Remote Work Digest: August 30, 2022

The latest on all kinds of information, news, and resources that help you make working remotely better.

10 Time Management Tips For A Working Mom | Women Fitness Magazine, Womenfitnessmag.com

Time management is a big concern for working mothers, considering job demands can vary daily, and children’s needs evolve as they grow. Besides, we must manage our growth as we work towards realizing personal ambitions. You may not avoid chaos, but with these life-changing time management tips for a working mom, you can learn to optimize your time both at work and home and live life to the fullest. Without wasting more time, let’s dive right into it.

Use A Planning System

Having a great planner ensures you get what needs to be done at the right time. But this point is only true if you use it. You may be shocked to hear many moms have great systems collecting dust on their smartphones or bookshelves. No shame: many successful moms use notebooks, paper calendars, and journals every day. This list is in addition to digital calendars, spreadsheets, and Google docs they rely on. Use these tools to record what you need to do and be realistic.

Make Lists

As a busy mom, it is easy to forget what you need to do and spend so much mental energy trying to keep track of everything. You can make lists for just about everything.

Get Enough Sleep

When you take care of your kids, you compromise on the healthy eight hours of sleep that your body needs to function properly. The negative effects take a toll on your health when the deprivation continues for a long time. You begin to experience stress, anxiety, and irritability. However. You can adopt an effective routine to catch up on those lost hours of sleep to rejuvenate yourself.

Use Essays for Sale

As a working mom, you probably feel like you have deadlines dropped left, right, and center. Perhaps you have an argumentative essay, a lab report, a discussion post, a dissertation, or a cover letter to write, all due in a few days. How on earth can you do it, attend to your child and still show up for work? Fear not; online essays for sale carry the load for you so you can attend to your family and job by lifting the extra weight off your shoulders.

Learn to Delegate

Whether it is about hiring someone for domestic help or any other kind of work, figure out the tasks that don’t require your attention. It is worth the investment once you take those tasks off your to-do list. Another option is to use online services, such as custom writing services, as much as possible. We understand that it’s tempting to solely cover all household chores to ensure everything is done right and quickly. Break those chores into simple tasks and reward people for doing them.

Maintain Work-Life Boundaries

As a working mom, find a workable strategy of family-friendly work hours with your employer, such as declining work emails or calls after your shift is over. Set a clear boundary between home and personal life.

Automate Everything You Can

Effective time management for working moms entails putting everything you can on an automatic mode. Simplify what you do so you can do it less often. In today’s world, you can do so many things with less time and energy than in the past.

Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness has proven benefits for your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. It eradicates your stress, decreases chronic pain, controls your blood pressure, enhances sleep, and boosts your heart health. It also enhances your mental health by helping you deal with anxiety, depression, and interpersonal conflicts in a healthy manner. You don’t need to convince yourself why it’s important to maintain good health as a working mom. You need it; and your kids need it.

Let Go of Perfection

The perfection concept doesn’t exist in motherhood. There’s an illusion about a perfect mother. But in reality, no one is perfect at motherhood. Imperfection is part of the adventure. If you get bogged down and frustrated by seeing perfect mothers out and about, it is time to reset your expectations. Muting or unfollowing triggering social media accounts is a great place to start filtering out expectations versus reality.

Multitask for Optimal Time Management

The key is to mix tasks that don’t require too much mental energy with fun tasks that you might not otherwise find time for. Do you like listening to audiobooks while doing chores? Just make sure you have fun while doing your family chores.

Conclusion

Moms, we hope the above tips will help you manage your schedule like you never could. They are easy, effective, and customized for working mothers who selflessly work around the clock to bring up healthy and happy humans. You deserve appreciation and acknowledgement for all that you do. There’s no one like you!

Emerging Trends of Remote Work in 2022 | Foreignpolicyi.org

Remote working is a benefit offered only to a select few, but it is now the standard for most organizations. As Covid rates and regulations relax, it becomes evident that remote employment was more than simply a band-aid solution to a problem. 

RemoteHub worldwide today expect to be able to work from anywhere, at any time, for at least part of the workweek.

People empowerment is essential:

While most people think of employee empowerment as something done for a team on-site, it is an even more significant aspect in remote work. It’s ideal for a team distributed across geographical areas because it’s less on a top-down leadership approach. By utilizing HR to supply what remote workers require, the firm uses a department historically tasked with supporting the workforce and provides them with additional tools to do so.

