According to a survey by Deloitte, more than half the millennials reported that remote workmade them more productive. Three-quarters of the respondents also said that they would appreciate if more such opportunities were presented. Here are a few reasons why the millennial workforce vouches for remote work.
Better work-life balance:
Millennials prioritize work-life balance apart from financial benefits while evaluating a job opportunity. The mere hallmark of achievement no longer appeals to them and they instead look for meaningful work. With the help of modern technology, it has become possible for millennials to get fulfilling work while giving ample time to their families and personal goals.
Avoiding burnout:
Providing a flexible work culture is a great way of gaining employee loyalty. Millennials are looking for remote jobs that enable them to work from anywhere and anytime. They wish to define their own hours and make the most of their productive hours. It is absurd for them to simply conform to a regular 9 to 5 work culture. They truly value productivity even if it is beyond the defined working hours.
Remote work is practical:
Millennials understand that remote work is not only a trend but a necessity! While the staff gets flexibility, employers get better productivity. Isn’t it better to reap the benefits of technology than to enforce unrealistic expectations on the employees?
In today’s lesson, we will create a view which has a transparent section(s). This view can be used in many ways, you can use it as an overlay to other views or in any other way. The idea for this demo is to create a view, which has transparent areas which are in different shapes. By combining many areas together you can give a beautiful look to a view. For e.g. you can see the following image.
In the above image, you can see the background has a beautiful photo of coconut trees & above that we have a layer of custom view. BTW I captured that beautiful photo from my phone. In the custom view, I have used rectangles & circles. One rectangle & one circle set as transparent so it can get the above look it has. You can create your own shapes for transparent areas. You can see the full source code at Github repo TrasparentSectionCard.
Now let’s see the code for the same custom view.
For this custom view I have extended View class & in its onDraw() method I am creating my own Bitmap & setting it on view’s canvas. The bitmap is created in bitmapDraw() method, which actually has all the important drawing part. To draw the view we need the parameters like width & height of the view, center & radius of the circle to be created, top margin, color etc. For this demo, I have calculated all these parameters in method defaultAttributes(). Which actually takes the parent’s width & heightas a base & then calculate other parameters accordingly. For these parameters, I have also created custom attributes. You can use these attributes to pass the values in layout XML or can set dynamically as well. For creating custom attributes one has to create attrs.xml, following is mine.
You can use these attributes in layout XML like below.
These attribute’s values are extracted in method init(). You can check that, but for this demo, I have used defaultAttributes() method.
Now, let’s look at the important drawing part, which is bitmapDraw()method.
It creates a Bitmap by provided width & height values (for this demo the values are calculated in defaultAttributes() method). It occupies a rectangular area with a specified width & height. Next, the important one is to set the erase color to the created bitmap, which actually fills the bitmap’s pixels with the specified color. Then the bitmap object is used for creating a Canvas. This canvas will be used for drawing actual shapes. First, we are filling it with color & then a paint object is created, which is actually used for drawing shapes. In shapes, first, we are drawing a circle on the canvas, which is set as transparent by using.
Then we draw a transparent rectangle using the same paint object. Now, in the same paint object, we are setting color, stroke & Xfermode to draw solid circle shape. Once the bitmap canvas is drawn, we return the created Bitmap object. This bitmap object is used in onDraw() method & drawn on the main View’s canvas. I have also created an interface, which tells when the view’s layout is done. Its callback method notifies the user (Activity) when the view is actually drawn. You can use this for your own use cases, in my cases I needed width & height of the custom view, so the onLayout() method notifies me then I get width & height values.
This tutorial gives you an idea to create a view with transparent sections. You can create any shape with any size for such views. You can tell your ideas & implementations in the comments.
I hope you learned something useful from here. You can check the full source code at Github repo TrasparentSectionCard.
First things first, Let me begin with saying developing a survey report is a lot of effort. Phew! Trust me, the process is hectic - You have to find people to talk to you; then you have to look at what they said, analyze it, compose it & then put together all the information in an easy to read format. So, Kudos to all those who make reports. As for us, we were set on preparing a comprehensive survey report on remote work. The number of work from home jobs are constantly on rising, it’s no shocker that more and more millennial are inclined toward working as and working with remote workers because of the flexibility it provides. The report itself is a guide for entrepreneurs who are looking to jump into remote working space in 2019.
Here are a few major takeaways from the Report:
1)A shift in work culture
2) A shift in reasons to work with remote teams
3) Difficulties faced in working with remote teams
4) The current average cost of outsourcing
Let’s look into each one of those points in detail
1) A Shift In Work Culture -
It was observed that 86% of CXOs said that they had or are currently working with Remote Teams. This goes to say that there is a shift in work culture from the traditional culture wherein you come in at Nine work till Five and then leave. Now companies want more accountability and responsibility on the employees part. Thus, when somebody is working remotely, they get the freedom they are looking for but with it comes accountability to finish work within a given time.
2) A Shift In Reason To Work With Remote Teams -
Cost is the most obvious reason that companies go for outsourcing their work, but it was found that flexibility seems to be almost as popular a reason as cost. It is definitely a welcome change in the industry, and companies now want employees to work the hours they want, where they want and how they want. The best example of this would be world industry leaders like Facebook, Google & Microsoft who give their employees unheard freedom to do their work.
3) Difficulties Faced In Working With Remote Teams -
If you’ve never had an experience in working with remote teams, you’d wonder how difficult would it be to tell someone what to do. It wouldn’t be until you actually hire a remote worker, that you’d realize it is night, IF NOT DONE CORRECTLY.
