🙅🏻‍♂️ Gossip, oversharing ruin the office

Good Morning,

If you take any inspiration from this year’s March Madness, let it be from Oakland University’s Jack Gohlke, the fifth-year guard who led his team to a huge upset over Kentucky.

Out of the 355 shots he took this season, 347 of them were from beyond the three-point line. I don’t follow basketball closely, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player whose three-point attempts account for over 97% of their shot selection.

Just like three-point shots, remote jobs aren’t the easiest ones to convert. Layups, like office jobs today, are often far more accessible.

But with the right form (polished resume and cover letters), plenty of practice (interview answers and storytelling), and a little luck (networking, browsing the internet, any random conversation), you just might be able to find the perfect remote job for your career and create your own cinderella story.

Remote Source Job Board

Featured companies:

ZOLL Medical: 132 remote jobs
Mercury: 28 remote jobs
Informa: 56 remote jobs

🤝 Find Remote Jobs Here

Need to Know

💥 Poll: remote work is “unnecessarily politicized”
The Harris Poll with Bloomberg ran a study that digs into the country’s thoughts about remote work and its prevalence in the national discourse. Some of the most interesting findings:

• 68% agree remote work has become unnecessarily politicized

• 57% think companies focus too much on RTO policies

• 53% think it’s unfair that some people can work remotely while others can’t due to the nature of their jobs

Further, there’s a significant partisan split when it comes to opinions about remote work. While the majority of both parties are in agreement about most of the below statements, Democrats appear more likely to be supportive of remote work, and Republicans are more likely to say remote work hurts career advancement.

I’m sincerely hoping that remote work doesn’t become something that politicians try to weigh in on any more than they have. The partisan difference in these responses doesn’t take away the positive impact remote work has for everyone.

All else equal, having flexible work options makes people’s lives drastically better. And that’s why I’ll keep sending this newsletter week after week to encourage, facilitate, and propel remote work across the world. (Bloomberg)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The Conservative case for remote work
Coincidentally, this article was published last week highlighting why Republicans should consider supporting remote work.

Remote work allows for stronger family units and stronger small-town economies, two talking points that conservative politicians are typically more vocal about.

Further, it reduces the chance that a person’s primary social outlet is the workplace, leaving more room for healthier (and likely longer-lasting) social outlets like book clubs or church groups. (Public Discourse)

📢 How to attract remote workers to cities
The remote revolution has unexpectedly bolstered suburban communities and many smaller cities in the last few years, but its impact hasn’t been seen everywhere. Some places, like Tulsa, Oklahoma, have seen clear and measurable benefit by attracting remote workers. But as this Virginia Tech study highlighted, there are many communities that haven’t yet tapped into their potential to do the same.

The study identified four types of remote workers, quoted in the article as follows:

• Urbanists — Younger workers who value urban amenities such as culture, diversity, infrastructure and economic opportunities. Many remain in high-cost cities despite remote work.

• Salary Stretchers — These workers leverage wage and cost-of-living differentials through “geoarbitrage” to maximize their purchasing power. Many transition from renting to home ownership.

• Nature Lovers — They value natural amenities like forests, lakes and mountains. Many relocate from cities to more rural areas.

• Boomerangs — These are remote workers with pre-existing connections to a place, often through friends or family ties. These connections drive relocation.

The author argues that if community leaders understand these motivations, and can match them with specific features in their own community, then they stand to benefit handsomely from remote workers.

As an example, funding new coworking spaces, innovation centers, public WiFi, or housing developments could help cities and states attract more people with location flexibility who have different reasons to relocate. Perks can vary drastically by city, but with some thoughtful and targeted focus, cities can ensure their local economies grow stronger as more people look to move away from urban centers. (Cardinal News)

🤫 Gossiping, oversharing, and flirting are big office aversions
Indeed recently surveyed employees and employers in the UK to better understand office preferences and modern behaviors in a post-pandemic workforce.

They found that 1 in 5 employees are specifically avoiding the office because of their colleagues’ behavior. Gossip was the #1 behavior that causes employees to stay home, followed by “oversharing,” flirting, and more.

The study highlights the need for employers to create positive environments if they insist on any in-office days, whether that means making time for team-building activities, hosting office etiquette classes, or any other means of creating meaningful, respectful connections among colleagues. (Fortune)

📊 Gen Z’s remote preferences
They’re the generation that wants the least remote work - for now, at least. But job board Handshake dug deeper to find more about what today’s soon-to-be college graduates are looking for when it comes to workplace flexibility:

• 11% want fully in-person

• 26% want mostly in-person

• 36% want an even split of in-office and remote

• 13% want mostly remote

• 14% want fully remote

It’s been stressed by company leaders that younger employees should be spending more time in the office, and those younger employees have generally felt the same. That said, it will be interesting to see if they start to prefer remote work after several years in the workplace. I expect that in the long run, remote preferences will be more dependent on age than generational affiliation. (Axios)

Stuff We Like

📝 List of headsets for WFH
CNET ranked a lot of headset options for remote workers in this convenient list. Most are proper “headsets” that fit on top of your head, though there are a few links to earbuds like Apple’s earlier-generation Airpods. (CNET)

📝 You can now make AI images in Microsoft Paint
Everyone’s favorite gateway design tool now includes basic AI image creation. If you haven’t tried to create any AI images yet and you’re using Microsoft Windows 11, this may be a great way to dip your toes into the ocean of generative AI. (Lifehacker)

🌍 European cities for digital nomads, ranked by affordability
The most expensive on the list is Zurich, which probably isn’t a surprise. But the cheapest? Tuzla, the third-largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is $224 and an average meal is under $5. (Travel & Leisure)

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