Workplace Trends — GigaOM

Workplace Trends

A new study has found that 75 percent of college students prefer print textbooks over electronic versions. For researchers and web workers alike, printed books still provide significant advantages that go far beyond “new book smell” or intelligent margin notes made by a previous owner. Read More »

Reports: Technology Job Outlook Improving

Three new reports suggest that opportunities for technology jobs are outpacing the wider job market. Postings for information technology positions grew by 82 percent over December 2009, and the position of software engineer has been named “the nation’s best job.” Other technology-related jobs also rated highly. Read More »

 
 

I used to agree with the common recommendation that lines should be clearly drawn between one’s business and personal space. But my life as an entrepreneur is very different than those with “regular jobs.” I like the blurred lines between home life and work life. Read More »

The number of co-working spaces has continued to grow in popularity during the last year. According to a recent report, the number of co-working facilities almost doubled in 2010, and there are now over 650 such locations worldwide, according to a study by Deskwanted. Read More »

Driven by improvements in technology, particularly an explosion in the availability in mobile technology, and increased access to broadband, the world of work is changing rapidly. In my latest post for GigaOM Pro, I outline the trends in remote work to watch out for in 2011. Read More »

You can see it coming: a time when you’re going to have to change the collaboration tools your team uses for something bigger and more robust. When can you minimize the time you spend transitioning, so your team gets the most work done during the process? Read More »

When your team starts working virtually, people of different generations are going to adjust to the situation better, and perhaps faster, than others. Here are some technology and management considerations to take into account when planning a multi-generational virtual team. Read More »

Freelancer.com today released its Freelancer 50 report, looking at the growth of various job categories on its marketplace in the third quarter. The findings should prove particularly encouraging for mobile developers, with the report showing the growth in the “Mobile Phone” category at a staggering 145 … Read More »

In 1998, virtual call center staffing company Alpine Access opened its doors — all of its staff work from home. In this interview, Alpine Access co-founder and current managing partner Jim Ball shares some insights from the company’s twelve years’ experience of working with a distributed … Read More »

Yesterday, we held our inaugural Net:Work conference at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. While we discussed technology at length, what it really all boiled down to was people: how we can better connect, communicate and collaborate with each other. Read More »

The New World of Enterprise Collaboration

The convergence of cloud computing, more empowered employees and on-demand infrastructure is driving adoption of technologies — from workspaces like Box.net, Huddle and Cetnral Desktop to customer-powered support communities like Get Satisfaction — that foster high-impact collaboration and with that, innovation. Read More »

Does Crowdsourcing Commoditize Freelance Expertise?

As crowdsourcing goes mainstream, there’s a heated debate going on about whether the practice commoditizes expertise. Having built an expert crowdsourcing site for the past year, I’m convinced these services don’t have to commoditize expertise. Quite the opposite, I think they can give it direct value. Read More »

More Must Reads

How much does it cost to rent a desk at a coworking space? Deskwanted, a online marketplace that connects “desk hunters” with coworking spaces, has carried out a global study to determine average coworking costs in the U.S., the UK and Europe. Read More »

While communication tools like Skype have succeeded in mobilizing an entire generation of workers, collaboration tools are now driving change within businesses. The enterprise is no longer dictated to by legacy technology, but shaped by collaboration tools that let groups form naturally and enable participation. Read More »

Rapid innovation in the consumer and mobile space has led the way for many technologies — from mobile devices to self-serve cloud-based software and services — that are now considered indispensable by many of today’s information workers. Join GigaOM Pro for a free webinar that examines … Read More »

37signals co-founder Jason Fried recently published REWORK, a collection of essays on topics as diverse as progress, productivity, culture, evolution and hiring in modern business. Last month, Fried spoke at TEDxMidwest in Chicago, exploring some of the themes of REWORK in an intriguing fifteen minute talk: Read More »

Online performance review tools are designed to make the oft-dreaded review process more “efficient” but often have a dehumanizing effect. It doesn’t have to be this way. A new type of people management software can free us from these bonds. Here’s what it looks like: Read More »

One of the panels I’m most looking forward to moderating at Net:Work next month is “Flexi Spaces and Coworking, What Works in the World of Work?” We’ll bring together some workspace experts to discuss how to build places that encourage inspiration, innovation and collaboration. Read More »

Last week, Facebook launched its Social Inbox feature. The unified messaging system pipes the online and mobile communication functions people use into a single inbox. Having just one place to communicate with everyone seems like a good idea, but is Social Inbox the future of email? Read More »

I’m working in my pajamas. Getting dressed makes me feel more “put together,” so it’s something I aspire to on most days; today’s not one of those days, and I’m OK with it. Here’s why, along with a few more advantages of being a web worker. Read More »

If the rumors are to be believed, Facebook is about to unveil a new email service. It might just be part of the ongoing war between Facebook and Google, but what’s interesting about it is it will show how much potential there is in email still. Read More »

Gartner research analysts recently convened to discuss the changing nature of work and table some predictions for the coming decade. Their consensus view was that distributed and ad-hoc teams of people, along with blurred organizational boundaries, would become the norm for most modes of work. Read More »

