#telecommunting

[professor6kai]

20210406 telecommuting #telecommunting, #sunset, #sky, #sun, #cherryblossom, #songdocentralpark, #songdo, and #재택근무, #일몰, #하늘, #태양, #벚꽃, #송도센트럴파크, #송도 https://www.instagram.com/p/CNXGxCfJox-/?igshid=1l27d7yk00dek

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

OMG, Plant. Did you see Trump talk about reevaluating closures and opening up things in 2 weeks? That terrifies me. Can't congress prevent that? What about someone intervening. I mean he's a president, not a dictator. We have a system of checks and balances.

He’s not going to open everything up in two weeks. The closures were ordered by the state governors not the federal government and I doubt the feds can rescind them.

I also doubt there’s a plan to “open things up” in two weeks. They are probably hoping to do enough testing to create a map of virus “hotspots” they can monitor, so they can ease the “non-hotspot” regions into something vaguely resembling normalcy, subject to constant monitoring and testing. That, along with a huge stimulus bill, e-learning, telecommuting, expanded delivery services, etc...can get at least part of the economy moving again. Some of the treatments seem to be helpful, and the states are testing now and expanding hospital capacity. In addition, companies are manufacturing medical supplies now. 

I know it all seems very chaotic right now, but things are coming together. It will be bad for another two weeks, but then things will get better and we’ll have more testing, supplies, hospital capacity, treatments, etc... In addition, companies and school systems will have e-learning and telecommunting systems in place and grocery stores, restaurants,  and Amazon will have delivery options firmly in place. Congress will get its act together and pass the stimulus bill so bill payment stays frozen and individuals and businesses get income support. Once that’s all in place, we can start rebuilding. That’s what he means. We are in economic triage right now, but we’ll get out of it in a few weeks.

As you know, I’m no Trump fan. However, he’s mostly right on this one. If we can shorten the economic paralysis, we should. However, it doesn’t mean everything will open. That won’t happen for a while.

My best guess is that the malaria-like treatments start working the next few weeks so more people recover more quickly, making the disease less scary. That will mean the health care system will no longer be in danger of being overwhelmed, particularly with the new supplies and expanded capacity. We’ll also have more tests, so people will know if they are infected. We’re not going to have one big breakthrough, but we’ll have a series of improvements that will, together, make the disease manageable.

When we reach that point vulnerable and/or infected people will still be told to self-isolate, but less vulnerable healthy people will be allowed to go back to work subject to testing. Large gatherings and parties will still be prohibited, but the self-isolation orders will be less strict. I doubt we will return to normal anytime soon, but we will slowly climb out of the hole.

[magnovo]

The Rise of the Remote Workforce and What it Means for Future Teams has been published on Charity Team Building

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2pThEIW

The Rise of the Remote Workforce and What it Means for Future Teams

The Rise of the Remote Workforce and What it Means for Future Teams

Does your office go beyond the cubicle?

If not, it might only be a matter of time. Data from Global Workplace Analytics reveals that the number of non-self-employed workers who telecommute has grown 115% since 2005. That’s a growth rate of nearly 10 times the speed of the rest of the workforce.

In fact, Gallup research indicates more time is spent working remotely in some capacity than ever before.

These numbers are likely to change drastically in the coming years. Some experts predict that as much as half of the U.S. workforce will be remote by the year 2020.

That means going from 2.8 % to 50% in less than two years.

How did we get here? Why the sudden interest in telecommuting? And most importantly, what will this spike in remote work mean for a company’s future?

 The Birth of the Remote Era

The workplace is changing, whether you realize it or not. Telecommuting itself isn’t new, but today’s technology has made it easier (and more logical) for employers to offer it as a viable option.

In fact, 40% more companies offer flexible workplace options than they did just five years ago. Predictions indicate that the positive benefits of working from home combined with the flexible technology to do so are creating an unprecedented shift in the workforce that may eventually phase out the traditional 9-to-5 for many.

But what, specifically has heralded such a drastic change in workplace culture?

Analysts pinpoint changing demographics, technology, and the Great Recession as prime factors.

Family Demographics

A few decades ago, it was common for families to have one working parent while the other stays at home to care for children and household responsibilities. That isn’t the case today, as most families have two working parents, leading to a need to save time whenever and wherever possible.

