Join three remote companies - HotJar, Transformify and Freedom X Fest to dive deep into building and managing remote teams.
Ken Weary, VP Operations of HotJar, Lilia Stoyanov, CEO of Transformify and Debora Mendes, FreedomXFest will discuss the digital skills trends, how to empower people to be able to self-manage when working remotely, do remote teams need to meet in real life and how often, is remote working for everyone and much more.
Freedom comes with responsibilities. Being location independent is the dream of many people but it requires a different skill set and the ability to understand the nuances in written communication. In an office environment, the expression on someone's face or the tone of the voice can tell a lot. However, when the team members are miles away and English is not necessarily the native language of everyone, using the right wording is super important. Asking for clarification instead of immediately jumping into conclusions can save the day ( and help meet the deadlines). On top of that, offices tend to be better organized equipment-wise so people can feel more comfortable and productive. It's not surprising to see companies purchasing things like sciatica seat cushions for their employees so they simply feel well and can work for long hours without experiencing pain or discomfort
Not all remote workers and digital nomads are necessarily programmers, marketers or designers. Many have no other option than working remotely as they are less able to move or have family commitments that require them to work from home or a coworking space within a walking distance. Flexible working helps single parents to provide for the family and spend quality time with their kids securing a better future for them.
In spite of the many advantages, it appears that remote working is not for everyone. Some people are not able to self-manage and deliver quality work without supervision. For others, this may mean spending time on household chores instead of working, sleeping late, missing team calls, etc. During the hiring process, the recruiters have to identify any early red flags indicating that the candidate lacks self-discipline and integrity.
Remote teams and distributed teams are seen from a completely different angle by the business and the government agencies. Tech startups based in Silicon Valley, for example, can save on rent by hiring in the high unemployment areas in the US. Not only this is good for the startups that have a longer runway until the next funding round, but it is also good for the local communities as it increases the purchasing power of the people living there and helps the local small businesses to thrive.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, many companies had to shift to work from home arrangements literally overnight. As remote work was seen as a ''perk'' by many and employees were allowed to work from home once per week, most businesses had not adapted their processes, internal controls and communication channels. Moreover, not all employees had company laptops and mobiles leaving businesses with two choices - (i) to incur unbudgeted costs and purchase the required electronic devices or (ii) to ask employees to go home and take paid or unpaid leave.
Inevitably, this will result in millions of cut jobs. A former Trump adviser, Kevin Hasset, has warned that the US may lose 1 million jobs in March alone.
"The odds of a global recession are close to 100% right now," said Hassett, who is now a CNN economics commentator. Source: CNN
The good news is that businesses are ready to create work from home and part-time jobs for people who lost their jobs amid coronavirus outbreak. Corporate Social responsibility ( CSR) and Diversity Hiring have a different meaning in a state of emergency. Entire industries like tourism, HoReCa, events management, airlines and more are planning massive layoffs. However, people losing their jobs have transferrable skills that can be of value to other industries.
Being a social enterprise, Transformify HR Suite has committed to providing information about the transferrable skills of people who have been left without income amid coronavirus outbreak and leveraging Transformify Freelance Platform and Contingent Workforce Management Software to help businesses create work from home and part-time jobs for them. Payment transfer fees related to freelance jobs, contract jobs, work from home jobs have been decreased from 10% to 1.5%.
It is clear that a ''remote work strategy'' needs to be part of all disaster recovery plans. Coronavirus outbreak is unlikely to be the last force major situation and senior managers and team leads need to be ready to manage distributed teams when required.
Are you ready to create work from home and freelance jobs for people in need?
Contact Transformify Sales Team: sales@transformify.org
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