🤠 Austin #1 for WFH

Good Morning,

A few days ago, I listened to an interesting podcast episode by Freakonomics on the history of work and how it’s evolved over time — featuring interesting research from a few academics.

One interesting statistic? 60% of today’s jobs didn’t exist in 1940.

Not terribly surprising. But given this shift in the last 80 years, and the acceleration of technological advances, I’m not even sure 10% of today’s jobs will exist by 2100.

But what I am sure of: a hell of a lot more of them will not require an office.

Remote Source Job Board

Featured companies:

Capgemini: 103 remote jobs
Splunk: 214 remote jobs
Natera: 58 remote jobs

🤝 Find Remote Jobs Here

Need to Know

🎥 Cities with the most remote workers
According to the most recent census data available, Austin, Raleigh, and Denver have the highest concentration of remote workers in the US.

These cities are popular to move to for remote workers, featuring lower cost of living than some of the larger metropolitan areas and lots of outdoor activity — a big focus for those seeking work-life balance when they are choosing where to live.

Some smaller cities also saw big gains in remote work over the past 10 years. For example, Omaha went from 2.9% remote workers to 13.5% between 2014 and 2023, and Akron went from 3.2% to 14.8%. (New York Times)

🙅🏻‍♀️ Workers ignoring RTO demands
According to a report from Resume Builder, 18% of employees that have been given a return-to-office mandate are ignoring those requirements.

If employers decide to actually enforce compliance, 20% of employees say they would quit, and another 33% said they would be at least somewhat likely to leave. These companies better be careful or they’ll lose more talent than they’d expected! (HR Dive)

📝 Lessons from four years of remote work
It’s been an interesting ride seeing remote work’s ebbs and flows since the pandemic hit in 2020. It’s worth reflecting on what we’ve learned in the last four years:

• Remote work is about the tools AND the rules. Policy and deployment have a huge impact on the effectiveness of remote work.

• Track results, not hours worked at various locations.

• Leaders shouldn’t be afraid to change their management style. In many cases it should be updated to adapt to remote work.

• Remote-first doesn’t mean remote-only. People still want to be in-person on their own terms, and companies should accommodate that when possible.

• Remote work allows for better self-discovery and personal growth.

Tony Jamous, the founder and CEO of Oyster, put it well: “If there’s anything the past four years have taught us, it’s that the idea that people need to be at an office from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, to be productive is an outdated way of thinking.” (Inc.)

👎 3M back to the office
The new CEO at 3M is asking leaders to come into the office three days per week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

I don’t think it’s necessary at all, but I do think it’s at least a little better than some other RTO policies. Here’s why:

• Bringing people in on the same days allows for better coordinated in-person meetings and events.

• It’s only being rolled out to those at Director levels or higher (for now).

• While this policy is strongly encouraged, they’ve stopped short of making it formally required to be in the office three days per week.

That said, it’s still an unwelcome mandate, and signals distrust of employees. Previously, 3M’s leadership launched a “Work Your Way” policy which allowed for far more remote work, trusting employees to work with their managers to create attendance plans that worked best for them.

Turning back on that to “reinvigorate innovation” is surely a slap in the face to many who appreciated the autonomy they’d been given. (Bloomberg)

💡 Zoho CEO: WFH helps prevent burnout
Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of software company Zoho, advocates for workplace culture that prioritizes employee well-being, emphasizing that moving operations out of major urban centers could reduce burnout.

Vembu says that current corporate environments, especially in metropolitan areas, resemble a “pressure cooker” where long commutes and high stress lead to burnout, impacting employee and company productivity.

Allowing remote work is a huge step in the right direction for leaders who want to prevent burnout among their employees. (The Economic Times)

Stuff We Like

🏄🏻 SurfOffice
In the modern remote work environment, it’s still important to bring employees together to connect in person on occasion. Companies like this one, SurfOffice, specialize in setting up company retreats or “team workations” to build culture for remote teams. (SurfOffice)

✍️ 30 inexpensive home office upgrades
An anti-fatigue mat, a cable wrangler, an acrylic dry-erase board, and much more are on this list of products that can improve your home office without breaking the bank. (Buzzfeed)

💼 Entry-level remote jobs
Forbes shared these jobs that typically don’t require any previous work experience and can often be done remotely:

• Remote customer service agent—average salary range of $35,255 to $43,945

• Remote translator (especially freelance translator)—average salary range of $55,564 to $75,254

• Remote freelance tutor—average salary range $42,319 and $72,054

• Remote sales representative—average salary range of $54,255 to $74,208

• Teaching English as a foreign language—average salary range of $43,071 to $64,934

It’s less common to see companies offer fully-remote jobs to employees just beginning their careers, but these roles are more likely to be exceptions to that line of thinking.

If you know anyone looking for entry-level remote jobs, consider sending them this list to help them brainstorm some job search ideas. (Forbes)