Work From Anywhere Course

April 8, 2019June 8, 2020

Work From Home Newsletter: Edition 9

Coworking spaces reduce social isolation

In the latest work-from-home news is the growth of coworking as an alternative to the isolation and loneliness of working from home. AI still in the news, as is the conversation around reskilling employees in India and abroad and the growth of the gig economy spawns new platforms.

THE LATEST WORK FROM HOME NEWS

Many professionals have said goodbye to the traditional 9-5 job and are becoming freelancers to be able to work when and where they want. Many people even find the gig lifestyle preferable to a more traditional career path.

Successful freelancers know how to take inventory of their skills, determine which ones have the highest market demand, and put them to use in a way that they can monetize.

With India becoming the third largest start-up hub in the world and the second largest freelancer workforce in the world, there is a potential demand for more than 3.5 to 4 million seats in the coworking space, states a 2017 study titled, ‘Future of Work – The Coworking Revolution’. Studies predict that by 2020, coworking spaces will overtake the traditional office format in India.

Mobile technology and remote working can actually be the driver behind people’s creativity, productivity and efficiency – all of which are critical for business success. While it’s difficult to quantify how large the gig economy is (jobs like Uber drivers and contract workers where you set your own schedule), it’s clear that the gig economy is here to stay.

But the growth of the gig economy is a mixed blessing for workers. For some, it offers a welcome opportunity to work part-time or supplement their paycheck with an occasional side hustle.

Tip: Taking on a side gig can be a good way to test out second-act interests, learn valuable skills and develop new income streams. To get a feel of what’s available, take a look at SideHusl.com, an excellent site that reviews and rates 250 online gig platforms.

In the next decade or so, workers who perform repeatable tasks and statistical analyses, such as warehouse packagers and data scientists, will be replaced by machines. A wave of machines that can make decisions, like driverless cars, will replace gig economy workers the decade after that.

Changes in the first two stages of automation, happening now and in the next 10 years, will impact women more than men, PwC concluded. On average across 30 countries, 11% of the female labour force is at risk of losing jobs to automation, while only 9% of the male labour force is at risk.

The gig economy has shaken up expectations about what being an employee or an independent contractor means. Unionization rates continue to decline, but organizers have looked for alternative ways to engage workers.

With the rise of the gig economy and the changing nature of the employer-employee relationship, a new social contract is necessary to support workers in this new reality.

Benefits should be portable so workers can easily move from job to job without losing health insurance and other benefits now tied to a specific employer. Post-secondary education needs to be more affordable.

Lifelong learning is the new buzz phrase when it comes to discussions of work. Transforming this from rhetoric to reality will require fundamental changes in educational institutions and teaching methods.

It starts with the children in schools today who will likely be most affected by the AI revolution in the coming decades. Even after people are in the workforce, learning new skills and acquiring new knowledge will continue throughout their careers.

As robots, automation and artificial intelligence perform more tasks and there is a massive disruption of jobs, experts say a wider array of education and skills-building programs will be created to meet new demands.

There are two uncertainties: Will well-prepared workers be able to keep up in the race with AI tools? And will market capitalism survive?

AI may not leave you unemployed, just reskilled. WEF’s report, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: Industry-Led Action for the Future of Work, includes a cost-benefit analysis. It calculates that by investing $4.7 billion, the U.S. private sector could reskill 25 per cent of all workers in disrupted jobs with a positive cost-benefit balance.

Transitioning to a remote workforce, whether fully or partially distributed, gives you access to a larger pool of talent and has been linked to increased productivity and improved employee satisfaction.

Savvy workplaces such as Zapier and others are already managing remote teams successfully by making their operations and culture more friendly to the future of work. Leading a productive (and happy) distributed team may seem challenging, but these five principles will help foster a resilient company culture to help you along the way.

Do Indian policymakers recognise the contributions of home-based workers even within the informal economy? Many would agree that the answer is ‘no’.

The bias that fails to accept the fact that a productive economic job can be performed from home comes from a patriarchal value system that has always attached an economic value to spaces where men work.

It thus reinforces the idea that work is something that is performed outside the home – in an office, factory, shop, etc. Any work that is performed at home, then, cannot be valued as a ‘worthy’ work.