Innovation

Cloud technology’s emergence eliminated the need for on-site access. This innovation single-handedly paved a truly feasible, cost-effective way for employees to perform their job duties from anywhere.

The Great Recession

The Great Recession might have been the biggest trigger.

A report from familesandwork.org reported that 19% of employees increased telecommuting jobs during the Great Recession.

During this period, employers and consumers alike were cutting costs at every angle. Jobs were scarce. Gas prices weren’t coming down. Everyone was trying to do more with less.

One effective way some companies avoided the economic crunch was by increasing telecommuting opportunities to reduce labor and occupancy costs and compress workweeks. This allowed businesses to lower operating costs without employees feeling the pinch of a reduction in hours.

The Seemingly Win/Win Scenario for Companies and Teleworkers

The cost-saving benefits of telecommuting are just the beginning.

Research from Global Workplace Analytics cites a lengthy list of other positive factors:

Telecommuting increases employee satisfaction, which can help lower attrition and increase productivity

It limits workplace discrimination and potential workplace conflict

It reduces wasted workday hours (meetings, socializing, etc)

It boosts employees’ self-directedness

Flexible schedules could encourage retired workers to stay partially employed while still enjoying retirement

Employers can reduce the necessary real estate space, technology, and infrastructure required to take on new employees

Working from home extends job opportunities to disabled workers or those without transportation

It allows businesses to scale up or down with ease

It’s an eco-friendly option

Business can keep going in the event of a power outage or weather-related disaster

Businesses can take advantage of state-offered incentives to adopt telecommuting positions

Some studies have found that working a flex schedule (part telecommuting, part on-site) can have a positive effect on employee health, happiness, and well-being. No one wants to spend a chunk of their day stressing in traffic or on public transportation. Telecommuters can spend their former transportation time exercising, eating a healthy breakfast, or catching up on rest prior to starting the workday.

The Downsides to Remote Work that No One is Talking About

It’s not sunshine and roses for telecommuters, but not many outlets seem to want to cover the downsides of working remotely.

For starters, many companies rely on the strength of their teams and company culture as keys to their success. Both of elements look vastly different with a fragmented workforce that rarely, if ever, sees each other.

Communications expert StatusPage documented their failed attempt at building a remote team. They cited a weakened connection between team members as one of their strategy’s biggest flaws, alongside a lackluster culture and work/life balance.

As company leaders, you simply can’t be everywhere all the time to field questions or solve problems. You rely on your team to provide solutions and remain engaged with the company’s mission to handle business in your absence. Your culture enables them to make decisions in the same way you would if you were present.

Culture looks different when you have remote workers. They have fewer opportunities to interact with you and others in the company to absorb those values and understand internal operations outside of their normal duties.

In addition, camaraderie suffers when your people aren’t able to connect on the same level. When team members are miles away from each other and rarely interact, trust and communication can disappear.

Interest in the pros and cons of telecommuting

Combatting the Ill Effects of Telecommuting

It’s easy to see the clear benefits of telecommuting for both worker and employer on the individual level, but the downsides of the combined groups are trickier to navigate.

To combat some of the burdens telecommuting creates, companies are emphasizing team building opportunities now more than ever.

In addition, Facebook groups, digital meeting spaces like Slack, and internal social networks are other attempts at creating a fragmented workplace culture.

Suffice it to say, these methods don’t have the exact same effects as working fully on-site. But they’re a huge step up from having no way to bridge connections between workers who are hundreds or thousands of miles away from your company.

The Future Impact of the Remote Workforce

As more companies begin to offer telecommuting positions, the companies who do not may find it harder to recruit or retain top talent. At least two-thirds of the workforce say they want work-at-home opportunities, and 36% would be willing to accept one over a pay raise.

Gen Y’ers, in particular, are keen on the prospect of a flex work schedule, and as Baby Boomers enter retirement it will be dually important for companies to find ways to attract this new breed of workers.

Of course, telecommuting simply isn’t possible for many jobs, especially those in public-facing roles, such as retail workers and public service jobs. But one thing’s for sure: the workplace is changing at a rate much faster than most companies realize.

