21st Century Work Life

Welcome to our first podcast episode of 2021, and happy new year to you wherever and whenever you are listening - from Virtual Not Distant in London (http://virtualnotdistant.com). Today we reflect further on culture in organisations, and bring you a great interview someone whose job revolves around this critical issue. 04.47 Stella Huang, head of Talent and Culture in Shield GEO Pilar spoke with Stella Huang in December 2020, Shield GEO take their retreats very seriously as a globally distributed organisation, and shifting them online during the throes of 2020 was a highly tactical endeavour. Being unable to do that the following year, they still wanted to connect people the best way they could, switching from a one-off annual get together to a regular cadence of monthly hour-long events. Please see https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/culture-virtual-retreats for full shownotes. 28.09 Getting clear on organisational culture Ensuring that human element of connectedness is at the heart of the new 'Podcasting for Connection' offering from Virtual Not Distant, which focuses on how we relate to and value one another outside of and around the work, which helps and supports the work we do together. Pilar will be developing this theme through 2021, and working with organisations to focus on culture across boundaries as the future of work evolves. Please do share your thoughts with her and help us create the content and services you need, to support you through this pivotal and important time for all remote and hybrid organisations.

This episode first went out in October 2019, as episode 212. We don't want this aspect of remote work to get lost amidst the pandemic forced remote work from home conversation. Our guests include Chris Slemp, Mandy Garner, Nacho Rodriguez, Lorraine Charles and Laurel Farrer. For full show notes visit https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/remote-social-change

Brought to you by Virtual Not Distant in London. In the final recording of the year, Pilar Orti and Maya Middlemiss take a longer perspective on the recent transformational shifts in remote work - while being mindful of all that 2020 has taught us. We discuss: 03.34 Serendipitous encounters (listener question from our LinkedIn page) (see also episode 211 on planned spontaneity) 14.06 Designing for the interactions we want to see Why You Need a Head of Remote Work. Embracing a flexible workplace 25.20 A 'work from anywhere' future? Should employers let staff work remotely from abroad during lockdown? Google Asks Workers Who Went Abroad for Covid to Return. Time to re-energise - workingmums.co.uk GitLab: work where you want, when you want For full shownotes please see https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/beyond-wfh-remote-spirit, and learn about the range of services and support that Virtual Not Distant can offer you as you and your team go 'beyond wfh' into 2021.

Brought to you by Virtual Not Distant in London. Today's imterview features Robert (Bob) Glazer who previously joined us 2 years ago back in episode 179, CEO of global partner marketing agency Acceleration Partners and author and podcaster Robert's company is fully remote and has always valued flexibility, long before the upheavals of 2020, so is glad to see the legitimising of the remote-first approach for agencies. Robert's Friday Forward email newsletter helps reflect and disseminate Acceleration Partners' values and vision, bringing these to a wider audience nowadays, and also modelling a culture of learning, ownership, and growth and improvement. Do connect via his website http://robertglazer.com/, and check out the Friday Forward book too. Don't forget to share your own thoughts about culture, identity, and team cohesion in the online space, and do look out for our new service to help you deepen your own team's connection and relationships - podcasting for connection. For full shownotes see https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/virtual-organisation-culture, and learn more about what Virtual Not Distant has to offer.

In the final episode of the mini-series How the World of Work and our Attitudes to Work are Changing, Pilar talks to Dr. Chris Mullen, Executive Director of The Workforce Institute at UKG, about their recent research into employees' concerns "for the workplace of today and tomorrow." You can read a summary of the study here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005303/en/Physical-Safety-Psychological-Security-Job-Stability-Employees-Worldwide-Share-Top-COVID-19-Concerns-for-the-Workplace-of-Today-and-Tomorrow And to connect with guest Chris Mullen, you can follow him on Twitter, https://twitter.com/chrismmullen or connect on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismmullen/ We'd love to hear your comments through our contact form on https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us

This is the second of three episode of the mini-series, "How the World of Work (and our attitudes to work) are Changing". Today, Pilar talks to Andrew Saunders about the research carried out in September 2020 the exclusive survey carried out by Management Today on what leaders really think about the return to the workplace: Will Hybrid Working Ever Work? You can connect with Andrew via Linkedin or Twitter. You can download the report here: https://cached.offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/NewsAttachments/OTM/Will-Hybrid-Working-Ever-Work-Mangement-Today-special-report-2020.pdf