Unless conscious efforts are made to redefine work, and it is seen through the lens of labour and not place of work or wages offered, it will be difficult to bring about a change in recognising home-based workers as part of the workforce.

According to Indian Skill Report 2018, around 48 per cent of engineers are unemployed. A study by employability assessment company, Aspiring Minds, says 95 per cent of engineers in the country were not fit for development jobs (published by Wheebox).

The reason behind this is that often, new engineers lack the advanced programming skills needed for jobs today. More often, engineers with the right skill sets work jobs that require much less skill.

Delhi-based educational startup Pesto is helping accelerate India’s software engineering talent through its 12-week Bootcamp. Working as a career accelerator, Pesto runs a 12-week Bootcamp where they train software engineers with minimum two-years of experience in soft-skills, by connecting them to mentors in the US.

As the gig economy becomes mainstream, the future of work will be all about enabling talent from anywhere to contribute. Pesto is helping the young talent from Tier III towns and remote areas to get a platform where their skills and competencies can be polished so as to make them compete with the best software engineers from not only top/Tier I colleges in India but from anywhere in the world.

Freelancing, telecommuting, and job-hopping are on the rise, and with these big shifts in work arrangements, we’re seeing an increase in loneliness. Could coworking be part of the cure?

As research begins to show that shared workspaces can play a role in building social connections and reducing isolation, corporations are increasingly coming around to the view that coworking is a mental wellness issue, says Steve King, a partner at small-business research consultancy Emergent Research.

Coworking spaces reduce social isolation and loneliness, according to a survey by Emergent Research and the Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC), with 87% of respondents reporting that they meet other members for social reasons. Another 83% report being less lonely and 89% report being happier since joining a coworking space.

WORK FROM HOME LIBRARY

Here are the latest articles in our work from home library:

How to start a stitching and embroidery business from home in India

If you love creating impressive embroidery patterns, this article will show you step-by-step how to start an embroidery business from home in India.

Home office ergonomics: Home office furniture to help you do your best work

Working from home? Designing an ergonomic home office is a must. Follow our home office ergonomics guide to buy ergonomic home office furniture.

7 lesser known career tools for job seekers and women going places

Give your career a boost with this list of the best career tools for job seekers. Use them to increase your chance of finding the job of your dreams.

7 reasons why online courses are the future of education

The future of education lies in embracing online learning and online courses. Here are seven reasons why online education is the future of education.

Top online MBA courses from online business schools in India and abroad

Want to upgrade your business skills without taking a break? Check out these online MBA courses from top business schools in India and abroad.

My interview on freelance digital marketing jobs

In this video, Sangeeta Kumar of Diginekt interviews me about freelance digital marketing jobs and working from home in India.

10 (more) proven small business ideas for Indian women

Need small scale business ideas for housewives? Adding to our many lists of small business ideas, here are 10 more small business ideas for Indian women.

10 of the best online tutoring sites to find online tutoring jobs

Here are the top 10 online tutoring sites that represent the best tutoring companies, with tips on what makes them so popular for tutoring jobs online.

All our work from home articles is now part of our Work From Anywhere Library that you can access for free below.

👉 Click here to access the Work From Anywhere Library

Bookmark this page because it will be updated often.

March 23, 2019June 8, 2020

Work From Home Newsletter: Edition 8

In the latest work from home news is the heartwarming finding that freelancers are happier, new gig economy platforms, benefits of coworking and more.

THE LATEST WORK FROM HOME NEWS

According to research newly compiled by ReportLinker, what has become known as the “gig economy” is slowly but surely becoming more and more attractive to traditional workers.

In this new survey, 76% of American professionals declared being convinced that freelancers are happier than traditional workers.

This feeling of happiness is much more shared than it was in the 2017 version of the research (+11 pts), which shows that this alternative working life may be more and more attractive.

Top reasons for being a freelance worker are still the same compared to 2017:

being one’s’ own boss (27%)
having flexible working hours (21%) and
having a better balance between work and personal life (15%)

On the other side, aspects such as the lack of financial security (23%), or job security (21%) are part of what drive freelance workers back. Saving for one’s retirement is also worrying for them (23%).

The consulting firm, PwC, has launched a gig economy platform that allows people to offer their skills for hire without working traditional hours. The Flexible Talent Network allows interested parties to list their skills and preferred work pattern when they apply.

