part of BKA Content, a award-winning company based in Utah, that has maintained a good reputation among its writers for creating an excellent remote working environment and known for its high standards.

According to Matt Secrist, co-founder and COO, BKA has over 600 independent contractors and 20 employees, all of whom work remotely. Over 200 of those writers have been with the company for two or more years. About 30 writers have been with the company for more than 6 years. It’s not easy to keep freelancers on board that long without some strong ties to the company.

Communication
Secrist states, “I think frequent communication…(makes) a huge difference.” I concur with this statement. BKA sends out a weekly newsletter to all its writers. After six years, I still enjoy reading it because it always gives relevant information. Their culture comes through in the newsletter. It’s not preachy. Sometimes, they have fun games and contests that create camaraderie and give us fun things beyond writing. 

Read the full article at: theamericangenius.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shifted the nature of daily work for millions of Americans. While working remotely was a privilege enjoyed by relatively few pre-pandemic, Gallup has reported that just over half of Americans were “always” working remotely in April 2020 during the height of COVID workplace restrictions. That proportion has fallen to about one-third, but that’s still significantly higher than the roughly 7% who had that option pre-COVID.

The shift to widespread remote work has certainly been a big change for employees, but what’s often overlooked is the major change this shift also represents for managers. Many managers are now not only working remotely themselves but also managing teams who are remote.

Managing from afar is different and requires different skills, strategies, and techniques. What skills do managers need more than ever in an era of remote work and why? How can they build or enhance these skills? In this feature, we provide some insight from industry experts.

Read the full article at: hrdailyadvisor.blr.com

Around the world and in every industry the future of work has changed dramatically. Some roles made an easy transition to remote work delivering significant benefits. Other roles were unable to work away from the workplace leading to furloughs and layoffs.

Most office worker roles actually made a successful transition to remote work. Forcing an urgent transition to what was previously only a workplace experiment. The success of remote work has seen global surveys of executives confirm that remote work or a hybrid version is definitely here to stay.

McKinsey Global Institute have conducted analysis and found that the potential for remote work is “highly concentrated among highly skilled, highly educated workers in a handful of occupations and geographies”.

However at least half the workforce has little or no opportunity to work remotely. People who need to work physically collaborating with others, those who use specialised machinery etc.

Read the full article at: innovation-thinking.com

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, an estimated 16 million U.S. knowledge workers shifted to working remotely, according to Slack. COVID-19 effectively ushered in a change that many predicted years ago: a world where remote work is prevalent. This was unprecedented and likely would not have been possible on such a massive scale as few as 10 years ago.

A Remote Work Future

Although most companies that made the shift to remote work assumed it would be temporary, many are seeing business continue and their employees remaining productive, with some organizations reporting productivity increases of up to 30%. Many employers have realized that when their teams are equipped with the right tools, they can remain productive regardless of where they work. Benefits of a remote workforce include real estate cost savings, reduced commute times, fewer office distractions, and flexibility for employees.

It seems the remote workforces that were predicted years ago are clearly here to stay. Many large technology companies are offering employees the option to work remotely indefinitely, and 98% of respondents to a recent Buffer survey indicated a desire to continue working remotely, at least a portion of the time, for the remainder of their career.

While we’re fortunate that technology advances enabled this incredible transition, with change comes new challenges, not the least of which is hiring remotely.

Navigating Remote Hiring

Embracing remote workforces leads us to reconsider hiring processes. A certain level of trust and connection is established when you interact with someone face-to-face. When in-person meetings are not part of the hiring process, we no longer have the luxury of reading subtle cues, such as body language and voice inflection. Video interviews can mitigate this to a degree, but we’ve all been in situations in which we felt differently about a person during a video call compared with when we interacted with him or her face-to-face.

This highlights an important issue that takes on new importance with the increase in remote hiring: How do you know the people you’re interviewing are who they say they are? While most people don’t lie about their identities or falsify details on their résumés, it happens more than you think.

