… Work, Preventing Home Destruction on Garcon Point. … Commissioner Wilton Simpson Commends Florida Forest Service for Successful Firebreak Work, …
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Working from home has exploded in popularity over the past few years. What used to be seen as an unusual perk offered by some forward-thinking companies has now become commonplace for millions of professionals. According to Forbes, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, and the number is growing.
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While remote work offers many advantages, like flexibility and no commute, it also comes with its own unique challenges. Employees need extra discipline to stay on task away from managers’ watchful eyes. The boundaries between work and personal life can become blurred when your office is your dining room. Zoom meetings often replace watercooler chats and face-to-face collaborations.
Here are the 14 best parts of working from home, as well as the 15 worst downsides to consider. Understanding the pros and cons can help both managers and employees make the most of the remote work revolution.
Best Things About Working From Home
There’s a reason 90% of employees who work from home said they want to continue doing so. Actually, there are several reasons. These are some of the biggest perks of escaping the 9-to-5 office grind.
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You Save Time by Not Commuting
The average American’s commute time is roughly 27 minutes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means that most people spend just under an hour driving to and from work every day. That’s extra time you could use to get in an at-home workout or spend with your family.
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You Can Avoid Distracting Co-Workers
Working in an office environment means you’re opening yourself up to constant interruptions from co-workers. Some actually might want to chat about something useful, but others might just want to talk your ear off about what they did this weekend or what their kids have been up to. When you work from home, you avoid these daily interruptions.
You Can Work From Anywhere With an Internet Connection
You might be confined to your home, but you can work anywhere in your house that has Wi-Fi access. If it’s nice out and you have outdoor space, consider working outside. Even if you’re confined indoors, you can make the most of your home by setting up a cozy at-home office space. Consider taking meetings while standing up by a counter to switch things up.
You End Up Saving Money
As mentioned above, by working from home, you save money on gas, public transportation or Uber costs by cutting out your commute. Even better, you’ll save money in other ways, too. Since going out to eat is no longer an option in many places, you’ll save on going out for lunch every day. Plus, with no co-workers to impress with your outfit of the day, you’ll save money on clothes and dry cleaning.
You Don’t Have To Get Dressed Up
There’s no need to put on a suit or spend an hour fixing your hair and putting on makeup when you work from home. Not only is it more comfortable to work in your sweats, but you save the time it takes to get ready.
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You Can Take Phone Calls Without Co-Workers Listening In
Many people now work in an office with an open floor plan, making it nearly impossible to have a sense of privacy at work. When you work from home, you can freely make and receive phone calls without having to worry about nosy desk neighbors.
You Can Make Your Own Schedule
Depending on your job, you might be able to choose your own work hours when you work remotely. This means you can have a leisurely morning or get the kids off to school and start your day later, or you can bang out all of your tasks first thing and have the rest of your day free.
You Can Literally ‘Phone It In’ During Meetings
If you’re a remote worker, it’s especially important to be engaged during phone or video meetings, as these are your main opportunities for “face time” with your managers and co-workers. However, when you’re obligated to attend a meeting that’s really a waste of your time, you can just call in, put your phone on mute and work on a task that’s a more productive use of those minutes.
You’re Home To Accept Packages
It’s always a bummer when you’ve been eagerly awaiting a package, only to come home to find you missed the delivery person, and you now have to wait an extra day or two to get the package or retrieve it from a pick-up center. When you work from home, you’re always there when FedEx or UPS shows up.
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You Can Blast Your Music as Loudly as You Want
There’s no need for headphones and low-volume listening when you work from home. You can blast your favorite playlist at a louder volume since you’re at home, but be courteous of your neighbors, who might also be working from home.
You Can Create Your Dream Office Space
Whether your dream office is full of pink, fluffy details or is dark and austere, you can create the vibe that you want when you’re in total control of the décor.
It Forces You To Become More Independent
When you work in an office and you encounter a problem that you can’t find an easy solution for, you can ask your co-workers for help or constructive feedback. However, this can sometimes be used as a crutch, and leaning on others all the time can prevent you from gaining independence and growing your skills and confidence in your work.
When you work remotely, you’re forced to be independent and figure a lot of things out on your own — which can definitely be a good thing.
