In 2020 when the COVID pandemic locked down the world, billions of workers were thrown into a completely new way of working: remote collaboration.

Exciting? We think so. But ask anyone who works remotely: it’s not all smooth sailing. Yes, it’s never been easier to find a remote job or attract remote employees, but for many employers and remote workers, this avant-garde way of collaborating and working remotely came with new and daunting challenges. Distributed teams work across time zones and need to take advantage of asynchronous collaboration and remote collaboration tools to maintain productivity, engage current employees, and to attract and onboard new ones.

Despite this, remote workers are valuing the benefits of remote work. Skyrocketing productivity and improved work-life balance have irreversibly changed how we work and how we think about work. Remote workers tend to be more productive, engaged, and happier and employers who hire remote teams can attract the best talent regardless of geography. Here are some numbers: 97.6% of workers would like to work remotely forever after this pandemic is over and 1 in 2 US employees won’t return to jobs that don’t offer remote work.

Time zones are tricky. It’s easy enough to understand time zones where you live, but if you’re working in a remote team spread across the world, it gets harder to remember what time it is for your team members.

Attempts to reinvent time zones to make them easier for everyone have failed, we just can’t come to a universal agreement.

However, it’s becoming increasingly hard to argue against the benefits of re-mote work Yes, there are challenges but the benefits ultimately outweigh the hassle.

In this article, you’ll learn about the benefits and challenges of working across time zones, as well as the best practices you need to follow.

Remote work was a global movement before the coronavirus pandemic and only accelerated with it. According to Gallup, nearly 60% of U.S. employees working from home want to continue to do so. 90% of remote workers plan to stay for their careers.

Employees like remote work arrangements because it offers more flexibility and autonomy, both in location and working hours. Remote work doesn’t have to mean working from home. It could mean working from a coffee shop, co-working space, or internationally by taking advantage of remote work visas.

Employers also benefit when they support remote workers. Employers who embrace teleworking aren’t sacrificing performance. They benefit from decreased costs and lower environmental impacts to higher productivity and employee retention.

This article outlines the benefits of remote work for employees and employers.

If you’re looking for a new job, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be asked to define your greatest strength. This common interview question can be pretty introspective and personal, but it’s a great way for interviewers better understand your skill set and how you can contribute to the company.

When answering the interview question “What is your greatest strength?”, don’t fall into the trap with a cliche response like “I’m a hard worker” or “I have great initiative” I— these can come across as lazy and insincere answers. The interviewer is looking for you to explain why your soft skills, hard skills, and experience, as well as your personality, make you a good fit for the role. So of course, your response should reflect this!

Remote work is a flexible work style where you work outside a traditional office environment. It comes in many forms depending on a company’s size, stage, and philosophy.

At one extreme, employees may work from home occasionally. At the other end of the spectrum, fully remote employees stop commuting entirely and work whenever and wherever they’re most productive.

This article outlines how and why people work remotely, how to find a remote job, common misconceptions about remote work and the different types of remote companies.

People and companies work remotely because of the benefits it provides to both parties.

Due to the COVID pandemic, more and more companies are going to remote. Remote work means employers can hire employees from anywhere.

However, many companies have chosen to use location-based pay meaning compensation packages take into account employee location. This can make sense as companies can hire remote employees where the cost of living, and therefore salary expectations, are lower.

For example, Google’s internal salary calculator allows employees to see the effects of a move to a new location. A Google spokesperson told Reuters that “compensation packages have always been determined by location, and we always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works from.”

In contrast, some companies are choosing to base pay solely on the value of work. They reward hard work and pay employees the same regardless of where they work from.

This is known as location-agnostic pay.

A four-day workweek, or a compressed work schedule, is an arrangement where a workplace has its employees work four days per week instead of five. This may seem like a major shift in how we think about and approach work but there is good evidence to support it.

A 2014 study from Stanford University suggests productivity plummets after working 50 hours. Other experts suggest 35 hours is the optimal work time before productivity declines.

Overworked employees tend to become less efficient: due to stress, fatigue, and other factors, their output during a given day is lower than what it would have been if they had worked a shorter week.

By emphasizing results instead of hours logged, businesses can achieve the same in fewer hours while giving employees more time to pursue other interests, spend time with loved ones, and manage their work-life balance.