According to a Resume Lab survey, more than a third of respondents (36%) admitted to lying on their résumé. A recent high-profile case of this was reported in December 2019 when it was discovered that a woman lied on her résumé, used a photo of Kate Upton as her LinkedIn photo, and landed a $185,000/year government job in Australia. Her deception included lying about education and employment and even posing as a previous employer to provide a reference and review about her own performance.

Deceptions like this have been occurring even before the crisis, even in face-to-face hiring situations. In the end, do you really know people are who they say they are? Do you know whether those individuals have brought in their own, untampered identity documents on their first day of work to complete the I-9 process? Were the documents they presented the same as those that went through the background check process? Are your HR professionals trained to detect discrepancies?

For most companies, the short answer is no. These are all important questions to ask, particularly when operationalizing remote hiring practices.

Trust matters, especially when hiring someone you won’t be regularly interacting with in person. You need to trust the identities of employees joining your company, but it goes beyond that. Your new hires need to trust that you do your due diligence when vetting candidates, and the rest of your employees need to trust that you’re bringing someone into the company who has been thoroughly vetted. Safer workplaces, remote or otherwise, start with identity verification.

Expanding the HR Toolkit with Identity Verification

Identity verification helps the HR world evolve with the times and helps companies gain confidence in the identity of the people joining their teams—whether they sit hundreds of miles away or will work side by side in a physical workplace with your other employees, now or in the future.

Here’s how identity verification works: Using their smartphone, candidates snap a photo of their identity document, such as a driver’s license or passport, which is evaluated to ensure it hasn’t been tampered with or altered in any way. They then snap a selfie, and a process commonly known as a liveness test verifies that they took a photo of a live person (versus a photo). The selfie is then compared with the photo on their identity document. It’s that simple and takes only a couple of minutes, yet it’s a crucial step.

You don’t want to waste your time going through an interview process with someone who is lying about his or her identity. And you certainly don’t want to wait until after a candidate has joined your company to verify the person’s identity.

Thanks to technology, more employees can work remotely from the comfort of their homes. And businesses are willing to make the change. About 69 percent of U.S. businesses now offer a flexible workplace policy, according to the 2019 IWG Workplace Survey.

 

However, working from home can also be tied to another trend in the workplace: diversity initiatives. Many businesses are making inclusivity pledges to attract, recruit and retain diverse teams. And it's a welcome change in white, male-dominated industries. Businesses and their customers benefit from the unique perspectives historically marginalized individuals can bring to the table.

 

But how does remote work factor into diversity initiatives? Primarily, remote work can benefit employees with disabilities in substantial ways.

The truth About Employees With Disabilities

Disabilities come in many different forms, both visible and invisible. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the federal standard for defining disabilities. Enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the ADA also sets accessibility and anti-discrimination standards for private businesses in the United States.

 

According to the ADA, an individual with a disability "has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment."

 

The definition is broad. But examples can include a visible physical disability that limits a person's motor skills. It can also include diagnosed, invisible mental health conditions such as anxiety or major depression. Pregnancy and medical conditions that occur due to pregnancy can also be considered disabilities. Surprisingly, very few people who self-identify as having a disability are actively seeking employment.

 

Just over 19 percent of people with self-identified disabilities are employed, according to a 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report. Overall, about 8 in 10 respondents in the BLS report are not in the labor force. They're neither employed nor unemployed nor seeking work. The data doesn't account for undiagnosed workers or workers who choose not to disclose their status.

 

The truth is Americans with disabilities face a harder time finding employment and succeeding in the workforce. Many also experience workplace discrimination, fear of which could prevent them from disclosing their disability status to their employers. Stigmas around mental disorders also makes some people less likely to seek a diagnosis. However, there are workplace accommodation measures that employers can take to help existing and future employees with disabilities feel valued and welcome.

 

How Remote Work Benefits Those With Disabilities

Luckily, this is where remote work can come in handy for any employee with a disability. Working from home can provide many benefits, but below are three of the biggest.

1. Improved Productivity

Offices are full of distractions. Working from home provides an easy solution. In a 2019 TSheets report, 54 percent of remote employees rated their work performance as "above average," compared to those who work in an office. Additionally, 59 percent of employers rated remote workers' performance as "above average." Fewer distractions at home means employees can focus on their work and improve productivity.