Communication Tends To Be More Efficient
When you don’t have access to your co-workers all the time and vice versa, you can’t just pop by each others’ desks to ask for clarification about something you discussed earlier. Knowing this, you might spend more time crafting emails to make sure they’re clear or be more effective at communicating all the important points during a meeting.
This more efficient communication can be a major time saver and can free up your time to take on more tasks during the day.
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You Can Stay Out of Office Gossip
With everyone working remotely, it’s less likely that office gossip will be as prevalent. This can help you avoid sticky situations that could potentially arise with co-workers.
Worst Things About Working From Home
Sure, working in your pajamas every day can be great. But there are some real negative aspects of working from home, too.
A Lack of Face Time Can Make It Harder To Get a Promotion
Research has shown that actually being present at work and being observed by others when working has positive outcomes for employees, including receiving better work assignments and being able to advance more quickly. When employees work remotely, it is more difficult to show commitment to their jobs, and that could make it harder to get promoted.
If you’ve been waiting for a promotion and are now working from home, this could delay that from happening.
You’re Always Available
Some remote workers compensate for their lack of face time by always being “on” as a way to show their commitment. This means you might get stuck responding to emails and attending meetings outside of your normal work hours. To avoid this, try to set boundaries and stick to your usual work hours, even though you’re now working outside the office.
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It Can Feel Isolating
Most Americans spend the majority of their waking hours working, and if you work by yourself, that means you spend most of your time by yourself.
It’s Harder To Know What’s Really Going On at Your Company
Working in an office makes you privy to water cooler gossip you don’t get when you work from home. While some of this info is worthless, sometimes you get tipped off to major company shifts that you wouldn’t otherwise have time to mentally prepare for or react to.
You Miss Out On Work Friendships
In addition to feeling isolated, working by yourself can cause you to miss out on developing or nurturing valuable personal relationships with your co-workers.
Many of your co-workers are probably feeling as isolated as you, however, especially if they’re also new to working from home. Continue cultivating work friendships through email or interoffice messaging apps during this time.
There’s No Real Sense of Separation Between Work and the Rest of Your Day
When you work in an office, you often can leave the workday behind you once you walk out the door. Home is your sanctuary where you can escape from work stress and truly relax. However, when your home is also your office, it can be harder to make that mental shift.
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It Can Turn You Into a Hermit
If you don’t make a conscious effort to step outside and away from your desk during the workday, you can spend the entire day at home. That easily can turn into multiple days of being cooped up, if you’re not careful.
You Have To Deal With Tech Issues Yourself
If your internet goes down or your laptop malfunctions, you have to deal with it yourself. Someone from your company’s IT department might be able to help you remotely, but even then, it’s not the same as being in the same place as your tech support.
You Have To Be Self-Motivated
It’s easy to stay on track when you work in an office environment and your manager or boss could step into your office or cube at any moment. When you work at home, it can be tempting to take long breaks or get sucked into doing tasks not related to your job. Unless you’re self-motivated and self-disciplined, working from home can kill your productivity.
It’s Harder To Collaborate On Projects
Thanks to video meetings and interoffice messaging apps such as Slack, it’s easy to communicate with co-workers instantaneously and virtually face-to-face. But sometimes there’s no real replacement for actual face time when you want to bounce ideas off your co-workers or get their honest feedback.
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It Can Hurt Your Social Skills
If you spend most of your days by yourself, you might find it increasingly harder to have normal social interactions when you are around other people. To prevent your social skills from declining, force yourself to have at least one social interaction each day, like FaceTiming with a friend or family member.
You Could Fall Into Poor Eating Habits
When you work from home, you have easy access to everything in your fridge and pantry at all times, which means you might find yourself mindlessly munching on chips and other unhealthy food items throughout the day. To prevent this, set meal and snack times and stick to eating only at those times.
Your Roommates and Family Might Not Respect Your Work Hours
If you don’t live alone, it’s likely you’ll now be sharing your work environment with roommates or family members who might want to chat or interrupt you constantly. It’s important to set boundaries to let people know that your workday is no different even though you’re not currently in the office. Establish “do not disturb” hours that are interruption-free.