They can state a preference to work shorter weekly working hours or work for a few months a year on a project basis. The company will then match recruits to relevant projects rather than specific roles.

More than 2,000 people have registered with the network so far in the two weeks since it was launched. PwC decided to launch the platform after almost half of respondents to a survey said they would prioritise flexible working hours and work-life balance when choosing a job.

Workplace scenarios and trends are constantly changing. In such a dynamic environment, naturally one needs to adapt and imbibe newer and more relevant skills. From technology-related to people-oriented skills, here are the top skills you must acquire to up your career game this year.

The on-demand talent networks that aggregate communities of gig workers tell us that up to 70% or more of their engagement with companies happens at the director level or lower, rather than as a top-down directive from the C-Suite.

This is a missed opportunity for company leadership, and something worth looking into. It could be smart business to formalize the process of working with the gig economy if this is happening within your organization.

With many jobs disappearing, workers might have to accept stultifying, underpaid “clickwork”, or employment that is managed by surveillance technologies or manipulative software.

The traditional workplace of 9-5 stability might disappear, replaced by a “gig economy” in which workers, at the mercy of apps, jump at every opportunity to earn some money. And social life as we know it might be disrupted by unpredictable schedules and fractured colleague networks.

Flexible working arrangements can be key to acquiring talent and boosting morale as long as remote-based working arrangements are managed properly.

But managing people from afar is completely different from managing face-to-face, raising significant concerns over the success of flexible working unless new principles are adopted.

Workers expect conference calls and virtual meetings to become more common over the coming five years, with face-to-face meetings being the only form of business interaction that respondents expect to become less frequent.

Coworking continues to rise in popularity worldwide, but when it comes to gender, it’s become clear that the spaces aren’t always so balanced. The majority of coworking spaces have a masculine tech-focused culture – some have even dubbed it “broworking” – that many women do not find engaging or inclusive.

Technology will kill the 9-to-5 work week, says Richard Branson. The 40-hour work week stems from labour laws created in the early 20th century, and many have said this model is becoming increasingly obsolete. The billionaire entrepreneur predicts the rise of technology will soon force society to rethink the modern work week.

Working from home may be more economical, but it does have its downsides like disturbance from the family, the lure of getting laid back and the non-professional ambience in case a client wants to drop in etc.

Coworking seems to be a perfect blend of togetherness as well as independence. It saves on cost and is a great place to network.

Working in shared offices also gives you the advantage of having wide access to knowledge from other professionals. You can thus get help when you face any challenges along the way.

This knowledge also opens up a range of opportunities for you to explore as you get ideas from other professionals who are experienced in other areas. It is also a good choice for freelancers and those who work while travelling.

Bangladesh supplies 16% of the world’s online freelance labour – second only to India (Oxford Internet Institute, 2017). As more individuals turn to freelancing, global conversations and key policies are needed to ensure that the gig economy works for everyone and overcomes digital divides associated with gender, age, ethnicity and geographic location.

WORK FROM HOME LIBRARY

Here are the latest articles in our work from home library:

10 of the best online tutoring sites to find online tutoring jobs

Here are the top 10 online tutoring sites that represent the best tutoring companies, with tips on what makes them so popular for tutoring jobs online.

Furthering your education: Advantages of being a life-long learner

Learn the benefits of furthering your education and being a life-long learner, whether for better career prospects or new opportunities.

13+ awesome, free digital marketing courses online, no fees required

Can you learn digital marketing online without spending any digital marketing course fees? This list of 13+ free digital marketing courses will help you do that.

How can a software developer or computer programmer work from home?

Can a software developer or computer programmer work from home? Learn how to freelance as a programmer and get the best work from home IT jobs.

7 part-time jobs from home that stay-at-home moms can do

Are you a stay-at-home mom looking to restart your career? Here are 7 legitimate part-time jobs from home a work-from-home mom can do.

4 online jobs without investment that let you work from home and earn money

Want to work from home without investment? Here are 4 online jobs without investment that let you work from home and earn money.

All our work from home articles are now part of our Work From Anywhere Library that you can access for free below.

👉 Click here to access the Work From Anywhere Library

Bookmark this page because it will be updated often.

March 1, 2019May 14, 2020

Work From Home Newsletter: Edition 7

In the latest work from home news is the future of jobs, a new AI course, and creating a better experience for remote workers through both, technology and legislation.