The first episode in our three-part series on how the the world of work and our attitudes to work are changing. Today, Pilar talks to Katerina Bohle Carbonell about the results of the Remote Working during COVID-19: Ireland's National Survey, phase II. This work was carried out with the support of the Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission. Katerina is one of the four authors. You can check out the survey here: http://whitakerinstitute.ie/project/remote-working-during-covid-19-irelands-national-survey/ And to connect with Katerina: https://netnigma.com/ Subscribe to her newsletter: https://netnigma.substack.com/ Connect on Twitter with her: https://twitter.com/katerinabohlec

This bonus episode is brought to you by Virtual Not Distant in London, and it continues the conversation between Pilar Orti and Tim Burgess of Shield GEO, looking at what's been happening in both companies and the events they've been involved with. Pilar took part in the IAF conference, which was a week-long single track event, taking place online for the first time. Very different was Agile Tour London - also run on Zoom, but with the community conversation centred on Slack. Finally, Pilar has just attended Repeople, which used to be the NomadCity event in person in Gran Canaria. Also Shield GEO have run events online for their own distributed team, instead of their usual face-to-face retreats. Dividing their 17 regions into 3 blocs by timezone, they had fun online with trivia and so on, but also dived deeply into cultural exploration and learning from each other about each other's locally lived experiences. Pilar has run webinars recently on Visible Teamwork, and learned from participants that even when people know the theory, providing a framework and vocabulary for the interactions which support the theory is what makes all the difference. If you enjoyed these conversations with Tim Burgess, do follow him on Twitter, and take a look at the special series on connection and disconnection in remote work that we produced in partnership with ShieldGEO nearly a year ago - when the world was a different place, but the issues were strangely evergreen.

We have a special guest for today's What's Going On episode, as Tim Burgess from Shield GEO joins Pilar Orti from Virtual Not Distant, while Maya is away. Recording on the 6th November 2020, heres:' 5.32 What's going on Home vs Office This article The commuters who don't want to return to the office illustrates how women in particular feel less rushed and time pressured, when they don't have to travel to work outside the home. Business Insider Australia point out that Dutch civil servants now get $2 a day to cover coffee and toilet paper while remote working — and you should ask your boss for the same, a financial institution says. This is now law in parts of Europe, with new law in Spain to ensure boundaries, and this from Switzerland: Companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home. 21.50 Research into future of work Great to see work from anywhere entering the academic discourse with featured articles in Harvard Business Review from Prithwiraj Choudhury, and we love the uptake of this particular turn of phrase. Helen Jewell shared this article with Pilar at the IAF conference, about sign language for the Deaf community on video conferencing - a good reminder of the lost nuances for all when we translate a 3d face to face experience into a 2d one on-screen. 36.41 Surviving 2020 This article Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated relates intrinsic motivation to the way we're working through a crisis now, a valuable lens for understanding employee behaviour and wellbeing. Another recent paper Tim found goes deeper still, EXPRESS: Interpersonal connectivity work: Being there with and for geographically distant others - Ella Hafermalz, Kai Riemer, which explores the impact of telemedicine (another huge focus for remote collaboration 2020, that has much to teach us all). So that's What's Going On, and do join us tomorrow for the events and company news section of this conversation.

Today we're delighted to be speaking to Theresa Sigillito Hollema, about her new book Virtual Teams Across Cultures: Create Successful Teams Around The World, in discussion with Pilar Orti from Virtual Not Distant Ltd. Theresa is a cultural consultant and team coach with Interact Global, working with virtual teams spanning cultures and borders, for many years. Pilar and Theresa discuss cultural competence, the intersection of cultural difference and remote team dynamics, team belonging, and diversity and inclusion, in this interesting conversation - please see full shownotes on our website, and keep up with Theresa on Twitter and LinkedIn for more information about her work and her writing. Also, do check out our earlier episodes exploring some of the concepts covered in the episode, which are summarised and linked in a single big blog post here.