The latest on all kinds of information, news, and resources that help you make working remotely better.
Best Freelance Websites for Finding Online Jobs | Matthew Lynch, Thetechadvocate.org
The key to starting and sustaining a successful freelance career lies in finding consistent work, which is where freelance websites come in. These platforms connect freelancers with clients who need their services. Here are some of the best freelance websites for finding online jobs.
1.Upwork – Upwork is among the largest and most well-known freelancing platforms, offering a plethora of job categories ranging from writing and marketing to programming and design. It caters to both short-term tasks and longer project-based work.
2. Fiverr – Fiverr revolutionized the freelance marketplace by introducing a gig-based system where freelancers offer specific services starting at $5. It’s a great place for beginners to kickstart their freelance careers as it offers jobs in more than 200 different categories.
3. Freelancer – Freelancer.com is a veteran site where employers post jobs and freelancers bid on them. It encompasses a wide variety of job types and sizes, making it suitable for all levels of freelancers.
4. Toptal – Toptal prides itself on housing the top 3% of freelance talent worldwide. It’s a more exclusive platform focusing on connecting highly skilled professionals with serious clients in need of advanced project assistance.
5. Guru – Guru is a flexible platform that features a straightforward job listing format which makes it easier to browse and apply for jobs matching your skills. Payment security is one of its many features that attract both freelancers and employers.
6. PeoplePerHour – This UK-based company helps freelancers find clients that are in need of professional services, whether it be hourly or project-based work. It emphasizes individual hourly work, but also accommodates fixed-price projects.
7. Flexjobs – Unlike other freelancing sites, FlexJobs specializes in telecommuting jobs, including freelance gigs, part-time positions, and full-time remote work opportunities across various industries.
8. 99designs – For those who specialize in graphic design, 99designs focuses purely on connecting clients with talented designers through design contests or direct project enquiries.
9. SimplyHired – While not limited to strictly freelance positions, SimplyHired offers a broad range of job listings including freelance opportunities across diverse industries giving you access to extensive market reach.
10. Behance – Owned by Adobe, Behance is not just a portfolio website but also allows companies to discover creative talent available for work. Though not an active job board like others mentioned here, it’s an excellent means of gaining exposure which can lead to freelance opportunities.
Freelancers looking for online jobs should consider creating profiles on multiple platforms to increase their visibility and chances of finding lucrative work opportunities. Remember always to rigorously check each task’s requirements along with the payment terms before commencing any job to avoid disputes with clients.
Remote work the right way: 4 science-backed home office essentials | John Anderer, Theladders.com
Besides a new computer, there are a number of less obvious additions you can make to your home workspace to help foster a healthier, more productive environment. Here are four science-backed home office essentials.
An active workstation
An active workstation can be as simple as a standing desk or something a bit more intricate like a home office including a bike, walking pad, or stepper. Scientists from the Mayo Clinic observed workers’ reasoning skills improved while standing or actively moving at work compared to sitting down.
Does all of this mean you should be breaking a sweat constantly? Probably not, but it’s also important to prioritize at least a little bit of movement throughout the day while working from home. Just because you can lounge on the couch for hours on end while making calls and sending emails doesn’t mean you should.
Go for green
A little bit of nature in your home office can make a big difference in terms of mental health and productivity. Some people have greener thumbs than others, but even if you aren’t a natural gardener, adding a potted plant or two to your desk is an easy way to help lower stress levels. A piece of research published in HortTechnology found a group of office workers’ anxiety levels declined significantly after small plants (san pedro cacti, bonsai plants, etc) were placed on their desks.
Healthy snacks
A relevant report published in Food, Culture & Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research details just how difficult it is for the average office employee to stick to a strict diet due to lack of control over all food items brought into the building.6 Who among us hasn’t grabbed a donut absentmindedly while walking back from the breakroom?
While working from home, you can make sure there won’t be unhealthy snacks available to tempt you. Stocking up on fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains (all pillars of the vaunted Mediterranean diet) will ensure healthier snacking around the home office. Just in case you need extra motivation to eat well, following a Mediterranean diet is linked to improved memory, cognition, and a diminished risk of dementia.