THE LATEST WORK FROM HOME NEWS

Here are 4 remote work predictions for 2019:

Communication will diversify and organizations will bring together multiple tools and technologies, offering them both to in-house workers and remote employees.
In 2019, a number of remote working solutions will come into play even at the centralized office space.
Even as AI continues to make deeper inroads into the way we work and communicate with each other, remote workers will be managed and monitored by AI-driven platforms.
Augmented and virtual reality will help transform how projects are envisioned, planned, and prototyped – given its life-like simulation capabilities.

The workforce of the future will be almost unrecognizable. If your job can be replaced by AI, it will — and you’ll need a new career.

Doctors won’t be spared, as sophisticated robotics will take away some of the surgeons’ operating responsibilities. An older doctor with shaky hands will be dispensed with and replaced by a robot that does not need breaks or sleep.

Reading x-rays to detect cancerous cells and other diseases will be viewed by AI that could spot things much better than the human eye. Driverless vehicles, kiosks in fast food restaurants and self-help quick-phone scans at stores will eliminate minimum wage and low-skilled jobs.

Since people will live to their 90s and beyond, people will be forced to work longer into their late 70s. Many will be healthy enough, but most need the income. You will have many different careers in your lifetime due to the rapid-shifting work landscape. The gig economy will become the standard for most people.

Those who care for the elderly and seniors in all facets of their lives will greatly benefit. General practitioner and age-related specialist doctors, nurses, financial advisors, hospices, old-age homes, physical therapists and surgical enhancement specialists will thrive as the ageing will be in dire need of their services.

Coders and computer engineers will be the great beneficiary of this trend — until AI can learn to code as well as or better than humans. But AI is not only for engineers.

A brand new course, Andrew Ng’s AI for Everyone is the AI training course for business professionals. Though this course is largely non-technical, engineers can also take this course to learn the business aspects of AI.

Since setting up shop as a content creator on the freelance marketplace Upwork in 2009, Ayman Sarosh, who is also a mom, has been able to work from her home in Islamabad, Pakistan while taking care of her household responsibilities, too.

She’s enjoyed her work so much she’s provided training to her local community in how to freelance – finding that it inspires others to go into business for themselves, too.

It’s still early days, but employers are beginning to roll out programs aimed at helping older workers move into a different phase of their careers without clocking out altogether.

Nearly half of respondents allow their retired employees who are collecting benefits to work as consultants or contingent workers, and that’s expected to reach 60% by 2020.

New Belgian legislation has clarified and improved protection for teleworkers who are the victim of a workplace accident or an accident on the way to work. In spite of the increasing popularity of remote or ‘teleworking’, until recently, Belgian work‑related accident legislation had not been adjusted to reflect this.

A parenting room at coworking space, WeWork, allowed Andi Chatterton to be in two places at once. She could attend meetings and oversee product development with her team while sporadically using the dimly-lit room to breastfeed her newborn.

In the future, employers will be able to monitor our work by seeing how many keystrokes or phone calls we make. Your future world of work might be much more self-directed. Workers will solve problems and change things themselves, which potentially means there is a need for fewer managers and flatter hierarchies.

Do you ever wonder how to create a human workplace in an increasingly freelance, remote, contingent, and gigged-out world? The last surgeon general study found that the biggest health risk is not smoking, second-hand smoke, or even sitting. It’s loneliness and isolation.

Companies need to leverage all that’s great about technology, but also make sure that employees put technology in its “place” to develop real, human connections.

Kristen Brown stressed three key factors for women to build a “personal brand” through experience, exposure and excellence. Every working professional should maintain an updated LinkedIn profile and professional social media presence. Appearance, both online and in public, is vital to maintaining personal presentation she said.

WORK FROM HOME LIBRARY

Here are the latest articles in our work from home library:

How can a software developer or computer programmer work from home?

Can a software developer or computer programmer work from home? Learn how to freelance as a programmer and get the best work from home IT jobs.

7 part time jobs from home that stay-at-home moms can do

Are you a stay-at-home mom looking to restart your career? Here are 7 legitimate part-time jobs from home a work-from-home mom can do.

4 online jobs without investment that let you work from home and earn money

Want to work from home without investment? Here are 4 online jobs without investment that let you work from home and earn money.