Opportunities for Remote Networking:

Professionals may now network across countries and throughout the world thanks to remote work. Working from home has reduced the first discomfort of interacting with someone. Working from home also makes networking simpler since you can interact with experts you would not have encountered if you worked on-site or in the office. 

Without intervention, DE & I scores will deteriorate:

According to research, people in remote jobs or on a hybrid schedule perform at the same level as in the office. On the other hand, managers feel that employees who work from the office perform better and are more likely to be promoted than those who work from home. This erroneous impression is perpetuated by high-profile leaders publicly declaring that hybrid and remote workers underperform. 

Cybersecurity grabs the spotlight:

Remote security is much more vital since online work-related infractions cost an additional $1.07 million. Cybersecurity providers will advertise more remote work solutions in 2022 to address this issue. Similarly, corporations increase spending on endpoint security solutions and zero-trust cloud infrastructures. 

Boosts productivity:

Fewer interruptions get attributed to increased productivity by 68 percent of people on average. Think again if you believed working from home would lead to additional distractions. It appears that the contrary is true. When asked why they were more productive, 68 percent of respondents in a recent poll said it was because they had fewer interruptions.

Virtual Interviews Are Increasingly Popular:

Companies have started employing virtual technology to conduct job interviews since the outbreak began. A recent poll found that 86% of employers had resorted to virtual hiring because of pandemic issues. However, the transition to virtual recruiting and interviewing does not appear to be a disincentive. Indeed, many CEOs are said to be pleased with the remote recruiting procedure. Some have even maintained the success level of pre-pandemic interviews.

Working from home versus higher salary:

Employees have such a strong affinity for working from home that 71% of employees polled in the Everywhere Workplace research stated they would choose remote work over Telecommuting. According to the report, avoiding traveling time, a better work-life balance, and lower expenditures are the top reasons employees identify remote work, even if it means passing up a promotion or higher pay.

More liberty at work:

Employees seek more freedom while employers struggle to develop procedures for remote work. After experiencing the benefits of a location-independent lifestyle, many people do not want to return to the workplace, at least not in the typical 9-to-5 paradigm. 

Employee Benefits Reevaluation:

To weather the volatile era of The Big Resignation, firms’ Employee Value Proposition will change to more comprehensive benefits focusing on what is vital for their employees in 2022. There’s a lot to enjoy about a coffee maker at your workplace, from employee mental health programs to save on significant supplies to amusing onboarding packages to give your new arrivals wherever they are.

Getting ready for post-pandemic office work:

Over time businesses in all geographies and industries can continue to benefit from remote workforce trends; however, you must also be prepared to do some office work in the post-pandemic period. According to a few research, some employees anticipate returning to typical office work following the epidemic. Choosing a significantly smaller office space to accommodate certain employees can be highly cost-effective and beneficial to firms in this situation.

8 Best Freelance Websites for Online Work (2022) | Harsh Sharma, Techdator.net

Several sites offer a platform to connect freelancers with their clients. We have prepared a list of some of the best freelancing websites on the internet. If you are also a novice independent professional and want to try your luck in freelancing, refer to these freelancing websites. 

1.Upwork

It is one of the most widely preferred freelancing websites for independent workers. Numerous works are posted on the site to make it easy for freelancers to get something. The site has posts from both big and small companies.

2. Fiverr

This is another fantastic site to get quick freelancing work. The site offers lots of features to its users. For example, you can set your starting price, packages, and add-ons on the site. You can also offer sample work for reference.

3. Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is one of the oldest sites for getting contractual workers online. The site is arguably the first to introduce online freelancing to the world. Freelancer.com has works for web designers, social media experts, marketing specialists, etc. In addition, it conducts several programs for the welfare of its users.

4. Toptal

It is an employee-specific site that helps small businesses get their hands into top freelance specialists worldwide. Toptal helps you to get your work done dexterously on a low budget. You don’t have to worry about the quality of the work as freelancers working here are screened regularly.

5. Designhill

This unique freelancing site incorporates several creative ways to allot work to freelancers. For instance, one can conduct a contest to scout the best employee they need. Employers can also get an overview of the work they will be doing.