The sooner you can prepare yourself for this shift in workplace habits, the more likely you stand to weather the storm a winner.

http://bit.ly/2pThEIW

[greensungnostic]

Carefully - moving rather slowly and without hops or teleports so as to avoid any unnecessary jostling, you begin to convey Rose up away from the tiny vessel - hardly meant for human occupation to begin with by the looks of things, or at least not for several years’ span. You support her weight across your shoulders, ready to shift to a more supportive two-armed carry if her grasp slackens. With how bruised and banged up she looks, you’re really not sure the best way to convey her. She’s taller than you by a good few inches, but right now she seems so small and frail and vulnerable. It’s like the only part of her that weighs anything is the fragments of meteoric metal and rock peppering her frame. 

You dwell on vulnerability as your flight carries her up past the crest of the deck’s fencelike railing, and your mind slips backwards nearly half a lifetime away...

------

It’s after one of John’s perennially poor-taste movie nights, wherein he’d harangue you all into a video call and put you through a terrible film. It was 2005′s critically panned McConaughey flick, Sahara. It was after the movie had ended, and the boys had logged off for the night, leaving just you two on the call. Rose studies her screen rather intensely - is she looking at you, or another webpage? Finally she speaks.

ROSE: Well, Jade. You’ve been awfully quiet this evening, abnormally so. The film wasn't THAT bad.

JADE: err, well... wh-what do you mean?

ROSE: And you’re wearing quite a smart labcoat with your hair up. Were you going to share what that was about, or was I supposed to surmise it myself?

You slump quietly where you sit. As usual, Rose has laser-vision for people’s insecurities, and you’re anything but secure tonight. You sigh and pull the scrunchie out of your hair, letting your curly locks fall into their usual shaggy heap. 

JADE: dang it, rose... yeah, today was supposed to be my little telecommunting guest-professor thing for that science program, so i got all dressed up to look my best for everyone, and.. and then!!

Your lip quivers, and your eyes begin to water. It didn’t go well. 

ROSE: Not the most enriching and rewarding of classes,  I take it? 

JADE: they all started laughing and patronizing me because im just a kid!! no one believed i was the real teacher for the day, even their actual teacher was laughing at me and asking which of my parents put me up to it!! they... i dont even have... and i tried so hard to look nice and to teach them...

Rose frowns, her eyes softening as you hold back the tears. You don’t see this kind of expression often from her, she’s usually so stoic. You see her eyes glance towards your wall on her screen, where you’ve messily plastered a couple crooked posters over your own degrees and proofs in humiliation. 

ROSE: Oh, Jade...  Don’t you know? As one of the brightest and best among us, you don’t have to listen to those mouthbreathing cretins. I’m sure you’ve forgotten more about... relativistic whatsits and positronic... megatrons than half of them will ever begin to wrap their vacuous heads around. 

ROSE: And you look lovely besides. Did you grow that flower in your buttonhole yourself?

ROSE:  But you know, lingering on the source of one’s grief is hardly the way to recovery. Might I interest you in a journey for two to the briny deeps of Squiddloo Grotto?

Your cheeks flush from her praise, and you cover them with your hands so your little crush doesn’t see your fluster. You nod, and she throws up a torrented copy of an episode of The Squiddles, a familiar song jingling into the call. Before long you’re feeling a little less vulnerable, just talking cartoons and fleeting thoughts with Rose late into the afternoon - well past midnight on her time, when she finally slumps onto her keyboard and you send her off to bed. 

Somehow - despite your occasionally cagey or flighty conversations and her usually veiled emotions and intents (not to mention your little crush on her) from that point on you started feeling... safer when you were talking to her. A little less vulnerable and alone, even there on your island, nearly seven thousand miles from her. And now she’s here, scant millimeters from her for the first time ever, so you’ve got to be strong for her and hold back your own vulnerability. 

----------

You float as briskly as you can across the deck towards your workshop, sending Nannasprite a ping to meet you in the surgery room. You glance sideways at Rose, where her blood-streaked face has fallen against your throat, and offer her the bravest smile you can muster. 

h-heheh, trust me, im still the same wild little island kid as ever... ill let you get all cleaned up b-before we really count it, okay? ...oh, do you want me to save your satellite? its about to get banged up pretty bad when we move...