How to outsource correctly is a blog for another time, until then let me tell you the difficulties faced majorly in a remote environment
a) Communication
Communication tops the chart in problems in working with a remote team. Your remote team might be based out of a different country, having a different culture & language. All of these pose a difficulty in communication. You might not sometimes understand what they mean and vice versa. Cultural references are misunderstood on both sides. Sometimes you and your team might be on a different page altogether; it isn’t until you see the result, that you release what they were understanding and what you were trying to explain.
b) Timezone Difference
This can be a boon or a bane. As a matter of fact, I’ve written a complete blog about timezone difference difficulties which you canread here.There are a lot of more difficulties but these two make up for most of them, if you can overcome these you can win the outsourcing war.
4)Current Average Cost Of Outsourcing -
According to our survey, it was found that you can get the same job done in south-Asia for almost 50% of the cost in the united states. Not to misconstrue that outsourcing doesn’t come with its own set of challenges, there’s more than a few. But if you learn how to deal with them, you can definitely will this outsourcing battle and save yourself a tonne of money to buy a boat maybe. HAHA!
While RemotePanda had a gala-time at TechDay here are the 10 really great businesses the Panda could spot on
1) JADE INSIGHTS
Jade Insights strives to facilitate the revolutionary growth of the US Cannabis business and to spread that growth and wealth to those who historically have not had access to it. The aim is to create groundbreaking data tools for the cannabis industry that will allow business owners to run their business smooth and successfully. Jade Insights provides a comprehensive view of all major departments of a cannabis company. With easy-to-use dashboards, users can understand their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), then compare their operations to industry benchmarks. Users are also able to set up regularly scheduled alerts, emails, and reports to manage by exception.
2) HOTELS BY DAY
HotelsByDay is a startup based in New York City and made up of a team of hospitality industry veterans, technology experts and entrepreneurs who decided that there should be a better way for hotels to leverage their unused inventory during the day and for guests to be granted flexibility of check-in & check-out of a hotel room outside the conventional hours. It is observed that travelers need more dynamic options when they shop for hotel rooms. Hotelsbyday provides intra-day hotel spaces: offering travelers flexibility, comfort, and a space of their own.
MAZ products empower leaders in media industries to become pioneers in OTT and mobile technology. MAZ aims to provide tools that aid in building and maintaining apps across all platforms without any technical expertise. By using these tools and services, one can eliminate additional hiring of editorial, marketing, and design teams.MAZ was named one of Entrepreneur’s “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” as well as one of Inc.’s “30 Under 30 World’s Coolest Entrepreneurs”.
4) BESTEST
Bestest brings “polling to the people” through a dedicated mobile app that gives everyone the power to collect usable insights, answers and feedback on the issues of the day through real-time opinion research. Bestest assists users in making better decisions. Using the dedicated application users can ask friends, teammates, classmates, co-workers or constituents to weigh in on picture and text polls that they create.
Inventaprint’s goal is simple: help ideas come to life. Inventaprint is working diligently to connect inventors and businesses with vetted local or large manufacturers to simplify the creative process and achieve lower manufacturing costs. Inventaprint believes that the process of creating products should be smooth and accessible for everyone, Inventaprint cuts out the hassle of vetting manufacturers. To ensure that the businesses get top of the line manufacturers, Inventaprints carry out multiple assessments and screening processes. This approach aids in making smarter decisions.
6) FIXIONAL
Fixional began as a publisher trying to organize the world of online fiction onto one site. In the process, they came to an understanding that they could best serve the world of writing by offering software to other authors, editors, agents, and publishers. Fixional provides state of the art software that reviews writing and offers advanced manuscript editing. The software helps authors edit and think about their work; it allows editors to find the manuscripts that best match their publication. Additionally, it acts as a recruitment platform for agents to find authors to represent. Fixional helps review and explore thousands of manuscripts within moments, providing new insights and possibilities which assists in maintaining high standards.
7) VACAYO
Vacayo leverages technology to help people obtain financial freedom through real estate. Vacayo is a platform which allows individuals to rent their home for a year or more. Vacayo provides high monthly rent and management of cleaning, maintenance, and insurance. Vacayo aims at revolutionizing vacation rental management by offering homeowners high profits, total coverage, and better options.
Swoogo created an event management software that helps a planner execute an event with minimum hassle. Swoogo believes that event planners are always juggling multiple tasks, in order to provide them the element of relaxation the tool was developed. Swoogo combines heavy-weight event creation, management, and marketing features with easy-to-use, easy-to-understand reporting. To conclude it is safe to say that Swoogo is the best choice that anyone can have when concerning event management.
Spectronn is an innovative and creative company focused on providing WiFi for transportation. The company is driven to provide transformatively, AI-driven, cloud managed cognitive radio networking and mobile edge computing technologies.Spectronn’s SiFi — an AI-driven cognitive wireless technology that provides resilient and high-speed WiFi in buses, cars, trains, trucks and other forms of transportation by dynamically connecting to multiple wireless networks (3G, 4G/LTE, satellite, etc.) simultaneously. Smart mobile edge computing supports video streaming, gaming, and other applications even if no mobile Internet.