All our work from home articles are now part of our Work From Anywhere Library that you can access for free below.

👉 Click here to access the Work From Anywhere Library

Bookmark this page because it will be updated often.

February 13, 2019June 8, 2020

Work From Home Newsletter: Edition 6

The recent news on the future of work is rather disturbing, with many experts now warning that automation may not quite bring the benefits to workers that we were told it will.

This means, more than ever, we need to take responsibility for our future in our own hands. Don’t trust the government or the private sector to be there for you. If you’re in a low-paying, a menial or low-skill job that can easily be automated, this will affect you even more.

The Solution: Learn how to create your own economy by acquiring new skills and creating a personal brand for yourself. The earlier you start doing this, the more likely it is that you will survive the transition when the robots take over.

I hate to be the prophet of doom, but if you don’t take the steps to adapt in the coming Age of Automation, you may very likely lose your livelihood and ability to provide for yourself and your family. 😞

Will robots and artificial intelligence replace jobs in the future? When the robots take over will there be jobs left for us? To know the answers, read below. And if you have kids, make sure they read this newsletter too.

THE LATEST WORK FROM ANYWHERE NEWS

According to the New York Times, many of your bosses want machines to replace you as soon as possible even though they’ll never admit it in public. They’re racing to automate their own workforces to stay ahead of the competition, with little regard for the impact on workers.

They crave the fat profit margins automation can deliver, and they see A.I. as a golden ticket to savings, perhaps by letting them whittle departments with thousands of workers down to just a few dozens.

One common argument made by executives is that workers whose jobs are eliminated by automation can be “reskilled” to perform other jobs in an organization. But automation pushes workers to the less productive parts of the economy.

Of the 1.37 million workers who are projected to be fully displaced by automation in the next decade, only one in four can be profitably reskilled by private-sector programs. The rest, presumably, will need to fend for themselves or rely on government assistance.

The choices made by the Davos elite — and the pressure applied on them to act in workers’ interests rather than their own — will determine whether A.I. is used as a tool for increasing productivity or for inflicting pain.

Are robots and AI taking our jobs instead of helping us? It’s a very real possibility, warns University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Anton Korinek. He notes:

“Up until now, machines have replaced our physical strength, but they have allowed us to leverage our intellect and intelligence. AI is really coming for what has always defined us as humans. It’s coming for our last bastion of advantage over the machines. And that changes the game fundamentally.”

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that AI and the fourth industrial revolution will have a more severe impact on women than men because many of the tasks done by women are more routine tasks, easily substituted by technology.

Going forward, 11 per cent of women’s jobs will be affected by technology in the future, whereas that number sits at just nine per cent for men. This shift will happen gradually. But one thing is for sure, the future of work will be different, particularly for women.

There’s no doubt that skills are the currency of the labour market. There is wide agreement that we need a massive push to prepare people for new jobs and skills, but right now, no one is doing enough to prepare people for those future skills.

As one Nobel Prize-winning economist ominously remarked, “Now school does not mean you will learn; learning does not mean you will have the skills for the labour market, and having the skills does not mean you will have a job — it’s a more complex route.”

Five years from now, over one-third of skills (35%) that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed. Some jobs will disappear, others will grow and jobs that don’t even exist today will become commonplace. What is certain is that the future workforce will need to align its skill set to keep pace.

In today’s modern work environment, workers have increased responsibility for their own formal and experiential learning, says the NASA blog. Careers are no longer linear or “owned” by a corporation, and learning needs are increasingly diversified and personalized.

In the future, manufacturers will be less likely to hire blue collar workers and more likely to prefer engineering and technology specialists, who can program, maintain and upgrade the increasingly intelligent machines.

The jobs that will survive are creative types, health care workers, managers, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents who deal personally with clients and take advantage of artificial intelligence to expand their reach and offer more sophisticated information to clients.

Scientists, engineers and mathematicians will be in even more demand, especially those who can navigate the interface between man and machine.

The most important job of the future could well be an old one: educator. Educational services will be the second largest job-generator, after health care, in the coming years.

Not that long ago, being able to work from home was rare – and was seen as a huge perk. These days, it’s far more common. The concept of a job-for-life to which you were thoroughly dedicated no longer really exists.