You Risk Becoming Lonely and Depressed
Some studies have shown that full-time remote workers are much more likely to suffer from loneliness, anxiety and depression. Sitting at home alone all day long deteriorates critical social bonds and relationships. This isolation and sadness makes it hard to stay motivated and productive.
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It’s Easy To Be Distracted
Without managers watching over your shoulder, discipline is required to stay focused working from home. But with the TV and fridge just steps away, and no peer pressure to look busy, it’s very tempting to slack off. Both productivity and advancement take a hit when you have too much autonomy.
The truth is remote work has both upsides and downsides to consider. Being aware of the disadvantages, like career stagnation, isolation and burnout, can help you address them proactively. Then you can better enjoy the flexibility without sacrificing your sanity or job growth.
Laura Beck contributed to the reporting for this article.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 14 Best and 15 Worst Things About Working From Home
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A Texas man pleaded guilty to insider training after he was accused of making $1.7 million in illegal profits by purchasing and selling stocks based on his wife’s work conversations, which he had overheard while she was working remotely at home, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
The man, Tyler Loudon, of Houston, bought 46,450 shares of stock in the truck stop and travel center company TravelCenters of America after he heard his wife discuss her employer’s proposed acquisition of it, according to a complaint filed in the Southern District of Texas by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr. Loudon’s wife, who is not named in court documents, was a mergers and acquisitions manager at BP, a British oil and gas company, the complaint said.
On Feb. 16, 2023, TravelCenters of America announced that it had agreed to be acquired by BP, sending its stock prices soaring by 70.8 percent.
Mr. Loudon immediately sold all of his stock, which he had bought without his wife’s knowledge, according to court documents.
“Mr. Loudon made a terrible mistake in judgment for which he has taken full responsibility,” Mr. Loudon’s lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, said in an email.
Alamdar S. Hamdani, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, announced on Thursday that Mr. Loudon had pleaded guilty to securities fraud. Mr. Loudon also reached a partial judgment with the S.E.C., which had filed civil charges against him. BP declined to comment.
Mr. Loudon’s wife had started to work on BP’s proposed acquisition of TravelCenters of America in early 2022, the S.E.C.’s complaint said. She and Mr. Loudon, who is employed at a publicly traded company, often worked in home offices within 20 feet of each other.
Federal prosecutors said that Mr. Loudon either knew, or was “severely reckless in not knowing,” that information he overheard or was told about BP deals was confidential.
Mr. Loudon began buying TravelCenters of America stock on Dec. 27, 2022, and over the next seven weeks, the complaint said, he “methodically” sold approximately $2.16 million in positions from his individual brokerage account and his Roth IRA to purchase more of the company’s stock.
He did not tell his wife, federal prosecutors said.
After the merger was announced publicly, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a private business regulator, requested information from BP in late March 2023 about the deal, the complaint said.
Mr. Loudon’s wife told her husband that a former colleague who had worked on the acquisition had complained to her about BP’s lawyers, who were asking for personal information. Mr. Loudon asked his wife if other employees would be under similar scrutiny and she said that they would.
A week later, Mr. Loudon told his wife that he had bought shares of the stock before the acquisition, but he did not say how many shares or how much money he had made, the complaint said.
Mr. Loudon’s wife was “stunned” by this admission, according to the complaint, and told her supervisor. She was placed on administrative leave and eventually terminated.
BP reviewed Mr. Loudon’s wife’s texts and emails and found no evidence that she knowingly leaked the information or knew about her husband’s trading.
“After Loudon’s confession, Loudon’s wife moved out of their house and generally ceased all contact with Loudon,” the complaint said. Mr. Loudon’s wife initiated divorce proceedings in June 2023.
Mr. Loudon faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a possible maximum fine of $250,000, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Loudon also agreed in the plea agreement to forfeit his $1,763,522 profit to the United States. His sentencing is scheduled for May 17.
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Fort Worth has trash in its sights, and would like you get with the program — the composting program, that is.
Recognizing that the city’s landfill was filling up with materials that could go elsewhere, Fort Worth has been seeking ways to divert materials that could be re-used, recycled, mulched, or composted.