Airport Sherpa was founded by two frequent travelers ready to transform the airport experience. Airport Sherpa enables travelers to discover new and existing retail and dining options across all airports. Airport Sherpa is focused on delivering an improved traveling experience. Airport Sherpa allows travelers to grab orders as they walk through the airport. Travelers can check real-time updates for the orders and flight status.
Conclusion:
The time spent by RemotePanda at TechDay was phenomenal.RemotePanda experienced a truly blissful day full of opportunities to gain and absorb knowledge and information. The whole environment was encompassed with the entrepreneurial excellence. To sum it up in a few words it was just a truly amazing experience.
When we decided to take a road trip to interview people (link it to the previous blog) for the #MakeRemoteWork survey the first question was where to go?
To choose what cities to cover, we started with a simple exercise.
We picked up all the silicon centers from a map like the one below and sent over a trench of 20 emails in each city mentioned
Since there was no way to find which city will have more people willing to participate in the survey, we thought to do experimental emails to get some stats.
Here is the copy of the email we sent out
And here is the order of responses received
Cities Visited
Open Rates
Positive
Negative
Montreal
25%
4
1
Atlanta
30%
6
3
Charleston
35%
7
2
Raleigh- Durham
25%
3
1
Winston-Salem
15%
3
0
Charlotte
40%
8
1
San Antonio
15%
2
1
Austin
15%
2
1
Dallas
22%
9
1
Cities Visited
Open Rates
Positive
Negative
New York
25%
2
3
Baltimore
25%
2
3
DC- Arlington/ Alexandria
30%
3
3
Denver/ Boulder/ Colorado Spring
25%
1
3
As you could see Charleston and Charlotte were some of the clear winners followed with Atlanta and Dallas. In fact, surprisingly New York and SF do not really score that high - The reason I could think of was that they get too many emails which create a lot of noise for the founders.
Anyways we had our list ready with the 10 cities that provided us a better response rate. Apart from the stats we checked out event dates in each shortlisted city and also tried to map a direction for the journey.
The journey had to be in one direction
North to south or south to north/ east to west or west to east
Another filter was using my startupgrind directors network. SG has a chapter in most US cities and I reached out to the chapter directors for the inside scoops of each city.
10 cities meant around 50 days on the road at a stretch but then cuteness stuck 🙂
Well, I have a 2 and a half-year-old so leaving her for more than a month was not possible…
So we decided to do the road trip in 2 phases
The first in May covering- NYC (Well can’t ignore the Big Apple and we found Techday happening as well), Baltimore, DC, Denver and the second stage covering Montreal (where we attended the startup fest ), Atlanta, North and South Charlotte and Texas.
In the last 3 months, I got to interview 250+ CXOs for the #makeremotework survey
How all of it was possible is accounted here
#Makeremotework survey today is the most comprehensive report available on remote work, coming out directly with inputs from the decision makers. For access to the report, Go Here
That’s how our company came into being. We were ourselves looking to find remote workers who can get our work done and we do not have to manage them. We wanted to make sure that the relationship between us and our remote workers leads to efficiency in our work. What we found though was having to run behind the remote workers, getting half done to code and really no control on the working style of remote workers.
RemotePanda is built for CXOs who want a managed service for their remote workers. CXOs who want to transition to having a remote workforce but do not want the hassles that come with managing a remote team. CXOs who need a helping hand from experts to help set up their remote team with a measurable ROI and clear accountability.
We believe that CXOs are firefighters. Every day is chaos and there is a lot of work to be put at every end to keep things under control. When CXOs take up any initiative, they are looking for lesser work for them and how they can make their time free. CXOs look for efficiency and ways to make things better than they are both in terms of time and money.
RemotePanda is built for those people and companies that want to mitigate their risk and take no chance that comes associated with outsourcing. We have developed a marketplace with unique features that are like a concierge service to outsourcing, and where a successful manager is assigned to you to help you throughout the journey from matchmaking, setting of the process, building the KPIs and reporting.
We continually speak with CXOs on what they need and how we can impact their ideas — while still keeping things simple.
Here are the major things that we have built under RemotePanda:
Close Network Invite Only- Every one of the resources that you’ll see on our platform represents a closed network connection. These resources are composed of both freelancers and agency (service provider) employees. The access to showcasing one’s profile on our platform is by invitation only. Once an invitation has been accepted, that resource will then go through a stringent vetting process in order to determine and verify qualification(s).
Success Facilitator- We have tweaked and therefore upgraded the traditional hiring process through the addition of a facilitator layer that we term “Success Panda”. The success Panda will function as your personal assistant that is designed to assist you in achieving the specific goal which involves your hired resource. This assistance will entail; help from the time of hire all the way through receiving your deliverables. In essence, it functions as your team member. The best part is that it is a no-charge option that we provide for free!
Quality Watch Panda: We care for both you and your success since your business success represents our success as well. We ensure this by going far beyond just providing an introduction to your new resource. We endeavor to ensure that your high-quality work is successfully delivered to you. This entails that your deliverable is carefully scrutinized by our quality assurance team. There, we check for quality, plagiarism and any other applicable issues. Again, it’s complementary with no hidden fees involved.
Learning and Education: In addition, we increase the value of your hired resource by investing in their skill development. If, after hiring, you feel that your resource would benefit through training in additional skills, then you may request that your resource is enrolled in a relevant online coaching program.
Team Visit: We understand that stronger bonds are created between hired personnel and employers when a physical meeting is introduced. Therefore, for any engagement that lasts longer than 8 months, we will sponsor a visit between you and your Remote Panda team.