 

Plus, for people with disabilities such as ADD or ADHD, working from home can be a serious productivity game-changer. They can cater their environments to their needs. People with other disabilities can benefit too. They may feel more comfortable working at home and less likely to experience microaggressions from their co-workers.

2. Shorter Commutes

For many workers with disabilities, traveling to work is difficult. This is especially the case for those who rely on mobility assistance like vanpools and wheelchair-accessible public transportation, which can add time to an already lengthy commute.

 

Working from home could help these employees tremendously. They can spend less time worrying about how to get to work and more time actually focusing on work. They can also have more freedom to decide where they live and work, as distance to the office won't be a concern - which can be a major competitive recruiting advantage.

3. Greater Flexibility

For employees with disabilities, the home environment  may provide them with access to much-needed medications, assistance apparatuses, emotional support animals and much more. Their home environment already caters to their needs, so it can also serve as a comfortable and accessible office environment.

 

Furthermore, working from home gives people the opportunity to have a more flexible schedule. In the TSheets survey, 64 percent of employees surveyed said they "sometimes take care of personal tasks during the workday." Employers were certainly aware of this. But they still thought their remote employees were more productive and provided "above average" work.

 

Working from home also allows people with disabilities to take care of personal tasks, as well as themselves. Working from home is no vacation, but it makes self-care much easier. Plus, for those who work from home and have a flexible schedule, they have increased accessibility to doctor visits and other medical appointments. Even if an appointment is in the middle of the afternoon, they can go home and make up their work long after the office has been locked up for the night.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, working remotely suddenly became a reality for employees around the globe. Even as restrictions are starting to lift, it’s clear more work can be done from home than previously thought possible. Experts now believe that the trend will last beyond lockdown as it not only benefits employees but businesses too.

 

Although there are benefits, there are challenges too.

 

If you’re among the millions of Americans working remotely you might already know that it’s not always easy to keep yourself motivated when not in an office or place of business. However, there are some effective, simple steps you can take to stay fired up and complete your work to expected standards.

 

1. Create a Schedule

Forming good habits takes practice and sticking to a work schedule will help you stay on track. Get up and start working at the same time every morning and finish at the same time every evening. Try to take your daily lunch break around the same time too. If you can, take weekends off completely.

 

By creating a routine your body will get into a rhythm and you’ll have boundaries in place to maintain a good work/life balance.

 

1. Always Get Dressed for the Day

A good way of shifting gears from relaxing-at-home to getting-work-done is to get dressed as if you were going to the office. If you sit at your desk in your pajamas you probably won’t feel as full of energy as if you’d showered and put on corporate attire. That energy is crucial to your overall level of motivation and putting you in a working mindset.

 

1. Set Up a Dedicated Workspace

Many people fall into the trap of trying to be productive from their bed or a favorite spot in the living room. Instead, set up a calm, ordered workspace for yourself. You don’t want your mind to associate the area where you need to be productive and industrious with the place you sleep or relax.

 

When setting up a workspace ensures you have access to all the resources you need and everything is running smoothly. If your office uses a VPN make sure it’s connected, and check that you have access to your emails, you can operate video conferring software and all other business tools. Spending endless hours trying to mitigate issues will detract from getting your work done. Your dedicated workspace should function as smoothly as your office to put you in the right headspace.

 

1. Limit Interruptions and Distractions

When working from home, you’re almost certainly going to get distracted or interrupted. Some things you can’t control and just need to accept that you will lose a little time. However, you should also take whatever measures you can to limit these disruptions. Not only do they slow your momentum, but you can also find it difficult to get back to a task once your concentration is broken.

 

If there are children around, give them set times to come and talk to you. Additionally, mute your phone notifications and limit your social media checks to a few specific times to help you maintain focus.

 

1. Take Regular Breaks

Regular breaks are crucial to maintaining productivity levels. You won’t be able to concentrate for extended lengths of time and working for too long can also leave you seriously unmotivated.

 

Three hours can feel incredibly daunting, but six stints of 30 minutes are much more manageable. Most people do well working industriously for 50 minutes and then taking 10 minutes off. Vary your activities during these breaks to make them count, and wherever possible, get up and move around a bit.

