remote work Archives

career

6 Simple Steps to Improve Remote Onboarding, Boost Productivity and Reduce Employee Churn

Last updated on November 18th, 2022 at 11:39 am

I’m going to show you how to build a fantastic remote onboarding experience. This works whether you’re onboarding your first remote freelancer, or you’re looking to refresh your company’s entire onboarding process.

Employees are at their peak motivation during the first few weeks in a new role. They want to make an excellent first impression. Investing in onboarding keeps that motivation and morale high for the long term. This means a happier, more productive team that sticks with you through the highs and lows.

Unfortunately, remote onboarding is still nascent.

There aren’t defined best practices.

At best, companies try to “port over” their IRL onboarding experience but don’t account for working remotely.

Over the last 10+ years, I’ve worked 7 remote work roles. That’s 7 different remote onboardings.

Here are the 6 things that separate good onboarding experiences from poor ones:

career

8 Questions Tech Leaders Ask in Interviews (That You Should, Too)

Today you’ll learn the exact questions to ask in job interviews, and why to ask them. These are the same questions tech leaders from companies like Slack, Eventbrite, Pinterest, and Atlassian ask. Copy them, win more interviews.

career

7 Powerful Ways To Boost Career Growth While Working Remotely

Last updated on August 14th, 2022 at 09:56 am

Today, I’m going to share my favorite tips and tools for working remotely. This list has been refined after:

After 9 years of remote work
In 7 different roles
Across multiple industries

Only 16% of companies are fully-remote businesses[efn_note]https://www.apollotechnical.com/statistics-on-remote-workers/[/efn_note]. Companies will spend the next 20-30 years addressing working remotely challenges. This means it’s our responsibility to create a great remote work experience.

By optimizing how you work remotely, you’ll drive more impact, get promoted faster, and earn more money. Plus, life is just more enjoyable.

The problem is most people treat remote work as working at the office… but at home. It’s not. Instead, they need to rethink every aspect of their work processes, routines, and cadences from a remote-first mindset.

Note: if you’re looking to land your first remote job, check out my article here. And if you’re trying to break into tech, read this first.

7 Tips for Working Remotely (That No One Talks About)

Remote work is a skill. The better your skills, the more successful you’ll be in a remote-first career. Here are 7 tips to improve the skill of working remotely:

personal development

Fall to the level of your systems

Last updated on August 14th, 2022 at 09:41 am

I had a different email planned, but last week I tested positive for Covid which threw that off schedule. Fortunately, my symptoms were mild, and after self-isolation ended, I re-joined Amy in the not-so-delicate juggle of childcare and working from home. It was a flashback to April 2020, our first foray into lockdown life.

Despite having both Oliver and Annabel this time (AND one-third of the living space we had in Albany), everything felt… easier.

Part of this is attributable to greater certainty around Covid:

You can expect mild symptoms (if you’re reasonably healthy)
You can expect lockdown to end (eventually)
You can expect access to essentials (remember when finding toilet paper was like a Banksy sighting?)

None of this was true 18 months ago. As difficult as it is, we’ve made progress. It’ll continue to get better.