Zero Risk: We adhere to an effective escrow billing system. This means that all payments will go through our own platform and released to your resource only upon completion and verification that you have received your expected quality deliverable. If for some reason, you are not satisfied with the work you receive, we will investigate and if verified, we guarantee that you will receive a 100% refund for that month.
RemotePanda understands that outsourcing your product development or any other service as well can only be successful with dedicated efforts required to build it out. Outsourcing requires your own champion running the show on the ground. The way companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft have been successful with their offshore teams is by owning them- having their own people run the show. For small to medium companies and even for larger companies to an extent that is not possible. We fill this gap. We are your guys to help build your team and help you succeed at it.
According to the above-stated data, companies can save close to $20,000 per employee each year by hiring them remotely. Let us have a look at the statistics that favor remote work.
Costs Incurred in Hiring Employees Full-time
Companies spend up to $20,000 extra apart from the basic salary of the employees each year. These costs include office rent, IT infrastructure, office supplies, recruitment costs, and employee benefits such as medical insurance, employment taxes, and other expenses. One can easily save extra expenses by hiring remote teams. An exemplary instance is how American Express saved almost $15Mn/year by allowing its employees to work remotely.
If a company as reputed as American Express can take advantage of remote work and save so much money, why don’t all other companies take inspiration from it? After all, businesses are mostly about the bottom line! Turns out the answer for it is that not everyone can manage remote workers successfully. Companies underestimate the structure needed to manage remote teams.
Cost Factor:
A company needs competent managers capable of handling both in-house and remote workers simultaneously. When done right, companies can easily save up the money they would otherwise spend on running a physical office. The benefits required for an employee salaried $50, 000 would involve life insurance up to $150 and health coverage ranging $2000 to $7000 depending on whether it is for an individual or family. The telephone and computer expenses sum up to $1000+ per computer and $ 700 for telephones and basic software. Additionally, the rent for space is also included which can amount to $2000 at a minimum. The costs can go even higher depending upon the location and how fancy the workplace is. The total expenses go up to $4000 per employee when working in the physical office. Let us dive deeper into how you can make remote actually work and save your precious money.
How Remote Work Increases Productivity
At first glance, you might think that hiring remote workers will cast a negative impact on productivity. They might indulge in household chores or any other activity than work. You might also wonder how you would even monitor them if they are working from the comfort of their home. However, according to the latest survey by Flexjobs, over 65% of remote workers think that they are more productive working remotely.
1. Fewer Distractions
Unlike the traditional office environment, there are fewer distractions from colleagues, reduced stress of commuting and zero office politics. The absence of such things definitely boosts the productivity of the employees. Another study done by the University of Illinois revealed that the task-based performance of employees increases significantly when working remotely.
2. Utilizing Productive Hours
Some employees like to work late night while some are early birds. A flexible work environment helps employees in making the most of their productive hours thus improving the quality of work. The office-going employees seldom experience such luxuries. Did you know that 78% of employees who call in sick are actually not? They simply need the time off to pay heed to their family or are indulged in other important tasks. Such unplanned leaves can cost over $1,800 per employee/per year!
To the contrary, remote staff continues to work even when they are sick as they can stay home without causing harm to fellow colleagues. They also get back to work sooner after medical emergencies and schedule the errands without losing an entire day.
In a recent Global Workplace Analytics Study, Dow Chemical, Best Buy and British Telecom reported that their employees were 35-40% more productive when they worked from home. This data is overwhelming as well as eye-opening. In yet another study by CTrip, remote workers reported being 14% more productive than their office counterparts.
Cost Factor: The workplace distractions can pose a loss as huge as $600 Billion for large companies, according to TRN. With increased productivity, while working remotely, you can save up this sum. Thus, the cost saved by hiring remote workers per year for each employee is from $5000 to $7000.
Access to Global Talent
Your ability to scale your business depends on your workforce. After all, it is the people that make a company thrive! Hiring remote workers gives you the opportunity to hire only the best employees from a large talent pool. A remote and flexible role appeals to more people. This also helps you take advantage of the currency difference. Employees might hail from places where the cost of living in low enabling you to secure the top talent for a fraction of cost.
Interesting, isn’t it? People really hate to travel long hours and are therefore more inclined towards remote jobs. They are also less willing to leave their families and move out to another city for a job opportunity. Offering remote roles to candidates gives you a plethora of options to choose from. You can then screen these candidates and find out if they are the best fit for the role.
More often than not, finding the right employee within your city can get really difficult. Companies spend months looking for the right talent to join their teams. The constraint of location ultimately forces them to compromise with the quality and hire whosoever is available. Why affect your work when you can easily hire remote employees? It is indeed a win-win situation for both the company and the workers.
Studies show that employees are more likely to be engaged when they work from home. Needless to say, people that are more engaged are also more motivated. They would be more willing to push their limits as they feel that the work is meaningful. Moreover, remote workers focus on getting more work done in less time so that they can enjoy their free time. The same doesn’t apply to office going folks as they still have to be at work even if they finish their job faster.
Cost Factor: Hiring remote workers can help you save up these costs as you find the exact talent for the job from a global pool. According to Global HR Research, companies bear a loss of $1000 to $7000 per employee if it is not the right candidate.
Losing an employee not only affects your business but also your money. For instance, if your company has an annual turnover of 11% then including the hiring costs, employee training, refilling the role and productivity opportunity will cost you $1.57 million per year. Hiring remote workers can help you reduce employee turnover.
