Your Remote Learning & Development Resources Blog

The top two challenges highlighted during the September Networkplaceless discussion about remote opportunities were: 

1. Lack of leaders creating and fostering opportunities 
2. Lack of relationship building opportunities 

During our October Networkplaceless we welcomed Julia Taylor Kennedy, Executive Director at the Center for Talent Innovation, who shared expert advice on how the area of sponsorship could apply directly to remote work environments in addressing these issues.

In all work environments, it’s critical to establish and foster relationships that encourage career growth, however, it’s also necessary to think through objectives and expectations for each relationship. Four categories of professional development relationships include: 

• Coaching. A coach shares advice on closing discrete skill gaps.
• Advocacy. An advocate helps a colleague by endorsing an idea or project. 
• Mentorship. A mentor provides a safe space for nurturing,...

Stagnancy is an innovation killer. In today’s marketplace, companies and remote leaders that want to encourage and sustain a culture of innovation, recruit and retain top talent, and maintain a competitive advantage must have and communicate a vision for creating career growth opportunities inclusive of their remote teams and remote workers. 

It is vital for leaders to stay tapped into the concerns of their remote employees, who too often are left wondering: 

• “What kind of influence will I have working from home?”

• “What if no one notices my hard work?”

• “How limited are my next potential remote roles?”

• “How will I ever get promoted?”

• “Why take that kind of risk at this point in my career?”

They also worry that working remotely puts them “out of sight, out of mind”—uninformed of new opportunities and overlooked for advancement. It is crucial that remote leaders and people operations...

By Kimberly Bringas, Remote HR Expert

Any opinions expressed within this blog post are those of the author and not necessarily held by Workplaceless itself.

A common misconception about remote work is it doesn’t require anything more than giving an employee remote based tools to do their work. “Here is slack, zoom and a working computer, you’re remote now.”—it’s not quite that simple. In actuality, it’s often overlooked that building a successful remote work environment requires the same level of care, attention and proactiveness as an actual office space. As the former Senior HR Manager at Olark, I worked on converting PeopleOps based programs, processes and policies using a specific remote lens. It was during this time I learned that remote and office environments have the same goal of ultimately wanting engaged and thriving employees, however remote requires different approaches. This is profoundly evident in the area of employee...

Remote work, telecommute, live/work—whatever you want to call it—the concept isn’t new. Humans have been making their living outside of co-located offices for years. The resurgence of the “workhome” came on slowly, but it’s reached a fever pitch and the writing is on the wall for businesses and job seekers alike; remote work is here to stay.

However, in our mad dash out of the offices, there hasn’t been much time dedicated to addressing the skills needed to be successful at working remotely. Hiring managers the world over find themselves now in situations of back-filling competencies that haven’t been comprehensively considered. Hiring remote workers isn’t just about the bullet points on a resume—there are layers of innate and learned skills that are often difficult to suss out or even control for when hiring and evaluating team members. 

And that’s just the beginning. It’s just as important to understand...

Developing a career that reflects our passions and provides opportunities to grow is the ultimate professional goal. Career development takes constant work, and when you work remotely, there are special considerations that you need to keep in mind. We've identified seven keys to remote career development that address the unique challenges that remote professionals face.  

Interests, Knowledge & Skills 

Your interests, knowledge, and skills form the foundation of your remote career. Your interests are topics or fields that inspire your curiosity or passion, like law, education, or design. Your interests guide the learning experiences, professional opportunities, and hobbies you pursue.

Your knowledge is the theoretical and practical understanding of a subject, which you acquire through formal and informal education and experience.

Your skills are your particular abilities—these include hard skills, like computer programming or accounting, and soft...

Networking is important, even if you work remotely. Not only does it expose you to professional opportunities, it also helps you establish and cultivate important relationships that can help you navigate your career. But networking can be tough — even more so if you work from home because you're not in the habit of constant interaction. Here are some networking tips on how you can cultivate an active and supportive professional network if you work from home.

Basically, there are three networking channels you have when working remotely:

1. Live interactions. These include networking events, conferences, face-to-face team meetings or retreats.
2. Internet-based networking. This includes connections you make on social media and connections you make in other internet communities like blogs and membership sites. [Register for Networkplaceless]
3. Work-based networking. This includes the relationships you make in the process of completing your work. Obviously, your coworkers and...

Want some flexibility in your job? You're not alone. You can find a new job that's fully or partly remote, or you can ask your manager if you can work from home.

If your company has a history of allowing telecommuting, then your conversation will be pretty straightforward. Since there is already a precedent for this practice, you can refer to specific examples or to that particular policy if it exists in writing.

If there isn't a history of telecommuting in your organization, then it's a little less straightforward. But that doesn't have to mean that it's impossible! It just means you will have to put a little more work into making your case.

To actually get your boss to let you work from home, you need to present a detailed plan. You can't just ask, "Can I start working from home?" and expect a positive result. The more prepared you are, the more likely it is that your boss will recognize the importance and feasibility of this option.

Create Your "Work from Home" Plan

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