Let in the (natural) light
If possible, always set up your home office in a room with plenty of windows. A research initiative published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that employees exposed to regular daylight during working hours enjoyed better sleep, more physical activity, and an overall higher quality of life in comparison to those reporting to windowless workplaces.9 Now that you’re in control of where you work, there’s no reason to deprive yourself of the sun’s rays.
Further research also suggests a sunnier home workspace promotes better health and improved productivity as well. Professionals working in offices filled with natural light reported far fewer instances of drowsiness, headaches, and eyestrain.
Leaders who are interested in cultivating a cohesive and motivated remote workforce but want to maintain sustained productivity and a positive work environment should adopt the following strategies to foster connection, communication and well-being among team members.
Build connections.
Virtual team-building activities. These can include virtual icebreakers, online games or even virtual coffee breaks. Such activities allow team members to bond and get to know each other better despite being geographically dispersed.
Virtual water cooler chats. These informal spaces within communication platforms—think Slack or Teams—allow team members to engage in casual conversations, share non-work-related topics and build personal connections that mimic those in a traditional office setting.
Communicate effectively
Establishing communication guidelines and channels to ensure information flows smoothly and everyone stays aligned.
Holding regular check-ins and feedback sessions, which are essential to provide updates, address concerns and foster open and transparent communication.
Encouraging team members to voice their opinions and contribute to decision-making, creating a sense of belonging and ownership.
Celebrating individual and team accomplishments to show appreciation for remote employees’ efforts.
Prioritize employee well-being and work-life balance.
Offering flexible working hours or allowing team members to establish their schedules within reasonable boundaries.
Listening to your employees’ needs. As the boss, you may have many answers, but what a healthy work-life balance looks like for someone else isn’t one of them. Respect time zones. Flexible working hours allow team members to establish their schedules within reasonable boundaries.
Leveraging the technology at your disposal to promote virtual wellness initiatives that support employee well-being.
Investing in training and development opportunities to show remote employees that their growth and career progression are valued.
Effectively managing a remote team requires intention.
From virtual team-building activities and establishing clear communication channels to prioritizing work-life balance and providing professional development opportunities, organizations can create positive remote work environments that enhance engagement, boost morale and drive success in a virtual workspace.
Five actions that boost productivity | Nick Whiteley, Hrmagazine.co.uk
This isn’t an easy problem to solve, but there are steps you can take to ensure that your business is performing at the top of its game. By improving productivity, you reduce costs and can therefore reward your employees better. That makes your organization more competitive and a more attractive place to work – thus reducing staff turnover and attracting the best talent.
Here are some of the practical steps you can take and, as with many initiatives, it starts and ends with your people.
1.Focus
Too often, the focus of management is on maintaining the status quo. Yet organisations either change or die in a global competitive market. Yes, managing change can be exhausting, certainly in the short term, and this places pressure on managers, but the desire to see a better outcome – improved productivity and reduced costs – will help you achieve that goal.
2. Plan and measure
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. If you’re going to make changes, you need to know where you are starting from and be able to set some targets for improvement. Technology is essential in ensuring that you have the tools to both plan and measure.
3. Training and tools
Which leads to the question: have your staff got the skills and tools they need to perform at their optimum level? As I’ve said, finding the right people is tough. It therefore makes perfect sense to audit and review the skills you have right now, and then, if necessary, devise a plan to improve those by introducing additional training (which could be used to upskill existing staff members) or adopting new technology where there is a clear cost benefit to be had.
4. Streamline and automate processes
Outdated and paper-based processes simply burden employees with unnecessary extra workloads. It just diverts attention from what should be productive time.
5. Embrace technology
Technology should be used not merely to automate processes but also an opportunity to transform them. These two should be seen as going hand in hand. Technology for the sake of technology is of little added value. But when you create a virtuous circle of improvement through better planning and monitoring, you really maximise the transformational value of your technology.
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