The way we all work is going to change, says Richard Branson on the Virgin blog. People will eventually take three and even four day weekends and job-sharing may increase.

People will need to be paid the same or even more for working less time, so they can afford more leisure time. That’s going to be a difficult balancing act to get right, but it can be done.

At the WEF in Davos, Allen Blue of LinkedIn shared his insight about the right way to build technology, which is a departure from how it has been built in the past.

This time, instead of being designed almost exclusively by white males, he believes that more women should be recruited into technical roles so that machines can learn more efficiently and give an unbiased performance.

Everything from mobile development to accounting and content writing tasks could now be outsourced to the lowest bidder across the globe. Freelancers needed a space to work and that call was answered by coworking spaces.

64 per cent of India’s workforce is projected to be below 35 years of age by 2020. Therefore, the need for flexible workspaces with top-notch amenities will be at an all-time high.

Offering cost-effectiveness, flexibility, hassle-free maintenance, networking opportunities and a fun place to work, coworking spaces are set to be the way future Indian professionals work.

The new online marketplace “Maharati,” aims to connect businesses with freelancers with digital skills. Additionally, the new UAE 10-year expat visa is designed to attract highly-skilled workers such as technology entrepreneurs, scientists, and specialists, without necessarily being confined to an employer in the country.

FREE WORK FROM HOME EVENT

👩‍💻 FREE Webinar – Career Tips For 2019: Starting A New Career As A Freelancer In India

✅ In this webinar, Ajay Sharma, founder of GetMeExperts and Flexiorg will share career tips for 2019 for those starting a career as a freelancer in India.

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January 31, 2019June 8, 2020

Work From Anywhere Newsletter: Edition 5

Here’s your new Work From Anywhere Newsletter

In this edition of the Work From Anywhere Newsletter, the conversation in Davos is all about Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Future of Work, and the reskilling of millions of workers that will be required to navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

THE LATEST WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE TRENDS

Research on coworking spaces show that these shared, member-based workspaces where remote corporate workers, startup employees, freelancers, and others “work alone together” can substantially reduce the isolation and loneliness associated with remote work.

Independent workers should also consider coworking. They often benefit even more than company employees from the social aspects of coworking and find that the professional networking opportunities help to generate new business. Read more.

The conversation in Davos is all about the future of work for humans in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). AI will require reskilling millions of workers and will significantly shape the future of work. Read more.

The rapid proliferation of automation technologies like AI, robotic process automation (RPA) and robotics are resulting in rapid and significant changes in skill requirements; discounting some skills that have existed for hundreds of years and placing premiums on others. Read more.

As artificial intelligence becomes both more useful and more widespread, workers everywhere are becoming anxious about how a new age of automation might affect their career prospects. Future-proofing your career is less about picking a safe job and more about constantly updating your skills throughout your career. Read more.

In the last 25 years, how we work has changed radically. The mobile phone has probably been responsible for making us all hyper-connected and that, in turn, has made talent boundary-less. The world is now the marketplace for talent. Career 3.0 will be about the bulk of the workforce becoming gig workers and operating outside the payroll of an employer.

This workforce will come to the marketplace with multiple skills and offer it to multiple buyers and paid at different rates depending on the level of proficiency. This model will allow people to bring in all their skills, education and hobbies to the marketplace and monetise it. Read more.

The gig economy has many positive aspects and it also has negative aspects. As we move into this future of work, which is coming because of technology, we have to understand that this relationship between employer and employee is going to change, particularly in the informal sector. We must recognise this especially for countries like India, where 93% of all our workers are in the informal sector. Read more.

Employees will move away from being skill-focused. Workplace skills that were once valuable, such as fluency in a specific digital platform, will soon become irrelevant. Instead, the core principles that make one a professional in their field will carry increased weight. In the new workplace, there will be no need for paper-pushing employees. The workplace of the future will allow for human abilities to truly shine. Read more.

The Nova mobile office pod supports the flexible working needs of the modern nomad with fast wifi, a minibar and a daily changing view. Fully fitted out with fast wifi, a smart television, an Apple TV, a printer, whiteboard, coffee machine, mini-fridge, charging station, power points, a bathroom and running water, the pod can support a handful of digital nomads at a time. Read more.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty says that as automation continues apace the skills gap and job insecurity fears are real. She wants to see the development of a new education and career model: new collar, not blue-collar or white collar.