Your heart pounds in your chest. Your throat is tight. Your stomach - cybernetically enhanced as it is - still seems to be doing wicked acrobatic pirouettes in your belly. As you descend towards the small, battered craft, you fret in a thousand little different ways, positively prickling with anxiety. Your ears are angled back in concern as you dip closer, as fast as you can, towards your target.

Oh god, there she is. It’s her, and she’s in bad shape. Even warping space and time itself, you could only get there so quickly. Such is the unhelpfully circuitous and noneuclidian nature of Paradox Space. You set down lightly on the edge of the satellite, ruby slippered paws making the tiniest of taps, and rest one hand on the satellite’s antenna next to Rose’s. You’re afraid to touch her, as if she’ll disappear into so much dust on the wind, or wink out of existence as nothing more than a hallucination. Still, your hand slides down slightly, coming to rest on her battered knuckles, and you bring your face down to her level. 

You smile weakly at her, blinking back tears from your eyes as you look your long, long lost friend in the face for the first time in… gosh, you’re not even sure how long. Nearly a decade at the very least, if not more. A wave of sentimentality and regret washes over you, threatening to drag your words from you out into the deep like an emotional riptide. Still, you’ve got to say something, right?

h-hey rose, thats right…. sorry it took so long to get here, i came as fast as i could. you look… can you still fly okay? if not ill fly you!! lets… lets get you inside, get you cleaned up, okay? 

You offer the bloodied Seer your arm - ready to catch her if she keels in any particular direction - and try to look over her wounds. You’ve been in worse shape, but not by much, and that was from explosions. At least she seems to have all of her extremities intact, hopefully not requiring any major trips to your workshop, at the least. 

[casartcoverings]

14 Positive Reasons Why Staying at Home Can Be Good

In time of uncertainty & coronavirus, here are 14 Positive Reasons Why Staying at Home Can Be Good #selfquarantine #coronavirus #telecommuting #workingfromhome #Casartcoverings

You may be working and with your normal routine as if everything is fine, when suddenly your employer tells you and all your coworkers to telecommunte and work from home. In this uncertain time of coronavirus, Covid-19, this scenario may not be that far-fetched. It could happen and it could happen soon. Here are 14 positive reasons why staying at homecan be good. You can check one off each day…

[noodulbear-blog]

I like my body sometimes. This is more than multiple times that you've inerupted my opinion on a big issue and my whole being started rising up. Like anxiety. I got angry, I got offended I tried so hard to keep it inside because I know everyone can have an opinion... that wasn't it. You interrupted me, doesnt matter that I wasnt expressing that I understood what the video meant.. trust me.. I got what he meant... YOU didnt let me finish my thought. In ny opinion, the world would be a much more pleasant place if labels didn't matter. If a person makes you feel good tingly lovey type feelings, most likely a good thing. Doesnt matter how you identify, what you were born with or without.. we're all people just doing what we know how the best we know how. So educate compassion, educate positivity, educate acceptance. If I want to cut my hair super short for summer, I should feel okay to without worry of you, it's hair.. it wil grow back if I dont like it. Not my problem if you dont like it. This is me. I keep trying to tell myself I'm wrong if I dont do this or that to fit this or thay label. Huge news flash for me! I dont need to change for the world, I change for me, because I want to. I'm most comfortable when I dont care, I iust do me. I like changing my hair with the seasons, I like traveling on a whim. What gets my anxiety is the how am I going to self care/personal hygiene. An off grid (or mostly) tiny house would solve that. Financial aspects, I'm going to get a crappy entry job until I can get my student loans out of default. At which time I'll apply for grants and loans again and continue basic classes in community college. Voice acting, sound editing, or script editing, proofreading stuff, websites, networking, photography, mental health, camping, hiking, biking. Interests for sure. Here are my positive future Tiny House workings. Telecommunting for work in a tiny house, photography in my travels of nature. Grow my own medicine/herbs. Visit many family members and friends, Room for at least two to sleep over ( keep in mind tallness of guests) Game center, room for two more tvs and consoles set up (plug ins and phone chargers) Puzzel spot- where I can roll it up and store it in a pvc tube. Sound/smell proof bathroom wTub (water trough w/ cheap coating. Sound proof the house. I know I want this like I knew I wanted my tattoos. It's something that has appealed to me since I was young going camping a dozen or more times in a summer. I went with Grandma and Grandpa all the time by myself. We'd go fishing, and I would get to ride my bike everywhere, explore the woods and the river. Get dirty xD They taught me 3 different ways to make a fire by age 8. That was my favorite times. Sitting around the fire and talked about stuff or just watched the fire dance together. Sometimes they'd told stories. Ones I've heard a million times, but this next time.. it might be a bit different. Just one more detail, one more inch, one more foot longer. Those fish sure knew how to grow, some can get the size of a whale. XD Okay I made myself laugh, I feel better now. I did lots of self care today. I am worth the effort to get well. -Spread Love-