In 2019, the city launched its innovative
Residential Food Waste Composting Program, in which residents separate food scraps and bring them to drop-off points across Fort Worth.
Food scraps might seem like a messy annoyance when you take out the garbage, but it’s a bigger problem for the environment than it is for your nose. The methane gas from decomposing food in landfills contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. It also contributes to air, water, and traffic and transport pollution because the food scraps have to be hauled away by garbage trucks.
Composting takes those scraps and transforms them into organic matter that can be put back into the ground as a rich soil nutrient.
Back in 2014, an audit of the Fort Worth landfill revealed that 35 percent of contents could have been composted instead. This knowledge led city staffers to come up with an innovative solution, with a design based on a similar program in Minneapolis, to encourage and support residential composting.
In addition to local funding from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the program is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Fort Worth currently has a total of 2,466 subscribers, who’ve donated a total of 144,201 pounds of food waste, keeping nutrient-rich food scraps and organic waste out of landfills.
Avery Pesek, a senior environmental planner with the city, and coordinator for Keep Fort Worth Beautiful, hopes to get that number close to 3,000 in 2024.
“We’ve found that the biggest barrier to entry in the program is people knowing about it,” Pesek says. “We are trying to get the word out about how easy and effective composting is to help Fort Worth.”
Fort Worth’s program was the first of its kind in North Texas; Plano launched a similar residential composting in 2023. (Houston began a composting program in 2021. San Antonio was a pioneer when it began a composting program in 2011, and Austin has been composting since 2013.)
Fort Worth subscribers pay a one-time $20 fee and are given a Composting Starter Kit, which includes a 5-gallon bucket with a lid, a smaller kitchen countertop pail that closes securely, and education materials.
“Two things I run into is a concern about odor and a concern about difficulty, but because it is a locking, closing bucket, there really isn’t a smell,” Pesek says.
Once the bucket is full, residents can drop off the scraps at one of 21 collection sites, such as Fort Worth community centers, churches, and parks. Most offer 24-hour access points to make dropping off as convenient as possible.
After dumping their compost, participants rinse their bucket at home and start again.
“If your reference is backyard composting, you might think this is going to be more difficult than it is,” Pesek says. “You can put things into our buckets that you can’t put in a backyard compost.”
For example, animal products. Most backyard composters add plant materials only, but the Fort Worth program takes any food scraps or leftovers, including cooked meats, bones, eggshells, baked goods, tea bags, coffee filters, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, including peels and pits.
“The composting program was designed with the residential subscriber in mind, and we wanted to make sure we could accept products like cooked meat, dairy, egg shells, that traditional backyard composting is not able to handle,” Pesek says.
They’re working with Cowboy Compost, the Fort Worth waste management company founded by former FWSO maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya that specializes in “zero-waste” through composting in restaurants, workplaces, sporting events, and private homes. (They also sell their own bagged compost.) Cowboy Compost transforms the scraps into material that can be used in gardens, landscaping, and construction projects.
Unacceptable items include raw meats, grease or oil, chewing gum, Styrofoam, plastic bags, diapers, microwave popcorn bags, frozen food packaging, and pet waste or cat litter. Additionally, any products that are recyclable or labeled biodegradable are also unacceptable for compost.
Pesek says the program has consistently had a low level of contamination – less than 1 percent.
“The people who are opting into the program are a really passionate group,” she says. “We’ve been shocked at how good they are at following the requirements.”
According to the latest census, there are approximately 326,648 households in Fort Worth, making the current subscriber tally of 2,466 households less than 1 percent.
But for now, Pesek has her eye on the 3,000 subscriber benchmark. One composter at a time.
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BuzzFeed Shopping editor Amanda Davis tells us why she’s a fan: “I’ve been using the blood orange scented bowl bombs for a couple of months now, and OMG they smell amazing! Like, right when I opened the package. After during a thorough cleaning of my bathroom I always pop of these babies in the toilet as a last step to clean and make the room smell a little better (I have a teeny tiny bathroom so this little guy does the trick). And in terms of cleaning the porcelain throne, they absolutely work. My toilet bowl always shines brighter after using one. It’s also helpful that the packaging is plain ole adorable and I don’t have to hide or store it anywhere!”
