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Let’s Remotify

Do you work with someone who’s a little too keen to share their accomplishments? Or perhaps you’ve noticed that certain colleagues talk a lot about their successes at work, but you rarely see results or notice them pulling their weight? Maybe you are worried about your performance, so you feel the need to remind people about your achievements. You could be in the presence of (or indeed, becoming) a ‘loud laborer’. 

A loud laborer is someone who is not actually about productivity, but the appearance of it. They are very vocal about what they’ve done or how long their to-do list is, without really having the tangible work to show for it.  

What’s the cause of loud laboring? 

It’s too simplistic to say that every loud laborer is just a show-off. It’s much more likely to be a product of a certain type of workplace. Loud laboring thrives in workplaces where fear and anxiety are present. If employees are constantly worried that they’re being scrutinized by management, they may opt for overdoing it on self-promotion. Similarly, if there is no culture of appreciation and trust in a workplace, employees are more likely to develop imposter syndrome, which can evolve into loud laboring to make up for their insecurities.   

Why is loud laboring a bad thing? 

But isn’t it a good thing to celebrate our own achievements, especially for minority workers who are far more likely to downplay their successes? The short answer is: yes! Sometimes, the best way to make sure you’re getting credit for the great work you’re doing is to make sure you’re letting people know. The difference between this and loud laboring is that, with the latter, the act of making sure everyone knows how well you’re doing actually stops you from getting anything done. The act of self-promotion overtakes everything else.    

Loud laboring also has negative impacts on the people around you. For example, loud laboring can:

How can we avoid it? 

Along with numerous other workplace issues, loud laboring can be solved by a change in company culture. If companies create a culture of trust, encouragement and transparency, the very act of loud laboring will not only become easy to spot, but also unnecessary to do!

At Remotify, we believe that happy employees produce better results, and better results produce happy employers. It’s a reciprocity cycle. If you want to find out how our services can inject some joy and passion into your teams and culture, get in touch today! 

“It’s not going to work out for you.”

That’s the message Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, has for employees who want to continue to work remotely. It’s perhaps unsurprising, given how untrustworthy Amazon generally is of its employees and their outputs, but it’s still a hard line to take, given how popular remote and hybrid work has become. 

And it’s not just scare tactics. Amazon is now rolling out a new mandate that requires certain kinds of roles to return to their place of work for at least three days a week—or they can say goodbye to their job role. “I don't have data to back it up, but I know it's better," said Mike Hopkins, SVP of Amazon Video and Studios, in a leaked video. 

This kind of thinking marries up with a lot of people’s fear of remote work. We don’t necessarily know why we don’t trust it, we just don’t. It’s different, and therefore scary. But we’ve learned a great deal about widespread remote and hybrid work since the pandemic—most of it positive.   

But while the statistics specifically around productivity vary, the fact is, remote work is about more than getting as much done as we possibly can. It’s about rethinking the way we work long-term, and whether the model that we’ve been using for the last hundred years is actually good for people. 

It might sound controversial (I’m sure it would to Amazon’s leadership team) but the wellbeing of workers should come before blindly achieving profits. And, even then, it’s been proven that happy employees are actually better for business. The stats around remote work and mental wellbeing are very hard to dispute. In a survey by FlexJobs, 96% of workers believed a remote or hybrid work arrangement would be best for their mental health. Similarly, for anyone who has a mental or physical disability, remote work completely changes the ballpark of what they can achieve and do for a career. This is why rolling out the same remote work regulations for all employees isn’t as ‘fair’ as it sounds. Yes, it’s ensuring that all employees follow the same rules, but it doesn’t account for the fact that employees themselves have different wants and needs. 

There is no blanket opinion on remote work—the key is developing an agreed sense of trust between employee and employer. Fostering a culture of trust works for everyone involved, and the outcomes go much further than where you work. When a business and its people have a shared trust in one another, they are more productive, positive, creative and profitable. It’s win-win.  