[advancingdiversity]

Continuing Education Manager - International Association of Forensic Nurses - Telecommunting, MD

POSITION:Continuing Education ManagerDEPARTMENT:OperationsCLASSIFICATION:ExemptREPORTS TO:COOThe Continuing Education Manager is designed to lead all aspects of IAFN?s American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) providership and approvership for nursing continuing education credit in live and online ... http://ift.tt/2nk2Van Education Manager/International Association of Forensic Nurses/?site_id=22267 This content originally appeared on AdvancingDiversity.com

[honeyicanexplain]

In this comic, we see that not every occupation is ideal for 21st century telecommuting.

[genemarksblog]

Hiscox: The Best Ways to Manage Remote Employees

(This post originally appeared on Hiscox)

My 10-person company functions completely virtually.  We used to have offices, but I shut them down about eight years ago when it dawned on me that, despite paying rent and incurring overhead, I was sitting there alone a lot of the time because all of my employees were either on-site with clients or working from home.  So now, everyone works remotely.  From a fiscal standpoint, it’s great; butmanaging remote employees is a unique challenge.  As the company has grown over the years, I’ve made a few mistakes and learned a few lessons.

For example, I’ve learned not to over-manage a remote employee.  I hired Cheryl a few years ago to help with our marketing.  At first, because she was working remotely from her home office, I thought I would have to keep a close eye on everything that she did. That said, I soon learned that giving someone the independence of working on their own really means that you trust them to do what they need to in an unsupervised environment. I didn’t understand this at first and found myself calling, emailing and even using one of our internal monitoring tools to track what she was doing when logged into our network. Eventually, I found this to not only be a waste of time, but potentially harmful to our working relationship.No one wants to feel like big brother is watching all the time – it creates distrust.  With Cheryl, I learned that giving her specific, quantitative tasks and goals, and then checking in to see how she was doing with those assignments was the best way to supervise her.  In other words:  treat your remote employee like a grown-up and give him or her the chance to execute.

I also learned that giving a remote employee the freedom to work on their own also comes at a cost to them:  availability.  My expectation is that when I call, text or email, I will get a response from them quickly.  And although I wouldn’t call anyone at 9 o’clock at night, I also expect a little more leeway as to when I can call my remote employees, like earlier in the morning or maybe as late as 7 o’clock in the evening.

Some business owners I know require their employees to always be on instant messenger or Skype, which, depending on what that person’s job is, would make sense.  The point is that in order to make the relationship work, a remote employee must always get work done in a timely manner and be available to his or her boss when needed.

Finally, I learned that nothing beats a face-to–face interaction. I make it a point to physically see my employees, either individually or in a group, at least once a month.  This may be at a client’s office or at a Starbucks for lunch, just for an hour so, to catch up on clients and shoot the “you-know-what.”  Managing remote employees is all about balance.  Being too remote is bad, so having some human interaction on a periodic basis can really help.  I’ll admit that this is still very challenging for a few of my employees that are not hyper-local in relation to where I’m based.  I’m still trying to figure out that problem…but eventually, I will.

 Gene Marks is a columnist, author, and small business owner of the Marks Group PC, a ten-person firm that provides sales and marketing technology and consulting services to businesses.

Gene covers issues affecting the small business community for The New York Times, Forbes, Inc. and more.  He’s also a frequent guest on numerous television and radio talk shows. Gene speaks at industry events to help business owners understand trends that will affect their companies.

Gene has written five books on business, his most recent In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash. Visithttp://genemarks.com for more information.