According to Harvard Business Review, 68% millennial job seekers said an option to work remotely would greatly increase their interest in the specific employer. Moreover, job attrition rates fall by a whopping 50% when companies offer remote work opportunities. Workers stick to the companies that offer such remote jobs. This, in turn, enables the companies to not hunt for new talent every now and again.
The 2015 PGI Global Telework Survey shows that 68% of the surveyed workers worldwide would leave their current jobs for a similar job wherein they can work remotely full time at the same pay. A company could lose valuable employees if they aren’t offering flexible telecommuting jobs.
Additionally, employees also tend to work more owing to the flexible hours being offered. Studies have also observed that people who work remotely often work post business hours, unlike the in-house staff. They have the flexibility of balancing the work and their personal life within 24 hours while delivering quality.
Hiring remote employees also make your meetings more meaningful. With a dedicated slot allocated for the meeting, you are more likely to stay focused and make the most of the designated time. Knowing that the meeting has to be wrapped up soon enables you to get right to the point. This means increased efficiency and in work while saving a lot of time.
Cost Factor:
Remote workers save up to $5000 per year working from home which makes them reduce the turnover, as per TRN. They also put in long hours which enable companies to make more profit.
Did you know that employees report less downtime and sick leaves while working remotely? Since they do not have to put in long hours commuting, the chances of them getting stressed out decreases. Staying at home gives them ample rest which makes them come back to work sooner after a disease. Even if the remote employees lose some time taking care of themselves, they can always compensate it, thanks to the flexible hours.
The fact that remote workers get the flexibility required for balancing well-being and work boosts productivity. Even on the sick leaves, if they start feeling better, they can log in and start working. Employers are soon realizing the importance of remote workers.
As a company, you might think that remote workers are lazy and they would just slack around. However, according to a Connect Solutions survey, 30% of workers said that they accomplished more in less time when they started working remotely.
When asked about how happy they were, remote workers said they would rank their happiness 8.1 out of 10 while working remotely. Telecommuters are happier than workers in other arrangements as they get to stay autonomous while still feeling valued. Remote workers highly value their freedom and flexibility. When companies provide them with remote jobs, employees feel happier and thus produce better results.
Cost Factor:
Unscheduled absences cost around $1800 per year per employee, according to PGI. With remote working, the chances of absenteeism are significantly reduced.
The hiring time is drastically reduced when you are looking for remote employees. This is because finding the right talent within the said geography might take longer than usual. However, when you hire remotely, there is a wider pool of candidates that too from various locations. You can shortlist them based on the criteria and then proceed with the screening.
It is also relatively easier as the demand for remote jobs is increasing. Who wouldn’t love to work from the comfort of their home while sipping some coffee with pajamas on? Millennials are constantly looking for avenues wherein they get to learn and expand their knowledge while keeping their freedom intact. The current generation hardly believes in conforming to any company and is more inclined to live a digital nomad lifestyle. With so many people applying for remote jobs, you are sure to find the right candidate way faster.
The best part is remote work gets rid of the costs involved in recruitment and relocation. You no longer have to move your employees as they are going nowhere! However, it should be noted that your HR team should have access to both national and international candidates to make the most of this opportunity. Companies like IBM, Google and Amazon offer remote working options. These major industry players are saving a lot of money by hiring telecommuters. Needless to say, the trend of remote work is here to stay! Thanks to the technology at discourse, you can create an intriguing work environment virtually. Increase your business productivity and save a huge amount of money by hiring remote employees.
Cost Factor:
According to Glassdoor, it takes up to 52 days to fill a position along with average spending of $4000 to hire an employee. If the employee is being hired based on location constraints then they need not be the exact match. Thus, hiring a wrong candidate who is certainly not the best fit means $4000 for that candidate and $4000 for the replacement. Thus, by hiring remote, one saves $4000 per candidate per year.
Statistics Supporting Remote Work
You are bound to find overwhelming statistics on the internet about how remote work helps in saving money, increasing employee satisfaction and boosting employee retention rates. Apart from the overhead costs that you will save, employee satisfaction and lower attrition are very important. A company is truly built from its employees and remote jobs give the much-needed freedom to the staff.
As a matter of fact, a survey reports that 82% of telecommuters feel less stressed in their lives, thanks to remote jobs. This boosts the morale of employees and they are less likely to take unplanned leaves and check-out during the working hours.
Data from Global Workplace Analytics shows that 24% of remote workers report of achieving more in less time as opposed to conventional office employees. Focusing on the happiness of your employees can be a driving force to success. When your employees are happy they are less likely to daydream about where they would rather be. Working remotely helps them be more present and focused.
Employee happiness is a by-product of remote work culture. Think about it! No distraction of the time-wasting procedures at the office, incessant chatter of the co-workers, sudden meetings, celebrations, and other hindrances. Employees can truly focus on the work at hand and feel more accountable and productive. This gives them a deeper sense of satisfaction.
Final Take
Thus, your organization can save a lot of money by switching to remote work. The transition from the physical office to a virtual one can be a little challenging. However, with the right tools and technology, you can conquer it. Setting clear expectations and streamlining the processes outright is the way to go. Hiring remote employees don’t only help you save up to $20,000 each year per employee but also boosts productivity. This means that a company with 500 employees can save close to 10 Million per year by hiring remotely. The end result is fulfilled, happy and better-engaged employees. Make sure that you accommodate the needs of millennials who are a crucial part of the future workforce.