 

1. Create New Challenges

If you’re engaged in what you’re doing you’re a lot likelier to stay enthusiastic about the task. Among the best ways to ensure this engagement is by challenging yourself. For example, try to write a certain amount of words in the next 20 minutes, or prepare a presentation in a new way.

 

1. Focus On Rewards

The regular breaks that you take throughout the day are small rewards, but you should also use bigger incentives to keep your motivation strong. At the end of the workday make sure you have something enjoyable planned. This could be watching your favorite show, relaxing with a glass of wine, taking a bath, or working out. Just make sure that it’s something you can look forward to.

 

1. Review Your Work Daily

Adapting to working from home can be tricky, so at the end of the day take a look at what you’ve accomplished and congratulate yourself on your achievements. Then, before you close up shop for the evening, make a list of what you need to do when you sit down at your desk the next day. You’ll feel calm, accomplished, and in control – all of which is highly motivating.

Before COVID-19 drove the need for remote work, there was already a lot of data proving that remote workers deliver productive results to organizations. There has actually been conclusive evidence that employees who spend the bulk of their working hours outside of the office are vastly happier and more productive. 

 

Recent research from Gallup shows that 43% of workers already work some of the time remotely, and an in-depth study conducted by Gallup in 2017 showed that those workers who spend about three to four days of the week working offsite are substantially more engaged in their jobs than their traditional counterparts who are stuck behind desks all day. The logic behind this productivity boost is actually quite easy to understand; by giving workers more control over their personal lives and permitting them to schedule their lives accordingly, companies are making them happier and more fulfilled. 

 

Interested in positioning yourself as a top remote candidate? Leverage our tips below. 

 

Highlight your skills as a remote worker. 

 

The most successful remote workers possess certain qualities that help them succeed in their unique work situations like self-motivation, communication, autonomy, interpersonal skills, independence. Reflect if you have the below skills and be sure to highlight them within your virtual interview. 

 

• Self-motivation. When you’re removed from an office – and your boss –you have to be able to motivate yourself to get your work done. Taking the initiative is important. Emphasize a bias toward action in both your cover letter and interview.

 

• Communication. Individuals who are looking to work remotely, especially for the first time, must be able to provide examples of how they are currently successfully communicating with email, video conference, and online chat programs. Think in advance about how you go above and beyond to ensure clarity and skirt any digital misunderstandings.

 

• Visibility. Even though you’re not in the office, it’s essential to be visible. Whether that’s taking on new projects, collaborating with different teams and team members, or driving visibility into your work and value it generates for the business. Consider highlighting examples of when you’ve raised your hand in the past to volunteer for an extra responsibility – especially if you’ve done so from a distance.

More than ever before, many companies are asking their employees to work from home to remain safe and unaffected. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to capture headlines in the news and spread rapidly, employees are struggling with finding a sense of calm and stability throughout the ever-changing updates and reality that this virus has become our new normal for the time being. So what does that mean for the employees who are fortunate enough to work remotely?

Although working from home has many benefits, some being flexibility, increased productivity, zero-commute, and more quality time with your loved ones, working remotely also could make it more difficult to power off and unplug from your workday, ultimately decreasing your work-life balance. Work-life balance, especially during uncertain times like COVID-19, is essential to employees’ growth and personal happiness and company retention. When employees are encouraged to find a positive work-life balance, they tend to be more motivated to produce great work.

Here are our 11 tips to achieve work-life balance when working remotely:

1. Set a structured work schedule.

To maximize your productivity and your workday while working remotely, it’s imperative to set a cohesive schedule for yourself to guide you through the day. Given that working from home can be more comfortable and a bit relaxing compared to being in the office, imposing a structure on your day will limit the distractions and keep you focused on the tasks at hand.

2. Make a to-do list to start your day productively.

In addition to crafting a specific structure for your day, curating to-do lists are helpful to ensure that you’re being productive and accomplishing what needs to be done in your role. Physically crossing tasks and projects off a to-do list can be gratifying – especially if you are questioning your productivity levels and progress.