At Remotify, we specialise in making remote work the best it can be—for both leaders and employees. By handling the complexities and championing benefits, we make the process of switching to remote and hybrid work easy. Want to find out how we can do it for you? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today! 

The working world is getting older. Younger generations are having fewer children, which has resulted in a drop in employment as more people enter their retirement years. While the decision to have children is never one to be taken lightly, the results of so many people choosing to stay childless is having a tricky impact on the global economy. 

What does an aging population do to the world of work? 

When employment dips, consumption drops and costs rise. There are widespread employment shortages which increase government shortfalls. Essentially, not having enough of a working population slows the economy right down, and we all begin to feel the pinch. 

Similarly, the problem with an increasingly aging workforce is the lack of diverse thought. An injection of youth culture into brands and businesses is crucial to ensure we’re keeping up with global attitudes. This is especially important in industries like politics, where a breadth of opinion is the backbone to success. Only this week, complicated conversations are being had in the USA over the increasingly elderly law-makers being put in charge of the livelihoods of people far younger than them. An oversaturation of one age group is always something to avoid. 

How remote work is solving the problem

Helpfully, there are some countries that are not aging anywhere near as fast. In the Philippines, for example, the median age is 24 and people are reproducing at double the rate of the USA, likely because of its proud Catholicism. Given that the world is not aging at the same rate, one concept is becoming increasingly attractive for businesses: outsourcing. 

Only five years ago, the concept of outsourcing your workforce from other parts of the world might’ve seemed complicated, or even impossible. That was until the pandemic happened. These days, we know that remote work works, and that people can successfully build careers in all corners of the earth from the comfort of their homes.  

The global success cycle 

Integrating workforces across borders isn’t just great for the developed world - it also creates a cycle of success where developing nations also feel the benefits. Developed countries get to diversify the age of their workforces at a fraction of the cost, while developing countries get better career opportunities and salaries. It's a win-win for both economies. 

At Remotify, we specialise in making remote work work for everyone, no matter where you are in the world. We’re also passionate about sharing the talent of the Philippines with the rest of the world, connecting our workforce with global businesses. Want to find out how we can help you? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today! 

In the past, a good rebrand could cover all manner of sins. Companies could change everything from their ethos to their logo in one swoop, and - if done well - public opinion could change just as rapidly. These days, while a fresh rebrand is still a valuable tool in keeping a brand current, the public isn’t quite so fickle for flashy new logos and mission statements. 

This has been proven most famously with the rebrand of Twitter to ‘X’ under Elon Musk. In the short time that Musk has held the reins of Twitter, the brand has been inundated with drama—nearly all of it negative. From firing half the company’s employees and then asking them back, to permanently deleting accounts that disagreed with his views, alongside a surge in hate speech on the platform since he joined, Musk has driven the once good name of Twitter into the ground.   

By the time Musk announced that Twitter would become ‘X’, it hardly mattered what it was called or what it represented. Public perception of his company was beyond repair. 

What we can learn from Musk’s mistakes

Of course, this is a high-profile, extreme example of a rebrand gone wrong. But it showcases a valuable lesson in what the public (and employees) want from companies in 2023. It’s no longer about the visual representation of the brand—it’s about the culture. 

How a company treats its workforce (both publicly and privately) is becoming a huge part of the brand itself. It quite literally pays to be good to your workforce, because the public vote with their loyalty, and people-first approaches to doing business are proving immensely popular. 

How to build a brand that people will respect

So what can a company do to make sure its brand is something that resonates with the times we’re living in? 

At Remotify, we specialise in doing good—for employees, leaders and the Philippines. After all, happy people make a happy workplace, and a happy workplace is a successful one. Want to find out how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today!

It’s a new but common misconception that working remotely gives you fewer opportunities to shine. We worry that, because we’re not actively turning up to an office five days a week, we’re not seen to be working as hard, or given as much credit for what we do. In reality, remote work allows us to be just as productive (if not more so) than we would be in an office, but it requires us to reevaluate how we work and - most importantly - how we make others aware of our value, talent and charisma. 