For the #makeremotework survey, our main differentiator was about having real data and not ending up just relying on the quick online surveys. We wanted to have a mix of online as well as offline channels. For the same we visited 16 cities chosen from an email raffale
All through the campaign, we worked on getting in-person interviews. Our campaign was primarily built with Linkedin and Email marketing and here is a quick summary
on how we did it to be able to land up with 250+ CXO meetings.
Preparation- Preparation included setting up our team and action plan.
We planned to work primarily through Linkedin, which I have covered in detail later. During preparation, we worked on updating my Linkedin with profile details, posts etc guided by the Linkedin best practices. We worked on building the clarity on my profile about what I do, past works, references etc
We also listed out around 100+ CXO profiles that we intended to meet.
2. Personalization- We totally agreed that no CXO would have time for us so we worked on personalization in 3 ways
Hearing their socials and figuring out if there is a chance that they would be open to such collaboration. This could be figured out if they had remote teams themselves or if they posted about global teams etc
Personalizing our emails with things that they have written or talked about
Pivoting our emails with ideas and wordings that struck a chord. Also, we used hyperlinking in emails to connect with more elaborated details on landing pages.
3. Linkedin- Linkedin was one of our major tools
We used Linkedin to find out our contacts as well as know our 2nd level and 3rd level contacts. Linkedin does a great job to provide enough info that can be used to start a conversation. We used primarily the common contacts, request for intros, something interesting from the bios etc to strike the conversation
4. Followups and lots of them
Trying to walk the thin line between over pushing and persistence we tried to be genuine in our efforts leaving the rest to interpretation. We used mailtrack and Linkedin inbuilt feature about read and unread emails. We sent different follow-ups to people who had read our emails and the one who did not.
Primarily we did a max of 3 follow-ups to people
With the 1st email as the intro and asking for interest
If read- 2nd email was with more info and putting things in points format
3rd email- About a soft ask with final dates of visit and specification of slot that is open
4th email- while I was in the city, asking if any last minute window that opened
5. The team
All of the above definitely required a team and I was lucky to have a few good fellas among us to deliver on the plan. In summary, I believe getting a good conversion rate was the result of having a team who were ready to hustle 24*7. But while doing so, we made sure that the process is enjoyable to everyone in the team. Regularly the strategy was discussed often with a friendly banter among passionate people. We always believed that if everyone in the team is on the same page we will be able to pull it off. We did party of course post the campaign (Put pic from our dinner day)
Today #Makeremotework survey is the most comprehensive report available on remote work, coming out directly with inputs from the decision makers.
Running a marathon, going the distance, taking up the gauntlet, in short accepting a challenge and following through with it. Many experiences in life need you to go the distance, to invest time in it and persevere in order to get results at the end. I decided to take up such a challenge, I decided to achieve it and was ready to see it to the end. I decided to run a marathon!
The first question that naturally pops into anyone’s head is this — WHY? Why does the CEO of a start-up, a busy man as it seems, working seven days a week would have to take up such a challenge? What rewards are a full time working entrepreneur looking for by committing to months of training, both physical and mental? On a superficial level, there may seem some benefits such as health advantages and overall emotional well-being. But now it’s time to scale the entire iceberg! Why run a marathon, read on to find out.
“There’s something incredibly freeing about being able to just run and reach a destination under your own steam, carrying your own water and nutrition, feeling like you could go on forever.” -Alex Parren (HuffPost)
Beginning with the general physical benefits that a runner experiences include a full body workout along with the burning of a ton of calories, there is also emotional well-being that is felt throughout the training period. The training and the practice is the real marathon there is, and you will notice that the span of time really does transform you. From couch potato to an agile and lean runner, it is something you will start admiring about yourself and strive harder to stay that way all the time.
As said earlier, the journey, the process, all that lead up to the day of the marathon, is the real task. That is the real marathon you have to conquer. Getting up and training continuously for months is not an easy undertaking. But as the days progress and you notice yourself changing bit by bit, obviously for the better, it isn’t possible to stop training. You will want it more than ever and keep looking forward to it. It is a truly inspiring feeling of setting a goal for yourself and then going all guns blazing to achieve it. Investing in a set goal and following through with it tirelessly helps define your own character. It builds confidence in you that nothing is impossible. It gives you an incredible boost in all other domains of your life to just go and get it! You develop a kind of mental toughness that gives you enough energy to tackle any problem head-on.
I am a CEO myself and running a startup comes along with a large number of working hours that mostly span the entire seven days of the week. Cramming a training schedule along with it was a bit difficult, but it taught me to manage my time well and engage in effectively utilizing it. Like when you have to squeeze in time, you start prioritizing. You get a chance to remove things out from your schedule that does not matter anymore.
Maintaining a passion or a hobby with your full-time work calendar is hard, but in a way, one complements the other. You follow your passion with all heart; you’ll see productivity increasing everywhere. After a few weeks, I started feeling like Batman — a billionaire businessman in daylight and a criminal thrashing vigilante at night.
And once you have gone all in to win at something, to succeed at your extra-curricular ventures, there will be a different you showing up at the office. One success is enough to raise your own bar in life. You ponder over the possibilities of achieving something even more significant in life, taking on even harder challenges. There is this insatiable hunger that you develop to go beyond all limits. You involuntarily take out all stops to get to your ultimate destination.
