You’re a web worker and you’re all kitted out. You’re ready to confront everything the world of remote collaboration throws at you, so why are you constantly so stressed? According to research, the challenges are often more often internal than is generally acknowledged. Read more »
Not everyone can work via the web due to the requirements of their jobs. But are there other more subtle limitations to who can work at a distance? A recent study from The Telework Research Network sheds some light on this question. Read more »
In a terrible economy, budget-conscious employers cut benefits. But is the fledgling economic recovery now strong enough for employers to start sweating poachers and bring back perks? And did non-monetary benefits like flexible work arrangements ever feel the recessionary pinch? Read more »
Issues like time management and work-life balance challenges have been covered on WebWorkerDaily before, but one difficult aspect of solo work studied by Susan J. Ashford, professor at the University of Michigan, is less often discussed: the challenges to ego and self-worth that solo work presents. Read more »
GoDropBox is a third-party add-on for Google Apps that adds a public mailbox to your Google Docs account, enabling anyone with the appropriate link to upload files to your account. This is handy for web workers who would like to accept files too big to email. Read more »
Those of you who thought the staycation was a gloomy concept, brace yourselves for the “workation.” Regus is employing the term after polling 5,000 U.S. professionals and determining that most will be unable to fully get away from work this summer. Read more »
It makes sense to focus on project briefs and core competencies — after all, these are what gets the job done. But what gets the job done well? Often, it’s team members’ non-core skills and experience that make the collaboration a real success. Read more »
It’s not unreasonable to wonder if competition between web workers is fierce, with those with a super flexible gig or a fabulous freelance client fighting to keep rival workers away from their plum assignments. But is this really the case? Not according to research from oDesk. Read more »
Not too long ago, work-from-home arrangements were often thought of as a benefit for mothers, allowing working moms more time with their kids. But a new study reveals that today’s dads are just as likely to need web-enabled flex work solutions. Read more »
The flexibility and autonomy of web working can boost productivity and morale, but letting company information out of the secure perimeter of corporate headquarters also opens organizations up to a whole host of security concerns, according to a recent article from MIT’s Technology Review. Read more »
If you’re just getting started out as a freelancer, the sheer volume of advice out there about what software to pick up can be intimidating. Luckily, there’s a new Mac software bundle that actually acts as a really good one-stop shopping solution for new freelancers. Read more »
Recently we asked if web workers are particularly susceptible to workaholism. Opinions certainly differ on the question, but what if the hypothesis is true and, as some experts fear, there’s an epidemic of work addiction in the web worker community? Read more »
When you’re evaluating potential hires for a remote work position, or accessing whether or not an existing office-based asset can make the jump to working from home, what skill or skills do you hold most important? Here are my three top selections. Read more »
There’s a tension at the heart of web working. Technology allows us to do our jobs anywhere, and there’s plenty of appetite for the flexibility of location-independence. But while workers want autonomy, they also want social connection. How will this tension be resolved in the future? Read more »
In May, Microsoft released its annual “Work Without Walls” survey, which ranks the best cities for telecommuting. Microsoft is hardly the only organizations to draw up such as list. Forbes and Money magazine have also crowned top telecommuting cities. But are these lists useful? Read more »
Transparency is something we want from our collaborators, know has value, but often lag about providing ourselves. While studies show transparency nearly always results in better outcomes, people often withhold information because they feel it would take too much time or are uncomfortable sharing it. Read more »
Side projects can be businesses or just-for-fun efforts that we do in our nonworking hours. While there are some risks with taking side projects, I strongly believe that most of the time they benefit both the individual and the employer. Read more »
Web work has many benefits, but less discussed are the downsides. Several experts feel that there is at least one serious one: increased workaholism. Does being on the cutting edge of connectivity and evolving workstyles make web workers more vulnerable to becoming workaholics? Read more »
In a recent article that will be of interest to any manager of a team with members telecommuting across state lines, the WSJ warned that having an office in, say, Connecticut, and a web worker in your employ based in New York, can cause tax headaches. Read more »
One of the major drawbacks with traditional room-based telepresence installs is that systems from different vendors are typically incompatible with each other. Video conferencing and online meeting provider FuzeBox, makers of the Fuze Meeting service, announced Fuze Telepresence Connect, which hopes to overcome these interoperability problems. Read more »
