The Remote Work Podcast

What is The Great Meeting Migration?Between December 2019 and March 2020, the number of daily meeting participants on Zoom skyrocketed from 10M to 300M. This surge in virtual meetings has been called “The Great Meeting Migration”. It was thrust upon us, instantly creating a new digital domain of work, where colleagues were pixels and meeting rooms were screens. In this post we look at "what is" the GMM. If you're not interested in listening, have a look at our original post.

Describing meeting fatigue and what may be the cause. What do we believe the cause to be, and it is linked to managers not trusting. Why do we hate those meetings so much? Link to meeting migration when done, product posts, always-on culture.Meetings - they have always been part of our jobs, but never have they felt like such hard work. Since virtual meetings have become the norm, the effects we feel IRL are even more depleting, deflating and demotivating than before. Meeting fatigue is real, and researchers and scientists are delving into its causes and effects, and how it can be managed. Want to have a read? Check out the original blog post.

We’ve all had those days - where you’re technically working, but you don’t seem to be getting anything done. Research by Atlassian shows that 80% of distractions at work are trivial in nature, and that less than 60% of our time spent working is actually productive. Distractions, therefore, have always been part of the job, but over the course of the past two years, how they manifest themselves has changed dramatically. Don't feel like listening? Have a read on our blog

Even before the pandemic, it had become increasingly difficult to separate life and work. As an employee, the technology we spend our lives on is often provided by our employers. Work smartphones, work laptops, work iPads - with all our devices offering round the clock connectivity to our jobs, it’s no wonder it’s so difficult to switch off. Combine this with an ever-growing proliferation of work-related communication tools like Slack, Zoom, Trello, Discord, and social media sites like LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter that are now so integral to our work, and we find ourselves immersed in a world where we are always aware, always connected, always “on”. If you prefer reading the whole thing, head on over to the What Is the Always-On Culture original post

Our work lives are now inextricably linked to the online world, regardless of where we are based. Because of this, all workers, whether fully remote, hybrid or in-office, need to streamline their workflows to sync up with clients and teams. Managers, too, need efficient and effective ways to keep a handle on what’s happening. In response, a landslide of new platforms and apps that coordinate our collaboration have been developed, to help us work smarter, not harder. We have rounded up the best remote working communication tools of 2022. - Clearword.com for Meeting and Communication Management- Timeular.com for Time management- Spotlight.com for productivity- Friday for remote workflows- Notion for organisation and collaboration- Asana for task and project management- Remote HQ for collaboration- Miro for visual collaboration- Github for software developmentIf you prefer reading about it, head on over to the blog post for this podcast episode

Diving straight into the uncertain world of freelancing is a highly risky endeavour. It’s wise to start small, both in terms of time and output. What are your passions outside of your job; maybe you’re social media savvy, or dabble in graphic design, or get a thrill out of writing. A study by the Academy of Management revealed that businesses launched while the founder is still employed are one-third less likely to fail than those that started out as full-time ventures.Interested in reading instead of listening? Here's the original post!

Being productive is one thing. But how do you maintain it? Distractions, life and ever-increasing workloads can take their toll, so how do you achieve a flow-state with remote work? And more importantly, once you’re in the zone, how do you stay there?- Allocate blocks of time- Optimise your workspace- Take intentional breaks- Plan your free timeIf you're interested in reading instead of listening, here's the original post!

Small businesses have been hit by myriad challenges over the course of the pandemic, including, but not in the least limited to, supply chain issues, rising inflation, staff shortages and employee wellbeing.A recent survey by Goldman Sachs revealed that 71% of small businesses’ income had suffered, while 37% said their business had closed or scaled back with the onslaught of the Omicron wave.Interested in reading this post? Here's the original link.

It’s probably correct to assume that everyone with a job has the necessary skills to perform it. And as we’ve learned over the past two years, many jobs can be done as well online as in person. However, given that working remotely (at least for some of the time) seems to be where the future of work is going, it’s wise to see if there’s any room for improvement. It’s not that remote work requires a specialised skillset, but there are certain tools, platforms and strategies that make it easier, and more efficient and effective. We take a look at some of the ways you can upskill to work better, remotely. See the original post on Clearword's blog

There are countless ways to work remotely, but the best way is different for everyone. Identifying the way that suits you is essential for maintaining pride, productivity and progression along your employment path. The ideal remote way of working will satisfy your personality type, and meet your personal and professional wants and needs. However, what’s “right” for you may look different at different stages of your life - freelancing might work best when you’re entering the remote market, but when life’s responsibilities start to dominate, then a full time role with an organisation might be a better fit. We talk about the main ways to work remotely below, complete with their perks and pitfalls. 