For anyone wanting to thrive in their careers while continuing to practice remote or hybrid work, here are our top tips to shine while keeping your freedom to work anywhere. 

Make yourself visible   

Being ‘visible’ at work goes much further than showing your face in the office now and again. Being visible can also mean: 

Communicate, communicate, communicate 

Similarly, in order to thrive at remote work in the same way that you would in an office, you need to be going the extra mile to communicate with your colleagues and leaders. It sometimes feels easier to have difficult discussions with people in person, and therefore we might just avoid them while working remotely. But fostering a culture of open communication will make it easier to virtually ask for that raise, speak about your mental health and discuss any issues you might be having at work. So get putting in those regular catch-ups where you can discuss what’s on your mind. 

Set rules to work by – and stick to them! 

Remote work is hugely popular because it puts a lot of power and freedom back in the hands of workers. But, on the flip side, it does then become your responsibility to make sure you’re doing your best work and creating a routine that allows you to thrive. Some great remote work rules might be:

Adapt your home for remote work 

We’ve all heard the phrase tidy room, tidy mind. Well, in the world of remote work, this takes on a whole new level of importance. You simply won’t be in the right headspace to do your best work if you’re surrounded by last night’s dinner plates or this morning’s laundry load. But, further than that, it helps to treat the room you work in like an office. Invest in a comfortable chair that supports your back as well as a proper desk to sit at. Consider – if you can – working in a room that you don’t sleep or relax in so that you can separate work from rest.  

At Remotify, we specialise in helping both employees and company leaders make the most out of remote work—whether that’s providing you with the tools to seamlessly transition to remote work, or generally keeping your employees in great spirits. Want to find out how we do it? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today! 

Have you ever faced a day so bad that you just wanted to stay in bed? It’s a tempting option when we’re feeling sad, anxious or just can’t mentally manage what’s ahead, but studies show that the act of “bed rotting” (holing up in bed and pretending the day isn’t happening) is almost always going to make you feel worse, rather than better. 

The fact is, our brains feel better when they have stimulation. It’s these age-old facts that we know but sometimes choose to ignore: exercise will inevitably make you feel happier, having that shower is bound to feel refreshing, and eating something healthy and delicious will make us feel more energized than greasy fast food. But taking control of the day doesn’t mean you have to eat nothing but salad and run a 10k. The real antidote to a bad day is to force yourself to do the opposite of rotting in bed. It’s to do something. 

We can only change the outcome of a day if we try. And though it might feel like the last thing we want to do when we’re feeling low, practicing “opposite action” – a therapy term for creating emotional resilience by reaching to do the opposite of what your emotions want you to do – can do wondrous things for our minds and bodies. 

So, when your mind is telling you to pull the covers back up over your head, try to take charge and not let the bed rot win. Instead, do a handful of the following things to take control of your bad day:

And, if you’re feeling really brave, do one of the below things and watch your day transform completely:

What this does is creates the opportunity for something good to happen and forces brain stimulation—a great recipe for feeling happier! 

At Remotify, we specialize in creating positive, human-first work environments. Keeping employees and business leaders happy, while keeping up with the increasingly remote world of work. Want to find out how we can help you? Give our friendly team of experts a call today!       

According to CNN, remote work risks wiping out $800 billion from the value of office buildings in major cities worldwide by 2023. The trend of working from home is pushing up office vacancy rates and driving down rents, but should we be mourning the loss of the office in 2023 and beyond? 

It’s a well-known fact that the nine-to-five, 5-day-week model is - in the grand scheme of things - fairly new. It was brought about by Henry Ford in 1926 and, until the pandemic hit, we’d mostly taken this structure for granted. But the world of work is constantly evolving and moving with the times. Technology has given many former office workers the tools to do their jobs just as easily from home, and it’s proven immensely popular. According to a survey from Clarify Capital, nearly 7 in 10 employees said they would rather look for a new job than return to the office.  