“While running, your brain gives up way before your body does.” (yourpositiveattitude.com)
The journey develops you a lot, but the day of the race is something else altogether! It is the ultimate test of your mental strength, more so than your physical one. It is time for you to showcase all your training. During the race, you realize that the human body is capable of much more than our preconceived notions. We are amazingly capable of recovering, enduring and progressing in almost any aspect. This is a realization only a marathon runner can fully realize and appreciate.
Once you finish the marathon, the euphoria, the high that you experience, nothing else can possibly provide. It’s the incredible satisfaction of finishing that not only motivates you to do it again but also makes you obsessed to always finish the task at hand and see it to its ultimate completion. I personally saw myself as a different person walking out of that marathon. Your self-respect soars, there’s a new identity that you now have, and now you basically become Batman! Nobody can touch you.
Although coming from the point of view of an entrepreneur, people from all walks of life need to experience the sheer joy of completing a marathon at least. With so much to learn about yourself and life in general, completing a marathon is truly attaining nirvana!
Times are changing, and how freelancers connect with clients is no exception. In the past few years, freelancing has greatly increased in popularity as millennials try whatever they can to avoid a traditional 9–5 job. The way people work worldwide is transitioning from working locally in offices to remote work.
Using a freelancing platform is an excellent option for anybody looking to earn some extra cash, embrace the freedom of freelancing, or to develop their professional skills on their own time.
Freelance platforms have altered the way professionals and companies operate. In fact, in the US alone 43% workforce is already spending some time working remotely. As the digital nomad lifestyle grows in popularity, freelancing platforms are opening doors for new and existing professionals to find more work online.
As trends like the digital nomad lifestyle grow in popularity, Freelance platforms are without a doubt proving beneficial for both enterprise and individuals.
Implementing freelancers into your companies team is a great way to reduce overhead costs, boosts productivity, and open up a greater pool of talent to choose from. Studies show that freelancers and remote workers are more productive than in-house employees. Moreover, hiring freelancers provides companies with the freedom to hire different workers as needed, and can part ways with freelancers without any mess.
On the other hand, freelancers receive an opportunity to work with flexible schedules, get rid of daily commutes, and have a better balance between work and professional life.
Freelancing platforms can be leveraged to produce incredible effects for both businesses and individuals. But the crucial question is — How does someone begin freelancing? Well, to start off you will need a freelancing platform which you can register and connect with the clients on.
However, due to the abundance of both freelancers and freelancing websites in the market, it becomes challenging to choose which one is best suited for you. You can always choose the large platforms, but do these websites actually provide the services which you are looking for? Here we will introduce you to some unconventional freelance websites that offer unique and distinctive features. To save you some serious time, we’ve compared and scrutinized different platforms and present our top 5 websites with stand-out features to fit your custom needs.
Founded in 2003 by Gautam Godhwani, Anil Godhwani, and Peter Weck, SimplyHired is both an employment website and an online recruitment advertising network. Back in 2006, Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd acquired SimplyHired, stating that its webpage would continue to operate as a job search destination, but would additionally serve as a publishing partner for Indeed.com. With the availability of a wider range of talent and clients, SimplyHired is perfect for everyone from programmers to construction workers.
What makes SimplyHired stand out?
A) Diverse Resource Pool - It’s difficult to beat SimplyHired when it comes to the pool of resources at their disposal. From personal care to technology and construction, to administration, SimplyHired has jobs for any professional. The site lists jobs from over 24 countries in 12 languages
B) Finding Talent Made Easy - SimplyHired is a platform populated by experts from various domains. The platform focuses on enhancing experience and usability for clients. In order to simplify the search for talent, the platform offers a tailored way to search for freelancers based on job title, skill, and company. Additionally, users can also perform a location-based search if they are looking for freelancers in a specific location.
C) Salary Estimator - Are you a novice freelancer just starting out in the freelancing world? Then you probably have one question on your mind–How much would I make? Will I be scammed or underpaid just because I am new?
No need to fret, with SimplyHired’s Salary Estimator you can quickly get a salary estimate and learn about the wage for any job.
Founded in 1998 in Pittsburgh and acquired by eMoonlighter.com, Guru.com has over 3 Million members worldwide and 1 Million completed jobs. It is a platform designed to connect and associate employers with a talented pool of freelancers from all around the world. Moreover, to make the transactions between parties easy, Guru also facilitates communication between the two parties. The Guru Work Room lets you efficiently manage all your work in one convenient place.
Guru is perfect for freelancers, looking for good pay jobs in designing, writing, IT, marketing, administration, and related fields.
What makes Guru stand out?
A) Showcase Your Work - Guru that lets you showcase your past work experience and provides you with access to new jobs every day. Being able to show your past experience to employers can allow employers to make the right decision (choosing you!).
B) Payments Made Safe - With Guru, you can set up how and when payments will be made on your job. There are 4 arrangements to fit any job:
Pay by Milestones
Pay by Task
Pay by the Hour
Pay Using Recurring Payments
But what really fascinating about Guru is SafePay. It doesn’t matter which arrangement you choose, SafePay gives you a simple and secure solution for payments. Always focused on convenience, Guru offers a way to automate your payments. And, in case of any dispute which cannot be resolved by words alone, Guru has Dispute Resolution Service dedicated to solving problems between clients and freelancers.