Viren Apothecary is a woman-owned business based in Wisconsin that sells eco-friendly cleaning essentials.
Promising reviews: “Literally can’t tell you how worth the wait these toilet bombs are! They smell absolutely incredible but not artificial, and they WORK. I have a new baby and two other kids, and my house is basically a biohazard because I’m short on time and energy. I just plop one of these puppies into the toilet, come back shortly and scrub, and they glisten. Even my husband, who has never voluntarily cleaned anything in his life, will clean toilets because the fizzers are fun. I was part of the BuzzFeed order rush, and so there were significant delays, but the communication was awesome and so friendly! Even though I had the long wait, it was absolutely worth it, and they have a customer for life. I’m so excited to try their other products!!” —Teresa Cambria
Get it from Viren Apothecary on Etsy for $9.50+ (available in blood orange, eucalyptus, or unscented).
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Developers tend to view the world as a place to tear down and build anew. But Arlington resident and longtime financial visionary Alan Petsche often has different ideas in mind.
“A love for, and a respect of history,” he calls it.
Petsche is the man responsible for thoughtful projects such as the restoration and reopening of Arlington’s famous Candlelite Inn, the 1957 restaurant said to have served the first pizza in town; and Joe’s Radiator Service, a 1963 structure at 200 N. East St. in Arlington that’s now home to pizzeria Cane Rosso.
For those efforts, Petsche was named the 2023 Dream Builder by the Downtown Arlington Management Corp., who presented the award at the Arlington association’s annual meeting and luncheon on September 20.
“A restored building has memories in its walls. You hear and feel them,” Petsche said as he recounted a Candelight memory. “You know what kids? Your grandma and grandad had their first date here. Same booth we’re in now!”
The award honors individuals who’ve contributed to revitalizing downtown Arlington; previous recipients include developer Ryan Dodson, whose Dodson Commercial Real Estate did the Urban Union development in Arlington, and former Arlington mayor Jeff Williams.
From left: John Arnot from DAMC, Alan Petsche, Maggie Campbell DAMC President/CEO, and Jim Minge, Texas Trust Credit UnionDAMC
A long-time resident of Arlington and graduate of Lamar High School and UTA, Petsche has a legacy of building successful businesses and helping others in the community. He was only nine when he began working for his father, who started the A.E. Petsche Company in the family garage. Petsche eventually became the COO of the family business, which served the aerospace industry for more than 40 years before it was sold in 2009.
A release calls him a “serial entrepreneur” who has owned and operated an eclectic variety of businesses ranging from a comic book store he started in high school to a computer company, commercial real estate organizations, and restaurants. He is highly regarded in Arlington and beyond for his generosity, business acumen, integrity, musical talent, and service to the community.
At the Candlelite Inn, his team serves lunch to 150 volunteers of Mission Arlington weekly. The Court at the College Park Center Special Events Arena is named in his honor as a major donor to the University of Texas at Arlington.
He was also the biggest investor in the Urban Union development, helping drive major re-investment and bringing dozens of new businesses into downtown Arlington. Urban Union currently has 24 storefronts within eight buildings.
In a prior life, he was in a ’70s power-pop band called The Pengwins, which toured and sold records throughout the U.S. and in Europe. He keeps the music flame alive with a record label called Spyder Pop Records (initially created under the name Aaron Avenue Records) which has been called “a textbook model of how to do musical community right,” as well as “rightly renowned for their spectacular presentation of vinyl and CD releases.”
Maggie Campbell, President and CEO of the Downtown Management Arlington Corporation said, “Alan’s love for his hometown of Arlington is evident in the investments he has made, such as restoring the Candlelite Inn, and his passion for making downtown Arlington a prime destination for living, work, and entertainment that appeals to residents and visitors.”
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Examples of aggressive marketing
Aggressive marketing can be achieved through several different strategies. Cold-calling and email campaigns are probably the best examples. Thus, it refers to the practice of soliciting potential customers who have never engaged with your brand to see if they would be interested in what you’re offering.
Large banner ads, pop-ups and video ads on platforms such as YouTube are also forms of aggressive marketing, as they bombard the audience with information. These digital marketing materials are often segmented, appearing on relevant websites and alongside content the target customer is already engaging with.