6. Behance

It is another freelance website that has worked in several fields to offer its users. Some of its work categories include animation, web development, content creation, etc. Behance asks its freelancers to submit a copy of their work as a Portfolio.

7. Linkedin

LinkedIn is a multi-purpose website for any type of job online. A LinkedIn user’s main focus must be building networks rather than directly jumping into searching for jobs. Later, you can send your portfolios to potential clients to get referrals and work.

8. Guru

Many freelancers have a common problem with their work: they get cheated several times by fraud clients. Guru will be a perfect site to safeguard your interest if you are among them. the site is skeptical about the payment process of the users.

18 essential tips for working at home | Amy McCarthy, Yardbaker.com

Whether you’ve only been working from home for the past couple of years or are a longtime remote worker, pretty much everyone could stand to make some improvements to their work-from-home set-up.

Set working hours and stick to them

Establish your working hours and stick to them, or you’ll end up working far longer hours than you should. 

…and turn off your notifications when you’re not working

Turn off notifications for email and chat apps on your phone, and make sure that folks on your team know who they can contact in an emergency outside of your established working hours.

Consider putting on real pants

For many people, getting into the habit of getting up and getting dressed for the day makes it easier to get the job done. 

Make sure your team knows your working hours and availability

If you’re trying to avoid off-hours pings, keep your calendar updated so that everyone you work with knows when you’re going to be around. 

Go for daily walks

Make it a priority to take a short walk, even just 15 minutes a day is helpful, in the outdoors to get your blood flowing and take a quick break away from work. 

Create a comfortable workspace

If you’re stuck at the kitchen table, invest in equipment like laptop risers and a supportive chair to make your workspace a little cozier. Decorative elements and plants are also an excellent touch.

Invest in the right equipment for your job

If you’re going to be working at home long-term, it’s essential that you obtain good-quality equipment needed to do your job.

…and a really comfortable chair

It’s worth investing in the best chair you can afford if only to prevent you from having terrible back pain after sitting in one of your kitchen chairs for hours. Pro-tip: secondhand shops and sites like Facebook marketplace are often replete with good-quality used office chairs that can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of retail.

Consider an adjustable standing desk

Health experts generally agree that sitting all day isn’t great for the body, and a new generation of adjustable standing desks makes it easy to get a little more standing time into your day. 

Take a real lunch break

So many people eat lunch at their desks, and that’s one of those little things that add up to total burnout over time. Take 30 minutes — or an hour, if you’re able — each day for an actual lunch that isn’t eaten in front of your laptop.

Invest in noise-cancelling headphones to cut out distractions

Whether it’s a noisy neighbor or your spouse who is also working from home, cutting out distractions can be tough. Noise-canceling headphones can be a huge help, even if you don’t use them to play music. 

Don’t work in bed

As tempting as it might be to take emails from bed in the morning, don’t do it. It’s a good way to end up with sore muscles that may interfere with your sleep. 

Set limits on social media scrolling

Everyone gets distracted on social media at work, but when you’re at home and there’s no boss looking over your shoulder, it’s easy to get lost browsing comment threads for hours. Consider using an app like StayFocusd to limit your time on websites like Facebook and Instagram, and keep your phone out of reach unless you absolutely need it. 

Use a planner or productivity software to stay organized

Self-directed work is a challenge for even the most organized folks, which is why there are tons of organizational tools that exist to solve that problem. 

Take breaks

Most office workers get to take breaks, but work-from-home folks often forget that they’re entitled to step away from the keyboard from time to time. Pencil a 15-minute break into your calendar in the morning and afternoon and use that time to go for a walk, zone out, or enjoy a snack before getting back to work. 

Keep your workspace clutter-free

If your workspace is cluttered and messy, you might feel like it’s tough to get things done. At the end of each day, take a few minutes to clean up your desk and organize your stuff for an easy start the next morning. 

Work outside occasionally for a change of pace

Bored of working in your office? Switch it up! Head to a park if the weather is nice, or take advantage of the free WiFi at a nearby coffee shop for a few hours to get a nice change of pace. 

Listen to music you love

As long as you’re not on client calls or Zoom meetings, play your favorite tunes to energize you in the morning, or consider lo-fi beats for those times when you really need to concentrate.