Similarly, with results of remote work consistently coming up positive, we must begin to ask ourselves why corporations are trying to pedal the death of the office as such a terrible thing. In an article for Forbes, Jack Kelly writes: “The unintended mass experiment of working from home during the pandemic made us realize that remote work works. Not only was it successful, employees spent more hours on their tasks and the stock prices of companies soared to record highs.” So why are big businesses hellbent on getting us back behind our office desks? 

A big part of it is money. Kelly continues, “Major corporations have invested small fortunes in purchasing, leasing and refurbishing office space. If staff does not return en masse, the C-suite executives will have to eat the huge expensive costs of their office buildings.” But at a time when more power and decision-making is being handed to workers, is it a good enough reason to stay in the office, to keep (typically already wealthy) company leaders in the green? 

The responses to CNN’s report show the true color of working opinions. “Why do I care about the value of office buildings lol?” writes one Twitter user. “Eliminating commuting into cities for jobs that don’t really require it is a good thing. Even public transport has a carbon footprint” writes another. Many others share the opinion that, during a time when there is a widespread rise in living costs and increased poverty, the spaces could be put to better use. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to add more housing without having to actually find new land to build on. The office space just needs to be converted,” says a third user.

Overall, the narrative that the corporate world needs offices to survive is being met with more and more skepticism. And the price leaders will pay for their stubbornness is their greatest asset: people. 

At Remotify, we specialise in setting up companies with flexible remote work services that will stand them in good stead, long into the future. Want to find out how we can help you? Book a call with a member of our friendly team today! 

When we imagine the workplace of the future, we might picture robots and technology. And while automation will undoubtedly have a key place in the future of work, one of the main changes businesses must brace for is that of the emancipated employee. Since the pandemic, workers have been handed more freedom to choose how they live and work, and this newfound power has been fueling wider workplace trends in 2023 and beyond. 

We’ve taken a closer look at these trends, predicting the biggest shifts in the future of work. 

The rise of remote work

Whether leaders like it or not, remote working is here to stay. The freedom to live and work anywhere is not something employees want to give up lightly. In fact, 40% of employers say they expect more than half their workforce to work regularly from home, with employees all over the world saying they’d move jobs if a hybrid work option wasn’t offered. But remote work isn’t something to fear. After all, happy employees are better employees. 

The growth of the gig economy

With the rise of remote work flexibility comes the rise in gig work, as more and more workers choose to work for themselves as freelancers, rather than traditional nine-to-five employment. This trend is only set to grow as technology enables gig workers to perform their jobs perfectly from anywhere in the world. 

Increased use of artificial intelligence  

You’d have to be living under a rock not to notice the rise in artificial intelligence in 2023, but it doesn’t stop there. According to McKinsey, nearly all occupations will be affected by automation, irreversibly changing the way companies operate in almost every industry. As these technologies become more mainstream, the key is to adapt our skills to work with them, rather than fear them.  

The importance of diversity and inclusion

No longer a tick box exercise, diversity and inclusion in the future will be ingrained into company culture, from leadership all the way down to entry level. Practices like cultural awareness, unconscious bias and sexual harassment training will become normalised, and hiring pools will no longer be restricted to people with degrees or specific experience. In short, the corporate world will be refreshingly varied.  

Taking sustainability seriously  

Like diversity and inclusion, the issue of sustainability will be given more prominence in the workplace of the future. In the past, sustainability in the workplace might have revolved around cycle-to-work schemes and in-office recycling. In 2023 and beyond, sustainability will be a much more radical conversation. Think remote work to erase commuter emissions, and entirely paperless companies. 

Better work-life balance 

All in all, the workplace of the future looks to be a good place for workers and leaders who wants to reclaim more of their personal lives. The normalisation of “the grind” is being put to question, and people are prioiritising their mental and physical health over corporate gain. 