Another example of aggressive marketing is assembling a street team to hand out flyers or acquire email addresses. This can be a draining practice, but it’s a great way to connect with people who otherwise may not know about your company, if you can handle all the rejection.
If you plan on writing a cold email to your consumers, the keys are to be authentic, establish a connection and tailor your message.
Strategies to boost your sales
Below, you’ll find several aggressive marketing strategies to rev up your sales from day one.
1. Reach influencers and cultivate relationships.
The most important people in your market are the individuals who speak to your target audience on a daily basis.
These could be TV or radio personalities, or they may be YouTube channel hosts or TikTok stars. Simply put, if your target customer is paying attention to them, you need to use these influencers to your advantage.
Email them, call them, offer them free products and, above all else, treat them as your best customers. A mention from an influencer can propel your startup from a nobody to a force to be reckoned with.
Some startups have had success negotiating market deals with influencers. For example, Happy Feet had a great deal of success marketing their oversized sneakers and slippers by working with Snooki from the MTV reality show Jersey Shore. She tweeted their product out to her followers, and in return, she received a commission on every pair sold.
Get creative and find ways to develop relationships with the influencers whom your customers are paying attention to.
According to a recent analysis by Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing has an average ROI of $5.78 for every $1 businesses spend on it.
2. Hammer home how much your product is needed.
There’s an element of fear that is part of many marketing campaigns. It might be the fear that you’re not as attractive as the model in the ad unless you buy the perfume or cologne they’re wearing. Or your home needs a home security system because X number of home robberies occur every year in your neighborhood. It’s imperative, though, to stay on the right side of marketing, providing a sense of urgency without being malicious.
To do this, major retailers have weekly sales and clearances to build a sense of urgency in the buyer. Human nature tells us that when something is scarce, or only available for a limited time, we are more likely to purchase it.
3. Get the buzz going.
In the world of social media, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The more consumers are talking about your brand or service with their friends, the more free advertising you’re getting.
Tech-savvy companies are beginning to use a variety of marketing tactics on Instagram and other social media platforms. Start taking pictures around the office. Curate them into collections and type up little stories to go along with them.
Maybe one of your partners has a strong brand story for why your product was created; empower them to share their story and tag your company in the post. Once the buzz starts, don’t forget to engage. Pay close attention to what is being shared, liked and followed the most.
After you identify the high-performing tactics that your audience loves, hammer it home with unwavering attention.
4. Use emotion over logic.
Various studies show that emotional advertisements are the most effective. So, if you haven’t figured it out by now, you need to get out there and pull on some heartstrings.
A Whirlpool ad that went viral emphasized the challenges parents face in raising a family. For many consumers, the ad takes the viewer back and allows them to feel a sense of nostalgia for times when parents could save the day and make things easier for their kids. For parents, the Whirlpool advertisement reinforces that their washing machine can help make some tasks, like laundry, a little bit easier so that there’s more time to spend making fun family memories.
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Years into what was eventually labeled a “burnout epidemic,” there are countless books, articles, and lectures about how to buck this trend, and achieve some sort of balance in your life. Although there are some notable exceptions, most materials and resources contain the same tips and advice—including that it’s necessary for us to unplug and recharge in order to avoid burnout.
The terms “unplugging” and “recharging” are often used interchangeably, but actually refer to two different concepts. Here’s what to know.
The difference between unplugging and recharging
According to Guy Winch, PhD, the author of “Emotional First Aid” and a co-host of the “Dear Therapists” podcast, the reason many people—including himself—end up burning out, isn’t because they spend too much time working: It’s because they’re unable to stop thinking about work in their remaining waking hours.
This nonstop rumination is typically focused on what’s going wrong at work—“the upsetting things, the distressing things”—rather than anything positive, so unsurprisingly, he says it ends up being a major source of stress, and is, in no way, a productive use of our time.
We’re constantly told that we need to unplug after work, but Winch says that’s not enough to prevent or stop us from ruminating. For that, we need to recharge.
What is unplugging?