[atomaton]

This maybe the future of immersive gaming, but I also believe that this will be a solution for collaborative electronic work and telecommuting.  I loath WebEx meetings with a ton of people trying to figure out who is going to speak and when.  Teleconferencing is supposed to be real time, but feels as asynchronous as email.  Video games provide an excellent way to provide an immersive; realtime meeting experience.  Many games provide a way to talk, chat, and react to very realistic avatars.  The above video shows that video games will pave the way for amazing Human Computer Interactions, I just hope this will influence the way I interact with dispersed teams while at work.

[drego]

"Once upon a time teleworking was the future that would free us from the yoke of office life. Armed with phone, computer and internet connection, human potential would blossom in the comfort of our own homes. It makes sense. Why travel for hours a day to a central location when you can roll out of bed and start working from your kitchen table with none of the hassle and environmental damage that commuting entails?"  Read more...

(source: BBC)

[thinkvr]

LooseCubes Brings Coworking to Anywhere There's a Desk

Name: LooseCubes

Quick Pitch: LooseCubes is a peer-to-peer marketplace for office space.

Genius Idea: Making coworking possible anywhere there is a desk.

As technology untethers employees from their desks and more people seek a flexible work environment, coworking spaces have popped up in every major city. But that didn’t help LooseCubes founder Campbell McKellar much when she decided to work from a small town in Maine for a summer.

“I kept thinking that there must be someone in this town that has an art studio in their backyard with Wi-Fi,” she says. “And if I could just find them I would never have to go back to a traditional office.”

She founded LooseCubes shortly after she returned to New York City. The startup helps out-of-office workers locate those art studios with Wi-Fi in Maine — or whatever kind of workspace they’re looking for.

Anyone with a free desk can list it on the site. There’s an option to charge rent, but McKeller says that about 37% of the 1,200 listings on the site are offering workspace for free. Some of its users are travelers looking for someplace to work for a day or two. Others are independent workers looking for something more permanent.

[magnovo]

How to Plan Team Activities for Your Remote Workers has been published on Charity Team Building Events & Bicycle Team Building - Meet Your CSR Goals!

New Post has been published on http://charity-team-building-events.com/how-to-plan-team-activities-for-your-remote-workers/

How to Plan Team Activities for Your Remote Workers

Employees who don’t work at the home office often struggle with feeling connected to the team.

Here’s how to plan team activities that bridge the gap.

Telecommuting is the key to happiness for lots of companies (especially those with a lot of Millennials!).  It gives workers the freedom to maintain a work-life balance and it allows employers to lure top talent to their teams.

But it’s hard to connect with remote employees, especially the type that never come into the office.  And let’s face it: it’s really hard to make connections with someone you hardly ever see.  The dilemma becomes: how to build good teams when half the group is working from home and feels disconnected from company culture.

Increase trust and engagement.

Building trust is the key to better engagement from your remote employees.  That’s hard to do under normal circumstances where there’s pressure to perform and everyone’s on guard.

There are three things you can do to increase trust and engagement:

Meet on neutral turf.

Plan stress-free team building activities that focus on teamwork, not individual performance.

Focus on an easy, short-term goal that everyone can get excited about.

Let’s look at the three steps, one by one.

1.  Meet on neutral turf.

Off-site team activities on neutral ground can level the playing ground between in-office employees and remote workers.  Rather than meeting in the office, which seems like home turf for the commuter-workers, meet somewhere that starts everyone off from the same spot in the comfort zone.

That would be a hotel meeting space, a park, or a restaurant depending on the types of team activities you’ve got planned.

2.  Plan stress-free team building activities.

A team building workshop can really bring everyone together if done right.  Done wrong, however, it can actually increase tension and forge an even wider gap between telecommuters and in-office employees.

Team building should be done with the right mix of stress-free activities and common goals that each participant can feel engaged with.  Simply throwing together a group of employees and instructing them to “bond” over silly games and meaningless competitions won’t accomplish anything but to make a lot of people feel very uncomfortable!

3.  Focus on team activities with short, easy goals that everyone can get behind.

With charity team building workshops, the goal is to do something for a local charity.  Everyone can easily feel the importance of their teamwork actions during the workshop, and that drives them to perform better together.

Not only that, but working for a common good (positive change in the community) offers remote workers and in-office employees a chance to get to know each other in a stress-free environment.  Everyone wins!