I have to admit, I’m still not convinced that the iPad will be my laptop replacement. However, with the help of the Apple wireless keyboard and some other peripherals and apps, it can come close. Here are some tips to make your iPad work-worthy: Read more »
As I noted in my post about the amnesty offered by the IRS for those with hidden overseas assets, the flexibility of web work can encourage cross-border collaborations and contracts and allow location-independent workers to live abroad for a period of time. Taxes, predictably, get complicated. Read more »
Coworking centers — independent collaboration spaces that appeal to web workers who would otherwise be based out of their homes or coffee shops — have been springing up all over the world. But how much does it cost to rent a desk at one of these places? Read more »
With technology advancing, there are fewer practical restrictions to act as a barrier to increased uptake of virtual working. So what is holding organizations back from broader adoption of the practice? Perhaps, in part, middle managers and their lack of training. Read more »
Most helpful folks are well-connected to a large network of people, but they don’t build this network by being selfish and difficult to work with. They’re usually generous and “pay it forward” in return for the help they’ve received from other people. Read more »
Being able to work online has its benefits, such as having the flexibility to work nontraditional hours with clients from countries around the world, but it’s also easy to get distracted. Fortunately, there are several tools available to help improve concentration and productivity. Read more »
The dot-com bust proved a bumpy ride for Shane Pearlman. After working at five companies in two years, he decided that he’d actually have more security as a freelancer. Eventually, he joined with a frequent collaborator, and software consultancy Shane & Peter was born. Read more »
Working remotely sometimes means getting hired remotely – which often means nailing a video interview. Whether it’s over Skype or some other tech, communicating qualifications and reading the interviewer’s body language through the barrier of a lens can be a challenge. So how can you ensure success? Read more »
Telecom giant Alcatel Lucent’s research and development arm Bell Labs is hoping to replicate the feeling of in-person, natural communication with a fascinating concept it calls Immersive Communications. It uses “mixed reality” to insert the video feeds of real people into customizable artificial environments. Read more »
Are you a poor listener? In the context of distributed teams, “listening” needn’t be restricted to an auditory process — it includes your ability to take in information through all communications channels. Here are some tactics to help develop better listening skills. Read more »
We’re in the business of exploring and advocating the mobile future of work, but no matter how strongly we push the latest in remote collaboration tools and techniques, we still acknowledge that many people feel some things are better done in person. Read more »
Talking to a friend of mine settling into a new role, I was reminded of he potential problems faced by new remote workers that can be disastrous for the whole experience if not handled early. Here are sensitive areas to watch with your own remote staff. Read more »
How exactly did the recession affect remote work – were employers spoiled for choice and reluctant to allow flexibility? Did lean economic times increase the number of workers looking for remote gigs? WebWorkerDaily spoke to Sara Sutton Fell, the founder and CEO of FlexJobs, to find out: Read more »
For plugged-in workers, the web offers the ability to work from anywhere – including other countries. For web workers who’ve worked while abroad and maybe weren’t entirely honest with Uncle Sam about the money they made there, the IRS is currently offering an amnesty. Read more »
Although our work is steadily moving to the cloud, we still have a physical space to maintain and keep in order, whether that’s in a traditional office, a home office or from the road. Here are a few gadgets to help you keep your workspace organized. Read more »
As most web workers know, successfully coordinating meetings over email can be tricky. Meetin.gs is a collaborative tool that is hoping to make organizing meetings easier. It handles meeting invitations and also provides an online space where attendees can share notes, materials and the agenda. Read more »
Everyone knows what an intranet is: a website that’s internal to an organization and helps workers be more productive. But though well understood, the term “intranet” isn’t exactly sexy. Is it time to replace it with “digital workplace,” as some are arguing? Read more »
Video conferencing company Polycom is moving upmarket by agreeing to buy the assets of HP’s Visual Collaboration business, including its Halo Products and Managed Services division, in a $90 million deal that will put Polycom in more direct competition with Cisco Read more »
Minutes.io is a simple, well-designed web app that makes taking and distributing meeting minutes quick and painless — no more transcribing handwritten meeting notes, or cobbling together a minutes email from typed notes. It’s free, and no sign up is required in order to use it. Read more »
For innovative teams — those in startups as well as those innovating within established organizations — traditional professional development, or PD, has become an anachronism. Rather than being an after-hours, formal, institutionalized proposition, successful professional development in innovative teams is holistic and always-on. Read more »