Winch uses the terms “unplugging” and “disconnecting” interchangeably, referring to taking some type of deliberate action to transition out of “work mode.” This involves setting clear boundaries—or what he calls “guardrails”—to shift your physical and/or mental state; things like changing clothes after work, having a designated work area, or ending your work day with a fake commute if you work from home.
According to Winch, technology “empowers rumination,” so he recommends refraining from checking your work email, and turning off any work-related notifications on your phone.
What is recharging?
Once you’ve unplugged or disconnected, you can move on to recharging—which Winch says involves doing an activity that “leaves you feeling energized mentally, and pleased with yourself for doing it.”
It’s important to note that recharging activities aren’t one-size-fits-all. For example, going to the gym to work out can be mentally energizing for some people, while making other people feel anxious and drained. The same is true of other recharging activities that Winch recommends, like crafting and meditation.
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Work from anywhere jobs gained unprecedented popularity with the summer spark (Pic: Canva Pro/TIMES NOW DIGITAL)
According to the quarterly Flexible Working Index released by Flexa, the demand for WFA roles saw a remarkable 120 per cent jump. Around 33 per cent of all job seekers were actively searching for such opportunities in the April-June quarter. The number of people who stated WFA as their top preference was the recorded by the Index since its launch in July 2022. The findings this year were the result of insights gathered from over 350,000 job searches. The preferences of over 8,000 job seekers regarding their desired location, schedule, and work style for the relevant quarter were taken into account.
What is WFA?
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the popularity of WFA schemes has risen considerably. Since employees have the option to work from any location, they can take advantage of the benefit of travelling to new places or visiting family members overseas without using up their yearly vacation days.
Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO and co-founder of Flexa said,”this kind of flexibility allows employees to travel for extended periods without having to use up annual leave or take a cut in pay – a particularly appealing prospect during the warmer months.”
Higher demand for fully remote roles, flexible work hours
A month-on-month growth in the demand for fully remote roles was noticed, with 59 per cent of all workers expressing a preference for fully remote positions by June 2023. This marked a 13 per cent increase from April this year.
“We saw fully remote roles fall out of favour with job seekers last autumn, with demand dropping to an all-time low in December. The reversal of this trend, which began in spring and has continued into the summer, highlights the seasonality behind demand for different working locations,” Molly Johnson-Jones said.
The past quarter also saw a seasonal increase of nine per cent in the number of job seekers who preferred summer hours. Around 24 per cent of all workers indicated a preference for summer hours, compared to 22 per cent in April. The change in preference coincides with employees wanting to make the most of the extended and warmer evenings that come with the summer season.
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The state of California is hiring in the departments of general services, aging and managed health care.
State jobs are known for offering competitive benefits and enrollment in the nation’s largest state public pension plan. Many of the following jobs have specific requirements, which are linked.
Sift through some of California’s latest state job postings offering remote work available on the CalCareers website, posted in the last seven days, as of July 18:
Associate industrial hygienist | Permanent full-time
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Location: Yolo County
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Department: General Services
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Salary: $6,684 to $9,128 per month
The associate industrial hygienist performs regular health and safety investigations for workplace hazards.
Remote work is offered three days a week, according to CalCareers. The application closes on July 27.
Want to stand out when applying for California state jobs? Your guide to these departments
Health program specialist | Limited term full-time
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Location: Sacramento County
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Department: Department of Aging
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Salary: $6,061 to $7,587 per month
The health program specialist participates in governmental decisions that may impact “personal financial interests.”
“Remote centered telework may be optional, according to CalCareers. The application closes on July 27.
Information technology specialist | Permanent full-time
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Location: Sacramento County
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Department: Managed Health Care
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Salary: $5,960 to $9,643 per month
The information technology specialist maintains a healthcare delivery system to protect consumers’ healthcare rights.
Full-time remote work is available within California, according to CalCareers. The application will remain open until filled.
Staff services manager | Permanent full-time
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Location: Yolo County
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Department: General Services
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Salary: $6,563 to $8,153 per month
The staff services manager acts as the expert on the department budget.
Remote work is available ffour days a week, but employees may be required to work in person, according to Calcareers. The application closes on July 28.
Want to stand out when applying for California state jobs? Your guide to these departments
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