DoNanza has just released its quarterly Work-From-Home Market Trends report, which tracks the demand for freelancers in various job categories. To gauge how well the report may actually reflect reality, I decided to analyze my own niche to see whether it tallies with my experience. Read More »

If you’d like to work from home but your company doesn’t allow it, why not become the prime mover in a program to see if working from home can’t help boost productivity? It’s easier than ever to make the argument to the decision-makers in your organization. Read More »

As broadband erases the boundaries between places and time zones, companies can take advantage of remote workers and virtual teams, but two new surveys show that many organizations aren’t, and generally it’s not because they don’t have the tools, but because they don’t have the mindset. … Read More »

Continuing our ongoing series of posts looking at coworking, I recently had the chance to chat with Brian Russell, the founder of a coworking space in Carrboro, a small college town in North Carolina. Here’s a lightly edited version of our conversation. Read More »

The bustling and vibrant city of Karachi is home to the suite401 coworking community, located in the stylish beachfront neighborhood of Clifton. With passes ranging between 750 and 7500 Pakistani Rupees ($9-90), coworking in Pakistan seems as though it’s within the reach of most professionals. Read More »

Conventional wisdom suggests buying into the convenience and performance of converged infrastructure means buying into the dreaded vendor lock-in problem. As it turns out, however, that doesn’t have to be the case — Dell and Egenera are two players leading the charge for open converged infrastructure. Read More »

Because of the catalyst of the stimulus funds, many of the 4G smart grid networks that Alcatel Lucent is helping utility customers build right now are based on WiMAX. Go figure. Read More »

Scott Dietzen, co-founder of Zimbra, is headed to a hot stealth-mode startup, PURE Storage, a company started by John Colgrove, a veteran of storage industry and founding engineer at Veritas, a storage software company. Graylock and Sutter Hill are two of the main VC backers. Read More »

Defining “crowdsourcing” can be a bit of a challenge. The term not only seems to have multiple meanings, but it’s also being used to define a whole new landscape of activities that didn’t exist in their current form a mere five years ago. Read More »

If you’re working on site, the office matters. If I’m going to commit to sitting in a room for at least 40 hours every week, the office conditions can factor into the longevity of my tenure. But it’s not the bespoke wallpaper that makes the difference. Read More »

Big Data has been at the forefront of many vendors’ agendas lately. Perhaps no one has been leading the charge as vocally as Cloudera, but the question now is when Cloudera’s stewardship and alliances will result in it getting snatched up by a large vendor. Read More »

Email usage within companies is exploding, and it’s one tool professionals can’t live without. Of course, because everyone loves it so much, we have email overload problems, which lead to work place drama and other misunderstandings. So is email a curse or a boon? Read More »

The promise of a completely open-source enterprise is near, but the nagging question remains: Will it work as a business for the technology industry? On Sept. 29, about 75 entrepreneurs, executives and investors will gather at the GigaOM San Francisco offices to discuss that very question. Read More »

Amazon Introduces “Micro Instances” on EC2; ARM Announces Cortex A-15 Eagle Microprocessor; HPC Meets Cloud Computing with Dell’s New Server and Random Access Compute Capacity (RACC). Read More »

Successful coworking communities have always been diverse at their core; their ability to bring together tech professionals from various disciplines is part of the value of being a member. It’s gratifying to see this innovative model of working now permeating beyond the technology sector. Read More »

Freelance work is on the rise, according to a new survey by Elance — a service that helps freelancers connect with employers — and more workers are choosing the life of a freelancer, rather than being forced to work part-time while looking for a “real” job. Read More »

PC Mag’s John C. Dvorak contends that people have stopped responding to their email, and that social networking sites like Facebook aren’t the solution. What would be? Dvorak thinks the salvation of email would be making it a pay service, with fees applied in micro-payment tolls. Read More »

CrowdConf is the first conference centered around the emerging field of crowdsourcing and the future of distributed work, discussing the rapidly democratizing and flattening of the global labor market. We have a free pass to give away to one lucky WWD reader. Read More »

What’s it like running a coworking space? Can you make money doing it? Over on GigaOM Pro (subscription required), Imran’s written an interesting article that takes an in-depth look at the journey taken by two coworking space: IndyHall and Fly The Coop. Read More »

An increasing number of people are working as freelancers, and employees are switching jobs far more rapidly. How, then, do we migrate the established “rules of work” to this new scenario? And how can employers make sure that they attract and retain the best talent? Read More »

New Jersey’s Tax Court recently ruled that Maryland-based Telebright Corporation was required to file New Jersey Corporation Business Tax returns when the firm’s only link to New Jersey was its employment of a telecommuter there. The decision has both positive and negative implications for telework: Read More »

While corporations can learn from web workers, I think that the reverse is also true. As someone who has worked recently on both sides of the fence, I thought it would be interesting to think about what web workers can learn from corporations. Read More »

Since my post last week talked about how to manage your boss while working remotely, I thought that it was only fair to provide managers with some tips for managing those employees in other locations — something that I’m about to start doing again. Read More »

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