The Prime Minister of England is not a great fan of working from home. We know this, because in a recent interview, he said so. Boris Johnson said, “My experience of working from home is you spend an awful lot of time walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop.” While the “workers don’t get anything … [Read more...]
Are Too Many Meetings Killing Your Productivity?
Maybe the most commonly stated paradox in remote work involves meetings. A paradox is defined as, “A situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities.” So. what’s the paradox when it comes to meetings in a team of any type? The contradictory ideas at play here are: Meetings (in-person, online, or blended) are an important way of … [Read more...]
Great Teammates Help You Take Vacation
It’s the time of year when people start to talk about vacations. For too many of us, all we do is talk. Fifty-five percent of Americans do not use all their vacation time (Those of you in civilized countries feel free to smirk and berate us. We deserve it). In fact, we collectively leave 768 million vacation days unused! That’s not the worst of it. Even when we do take the … [Read more...]
Different Countries, Different Attitudes to Remote Work
How eager are you to get back to the office? The answer might depend on where you live. An interesting article on the BBC’s Worklife website discusses how different cultures embrace (or don’t) workplace flexibility. Some of the statistics are enlightening (numbers quoted the article): By the end of the year, 25% of professional jobs in North America will be primarily … [Read more...]
A Curmudgeon Looks Back on Email
When people complain about email, I get it. You’re working from home and the barrage of pinging, flashing icons and messages piling up never seems to stop. We hear all kinds of moaning about the volume, lack of clarity, and just plain rudeness in people’s inboxes. Those are all legitimate complaints. But I am old enough to remember the “before times.” I was around before … [Read more...]