C) Simplified Onboarding and Job Posting - Guru is focused on providing a relaxed and hassle-free onboarding and job posting experience. By leveraging above-the-fold content, Guru empowers employers to quickly post a job for free. However, while creating a job post is free, Guru offers a way to boost your job posting by paying additional money for increased exposure. The advertised posts are featured on top of the search results.
Founded in 2007 by Xenios Thrasyvoulou and Simos Kitiris, the company is headquartered in London. PeoplePerHour is a freelancing marketplace mostly aimed at bringing together people searching for services in writing, web development, designing, social media, business development, etc. PeoplePerHour empowers professionals around the world to take on work that they love doing.
You can easily score both online as well as on-site freelancing gigs on PeoplePerHour.
What makes PeoplePerHour Stand out?
A) Management and Collaboration - With PeoplePerHour you can say goodbye to the struggles of managing a project. The dashboard allows users to monitor the information they need to get the job done, along with the necessary management tools to make your workflow easier. PeoplePerHour gives you a clearly marked inbox of tasks, structured threads for communication, and simple organized invoicing.
B) Secure Money Protection - Unlike conventional freelancing platforms, PeoplePerHour has an intuitive payment system that holds payments in an escrow account until work is marked complete by both parties. Additionally, employers using the marketplace are required to provide down payments at the beginning of the projects to ensure payment is given.
In order to safeguard users, PeoplePerHour has an Anti-Fraud Protection system. They monitor every transaction and use their customer support specialists to help solve issues swiftly and fairly.
C) Pre-defined Job Posting Template - PeoplePerHour has a template to describe the work needed for the project. The website has an artificial intelligence system in place that does most of the heavy lifting — matching and contacts with the best freelancers for the job.
TaskRabbit is extremely unique in its primary purpose. The platform aims to revolutionize how we handle our daily errands. Founded in 2008 by Leah Busque, the company has received $37.7 million in funding to date. Originally launched as RunMyErrand, in April 2010 Busque renamed it to TaskRabbit. In September 2017, IKEA Group announced it would acquire TaskRabbit, but would continue to operate independently. IKEA launched a furniture assembly service from TaskRabbit in March 2018. TaskRabbit is a freelance platform curated to help businesses and individuals with their day-to-day tasks. From minor repairs and housekeeping to furniture assembly and delivery services, this same-day service freelance platform provides solutions no other platform can offer. It has over 140,000 vetted taskers that are proficient in their specific tasks.
What makes TaskRabbit stand out?
A) Effortless Transactions - TaskRabbit offers a companion mobile app which allows clients to choose the right tasker from mobile devices. Users can choose from a variety of home services and provide details about the services required - TaskRabbit does its magic and connects clients with taskers.
Select from a list of qualified and vetted Taskers for the job. Choose Taskers by their hourly rate, and start chatting with them right in the app.
When tasks are complete, payment is sent seamlessly and securely through the app.
B) Vetted Resources - What is one thing that you need the most from any freelancer? Quality! “Quality over Quantity” is TaskRabbit’s motto. It doesn’t matter if a freelance platform has millions of freelancers, what really matters is the quality of the workers. Through TaskRabbit, you get talent that is thoroughly vetted and undergone a rigorous background and identity check prior to working on the platform.
C) TaskRabbit’s Happiness Pledge - Trust and safety are TaskRabbit’s top priorities. While all Taskers undergo extensive background and identity checks, it is still risky to grant access to your property to a stranger. To secure and safeguard clients, TaskRabbit covers up to $1 Million in property damage.
Founded in early 2017 and launched at Startup Grind Global Event by Ayush Jain, RemotePanda is the pragmatic, prudent and organized way to outsource your needs. With RemotePanda’s concierge service it means you have someone to take care of your needs right from recruitment to hiring and throughout the project. This freelance platform set the KPIs for the work and builds accountability within the process for the remote worker. With RemotePanda, employers can enjoy the taste of managed remote teams with a success facilitator to oversee that all KPI’s are met.
What makes RemotePanda stand out?
A) Managed Remote Teams - There are multiple platforms which offer freelancers and remote workers, which really makes RemotePanda unique is the fact that they provide managed remote teams and freelancers. What this actually means is that when you hire a freelancer from the marketplace, you get an additional layer of management that oversees the operation and productivity of the freelancer, reducing the burden of management and allowing you to activate their full talent. Another thing to note, freelancers working on RemotePanda are extensively vetted and interviewed thoroughly prior to being allowed on the platform.
B) Success Facilitator and Quality Oversight - To ensure that users can leverage the full vigor of resources, RemotePanda assigns a Success Manager to every project. From effective communication to resolving disputes, the success manager takes care of the little things so you can focus on results. Success managers make sure that all KPIs set at the beginning of the project are met.
C) ESCROW Billing System - When a user hires talent from RemotePanda they are provided with a seven day trial period where the employer can test the waters and check if the hired individual is the right match for their project.
Moreover, to ensure the safety of clients, RemotePanda adheres to an escrow billing system. This means that all funds are held on the platform until the completion of the project. If for some reason you are not satisfied with the work you receive, the issue is resolved fairly and quickly by the success manager.
Freelancers and clients have dozens of options to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It is based on your needs and requirements which you will choose the right fit for you. This list contains options to seriously consider checking, although the only way to know is to try them yourself.
RemotePanda is a personalized platform for companies to hire remote talent and get the quality work delivered from our city Pune. All talents associated with us are close network connections. When we connect them with you, we make sure to manage their quality, their growth, the legalities and also the delivery of work. The idea is to make remote work successful for you.