Over the past two years, the nature of our work and workplaces became entirely unrecognisable…for many of us. For those of us who worked remotely before the pandemic, this “new normal” wasn’t entirely new. It was just different. For us, remote working isn’t the future. It’s the now. Not because we’ve been forced to, but because we want to. This is the key difference between working from home and remote working. Pandemic or not, we are certain that remote working works better. But what about you? How do you successfully transition from on-site to remote working by choice, not by obligation? In this podcast, we cover: - Define your priorities- Restructure your mindset- Assess your skills and interests- Decide on a workspace- Connect with your communityAs remote work coach Kate Smith says, “Don’t make the mistake of making connections in the 9-5 world, as that is just going to lead you to 9-5 opportunities, and that is not what you want.”

Despite the very obvious benefits of having diverse remote teams and colleagues, most companies are still trying to figure out how to work successfully across different timezones. Here are some tips for remote employees and remote companies on how to make meeting across time zones work a little bit more effectively.Visit Clearword for more information.Blog Article : https://clearword.com/blog/working-across-timezonesLinks mentioned State of Remote Work by Buffer : https://buffer.com/2021-state-of-remote-workTimeZone app : https://timezone.io/

Our very first remote work community interview with Dónal Kearney, community manager of the really inspiring Grow Remote community. We discuss Grow Remote as a community, three examples of local impact led by remote workers, and how he came about working remotely over the past year. A casual discussion, because it's important to share with other members of the community to see what they're working on and how we can support each other.  Check out GrowRemote.ie, Grow Remote on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,  LinkedIN.Original Clearword Post

Traditional top-down management methods of the past are done. The future is collaborative leadership, especially in the remote environment.Collaborative leadership is the opposite of siloed working styles and top down hierarchal approaches. In collaborative working environments, managers aren’t simply there to oversee projects rather, they work alongside employees and in collaboration with other teams and departments to accomplish shared goals.For remote working in particular, tightly controlled hierarchical structures are not going to serve your teams well.Modern organisations are best served by focusing on forward thinking leadership practices that inspire empathetic, value driven work that flourishes in collaborative working environments.Visit Clearword for more information.Original Article : https://clearword.com/blog/good-remote-leadership-is-collaborative-leadershipLinksHarvard Business Review Article : https://hbr.org/2011/07/are-you-a-collaborative-leaderMcKinsey Study : https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/whats-next-for-remote-work-an-analysis-of-2000-tasks-800-jobs-and-nine-countries

Missing a meeting is something that happens to everyone. Whether you are double booked, stuck in traffic, your internet connection is down, you're on holidays, etc. The reasons don't matter, what is important is realising technology can help you never miss a meeting, or more importantly, never miss how and why a decision was made.In this post, we're going to cover the benefits of recording meetings.Visit Clearword for more informationBlog Article : https://clearword.com/blog/why-recording-meetings-has-nothing-to-do-with-big-brother

Staying motivated when working remotely or working from home can be tricky. Many leaders wonder how to keep their teams motivated, and many employees struggle to get up in the morning due to a lack of motivation.We've written about ways to unplug from work before, and we truly believe this is one of the ways to stay motivated. Before giving you tips on how to to stay motivated, it is perhaps important to understand what are your main demotivators.Read the Original Blog ArticleVisit Clearword for more informationLinksHarvard Business Review on remote managers trust : https://hbr.org/2020/07/remote-managers-are-having-trust-issuesHow to unplug from work : https://clearword.com/blog/how-to-unplug-from-work

The number one time waster at work is ineffective meetings. Even before Covid when in-office meetings were the norm, meetings were a source of huge frustration and time wasting. And since Covid forced many of us into remote working, the degree to which meetings now account for our time has gone up exponentially and unfortunately so has the amount of time they waste.Here are our 5 tips for running more effective remote meetings.Visit Clearword for more informationLinksOriginal Blog post article : https://clearword.com/blog/5-tips-for-running-more-effective-remote-meetings

Most companies and organisations nowadays agree that adapting to the new hybrid and distributed working models requires meaningful change.Not only do companies have to adapt, but so do people. Working from home comes with a very different set of distractions to a more traditional office setting.We have been working in a fully distributed manner for over 10 years at Clearword and wanted to break down a few of the misconceptions around distractions, and provide some ideas on how to address themVisit Clearword for more information:LinksOriginal PostEisenhower Method : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management#The_Eisenhower_MethodDistraction Studies : https://affect.media.mit.edu/pdfs/16.Mark-CHI_Email.pdfCost of interrupted work study : https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf

Do you want to work remotely? About 98% of workers would like to work remotely now, and 1 in 3 plan on quitting their job if they don't offer some remote work opportunity.More than 56% of the people interviewed in Owllabs State of Remote Work 2021 said they would quit or look for a new job that offered remote work flexibility.This episode takes a look at some of the factors in getting a remote job.Original Article: https://clearword.com/blog/how-to-get-a-remote-jobClearword Homepage : https://clearword.comLinksOwllabs State of remote work report 2021 : https://owllabs.eu/state-of-remote-work/2021#sorw-section-1Find Work from Home Jobs on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a508610/find-work-from-home-jobs-on-linkedin?lang=enStaying Motivated : https://clearword.com/blog/how-do-you-stay-motivatedGitlab Communication Handbook : https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/50,000 remote jobs : https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/remote-jobs/?position=1&pageNum=0