At Remotify, we’re all about future-proofing your business, while keeping leaders and employees happy, healthy and thriving at work. Want to find out how we do it? Give our friendly team of experts a call today!     

When it comes to emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, the news we hear about it comes hand in hand with fear. Fear that it will take our jobs, our livelihoods, the world as we know it. But, in the world of work, fear of change is a vicious cycle. The more we fear change, the less likely we are to do it. And the more likely we are to get left behind—our fears realised. 

The best way to overcome the fear of change is to embrace it. To ride change like a wave and adapt to the inevitable. Sound easier said than done? Here are some top tips on how to keep up in the ever-changing digital world. 

Understand what you offer that no technology can 

No matter how clever machines might get, some traits and skills can never be replaced by technology, and will remain endlessly useful to the working world. Skills like critical thinking, cultural awareness, emotional intelligence and lived experience. These skills all allow you to change your mind, think on the spot and practice empathy. And they go a long way. 

Don’t hate technology - befriend it

The key to keeping up in the increasingly digital landscape is to work out how to reshape your human skills to fit into a digital mould. For example, can parts of your role be automated? Can you use AI as a partner rather than a competitor? Can you elevate human experiences through machine-backed personalisation? Technology isn’t going anywhere, that’s why it’s important to find out how it can support you in your role…rather than hoping it can’t! 

Upskill, adapt, excel 

Another crucial way to keep up is to be ready to reskill, or - at least - to be open to adapting the skills you already have to work in new ways. If you work in HR, for example, can you use AI to generate job descriptions, so you can use your human judgment to focus more on the actual candidates? Or, if you’re a copywriter, can you use AI to simplify complex copy, so that you simply have to use your creative skills to make the simplified language sing? 

At Remotify, we specialise in creating positive, human-first environments to work in. Keeping employees and leaders happy, while keeping up with the ever-changing world of work. Want to find out how we can help you? Give our friendly team of experts a call today!     

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report has a strong message for corporate leaders and managers: improve or lose the majority of your workforce.

Gallup has released its State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report and its message is loud and clear: the world of work needs better management. And the price of not improving is high. 

Quiet quitting: a solvable crisis

Despite there being an overall surge in employee engagement in the last year, the majority of employees across the world are practicing what we call ‘quiet quitting’. According to Gallup, quiet quitting is when an employee is effectively “Filling a seat and watching the clock. They put in the minimum effort required, and they are psychologically disconnected from their employer.” Quiet quitters are more likely to become stressed or burnt out, and significantly more likely to quit altogether. 

The main cause of quiet quitting? Bad management. 

Feeling disengaged from a company goes hand in hand with feeling disengaged (or worse, actively resentful) towards those in charge. While it’s concerning to find that so many of us feel this way, Gallup is hopeful that this demographic of quiet quitters can be re-energised:

"Quiet quitters are often your greatest opportunity for growth and change. They are waiting for a leader or a manager to have a conversation with them, encourage them, inspire them. A few changes to how they are managed could turn them into productive team members.” 

Employees know exactly what they want from leaders

Helpfully, employees are not at all uncertain about how they’d improve company leadership and management. 85% of those surveyed for Gallup’s report cited three things as a solution to their work woes:

with engagement and culture standing out as the core way for companies to improve employee attitudes. Specifically, a lot of respondents said they would like more recognition, opportunities to learn, fair treatment, and clearer goals from their company leaders. 

Engagement matters more than where employees work

For those in leadership positions that are uncertain about where they stand on remote work policies, Gallup has found that

"Engagement has 3.8x as much influence on employee stress as work location. How people feel about their job has a lot more to do with their relationship with their team and manager than being remote or being on-site."

These particular stats could put an end to the rumbling debate around remote work—proving that employee engagement and productivity don’t come down to whether or not they work in an office, but how they are treated by those in charge. 

At Remotify, we work closely with company leaders to create workplaces that are truly great places to be—no matter where in the world your teams are. Want to find out how we can help you bolster your culture and keep your teams happy? Give our friendly team of experts a call today!