A recent study seems to indicate that remote workers commit fewer ethical violations than in-office workers. But why? Is it simply because there’s less opportunity when you don’t see your coworkers? Or, as some experts suggest, could trust be the key difference? Read more »
Having a healthy passion for work and life in balance can be a big productivity booster. But too often, that passion for work can veer too far into workaholic tendencies, especially for web workers. Here are a few tips to make sure your passion is productive. Read more »
Obviously, the answer to the question posed in the headline is, ideally, no — we’d all like to keep our salary steady when we commence virtual work. But if you had to take a pay cut to get it, how much would it be worth to you? Read more »
You’ve narrowed down the applicant pool for a role you’re hiring to two equally qualified candidates. One is a shy, diligent type with an impressively deep grasp of the relevant skills. The other is more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type, extroverted and energetic. Whom do you hire? Read more »
Stephen Ruth, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, has argued that telecommuting cannot keep expanding without creating significant issues. We called him up and asked him why he is less optimistic than some about the expansion of telecommuting. Read more »
With the arrival of summer weather, it’s natural for workers’ minds to turn to enjoying the sunshine and to drift a bit from spreadsheets, sales targets and the like. So what’s the cure for this summer slacking? The Chicago Tribune says an increase in web work. Read more »
When you work online, it’s easy to feel relaxed about legal issues, but there are many laws that can potentially impact you. Benjamin Wright is an attorney specializing in the issues surrounding working online. He points to six questions that web-based workers must keep in mind: Read more »
As a manager or small business owner, you’ve seen the light and decided to expand your team by adding remote workers. Now all you need is a remote work policy that lays out everything your employees need to know. But why is this necessary? Read more »
At WebWorkerDaily we’ve suggested previously that the reason that adoption of telecommuting is stalling may be resistant middle managers, and proposed sending them off to web work boot camp. Now there’s new evidence that we may have been on to something. Read more »
Staples is releasing a survey Tuesday on web worker happiness, but rather than capture why remote workers are content with their lot, Staples aims to get at exactly how thrilled they are to not have to go into the office. Read more »
The research is conclusive: compared to office-based colleagues, those who are free to work where they choose are happier with their jobs. But why is this? The answer isn’t as clear as it might first appear to web work boosters. Read more »
Jay Mulki, a professor at Northeastern University, has been studying the issue of web work and workaholism, and is currently analyzing the results. In advance of the release of the research, Mulki gave a sneak peak of his developing findings to the University’s website. Read more »
Can web work cause legal complications? It’s not the sexiest question to ponder concerning a location-independent work style (who wouldn’t prefer daydreaming about opening the laptop at the local park or attending that conference call in your slippers?), but it’s an important one for managers nonetheless. Read more »
Mom Anne Samoilov is Laura Roeder Media’s project manger, making sure a team spread from New York to Hawaii is collaborating smoothly. So how does a woman with a background in project management and few tech credentials tame the challenges of web work? Read more »
Managers of remote teams have plenty to worry about. On top of the deadlines, interpersonal conflicts, competing priorities, and keeping everyone connected and collaborating, Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard is adding another item to their list of potential stresses: mirror neurons. Read more »
Web workers might be the pioneers on the virtual work trail, but it seems that the general working population believes that it’s not too far behind. A new study reveals that 58 percent of U.K. workers believe that offices of today will not exist in 2021. 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 »
It’s one thing to work in a team with one or two off-site members. But what about entirely dispersed teams, where none of the members are located in the same office? Team leaders need to consider the interplay of three crucial factors: frequency, transparency, and variability. 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Here on WebWorkerDaily we regularly cover new collaboration tech, from virtual phone systems to multiuser video chat apps. All of these offer incremental improvements on the tech available to web workers, but what radical new tech tools might be in the distant future of remote collaboration? Read more »
The Telework Enhancement Act is designed to increase telework opportunities for federal employees. Agencies are now winding up the process of complying with its requirements. What lessons do their efforts hold for businesses interested in starting their own web work programs? Read more »
With more and more organizations relying on team members who don’t come into the office, companies will see a greater number of support requests from telecommuters. One such request is for a stipend to subsidize the cost of using a coworking space. Read more »
Coworking is a great way for freelancers to work in an office setting without having to sign up for office life, but it can also be a useful for remote teams. Some companies are now supporting remote staff with a coworking stipend. Here’s why. Read more »
It’s not only work that goes on at work. A portion of the office day in is taken up with complimenting new hairstyles, joking about a colleague’s sports team and the like. Web workers tend to miss out on these quick doses of human connection. Read more »
When we discuss telecommuting dilemmas for businesses, we often jump to talking about management issues. But many other parts of an organization can also have concerns about telecommuting; one of them is the human resources department. Here are four issues that your HR department may face. Read more »
When it comes to remote work, is the point cost savings or employee motivation? Maybe it depends on the continent, suggests a ZDNet Asia article. It notes that while telecommuting is frequently used for cost saving in the U.S., in Asia it’s used for employee morale. Read more »