This means investing in skills development and responding in real-time to the changing skills landscape. It also means breaking free from traditional models of recruiting those with 4-year and advanced degrees. Read more.

Linkedin’s Emerging Jobs Report found that AI skills in the workforce grew 190% from 2015 to 2017. Six of the 15 emerging jobs identified in the report are related in some way to AI. Read more.

👩‍💻 FREE Webinar – Career Tips For 2019: Starting A New Career As A Freelancer In India

✅ In this webinar, Ajay Sharma, founder of GetMeExperts and Flexiorg will share career tips for 2019 for those starting a career as a freelancer in India.

👉 Click here to sign up

January 18, 2019May 14, 2020

Work From Anywhere Newsletter: Edition 4

In this edition of your Work From Anywhere Newsletter, flexible working and higher education are in the news. See online education trends, my WFA Course and 2 free events.

WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE TRENDS:

Increasingly, employers see that allowing remote work and empowering mobile employees is good for talent acquisition and retention, morale and productivity. Read more.

According to a Deloitte study, nearly 75 per cent of Millennials believe that a “work from home” or “work remotely” policy is important. Time to get that home office ready.

Flexible working helps more people access the labour market and stay in work, as more people are increasingly thinking differently about how, when and where they work. Quality flexible working can help organisations attract talent, improve employee job satisfaction and loyalty, reduce absenteeism and improve well-being. Read more.

97 per cent of companies agree that employee expectations of the workplace seem to be changing rapidly. The main feature of those changing expectations is around flexible working, with 98 per cent of respondents saying employees now expect more flexible working hours, while 89 per cent said they expect agile/home working to be available. Read more.

The future of work will belong to more intricate jobs that require emotional and social finesse over physical effort, and women have always been far advanced in that respect when compared to men. Read more.

“The mission of higher education now is to help students become robot-proof. Every learner now has to be able to interact with machines, learn how to grasp data, and do things that machines can’t, such as being empathetic, creative, and entrepreneurial,” says Joseph Aoun, author of Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Read more.

ONLINE EDUCATION TRENDS:

Most Popular Courses in 2018

Measured by total enrollments.

Machine Learning from Stanford University
Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects from the University of California, San Diego
The Science of Well-Being from Yale University
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies from Princeton University
Algorithms, Part I from Princeton University
English for Career Development from the University of Pennsylvania
Financial Markets from Yale University
Introduction to Psychology from the University of Toronto
Chinese for Beginners from Peking University

Most Popular Specializations in 2018

Deep Learning from deeplearning.ai
Python for Everybody from University of Michigan
Data Science from Johns Hopkins University
Applied Data Science with Python from the University of Michigan
Google IT Support Professional Certificate from Google
Advanced Machine Learning from National Research University Higher School of Economics
Improve Your English Communication Skills from Georgia Institute of Technology
Business Foundations from University of Pennsylvania
Architecting with Google Cloud Platform from Google Cloud
Excel Skills for Business from Macquarie University

Source: Coursera

Work From Anywhere Newsletter: Edition 3

Here’s your new Work From Anywhere Newsletter

THE LATEST WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE TRENDS:

The gig economy is expected to cover 25-30% of the job market by 2022. Over a period of time, there will be more and more full-time gig professionals and organisations will also have 30-40% of their jobs assigned for them.

Some of the top paying gig jobs are in the blockchain, deep learning, ethical hacking, AWS and robotics where the per hour rate is $80-120.

In India, content writing, translations, creative works, recruitment, sales, digital marketing, branding, SW development, architecture, BIM, accounting, data analytics, consulting, counselling, are typical gig jobs.

Want to be a gig worker? Consider these realities before taking the plunge. As a gig worker, you are running a business (which is you) and all the frills attached to business come with it. You are not going to be as free as you think you will.

Your clients are your employers, and as a gig worker, the responsibility of all the areas of business like business development, marketing, managing client, contracts, finance, and so on, solely lies on you. Managing this takes time and upskilling – time away from work that you love doing and getting paid.

A Upwork study revealed that 73% of Gen Zers started freelancing by choice rather than out of necessity. Gen Z is foregoing traditional, corporate roles and freelancing by choice more than any other generation.

In the Upwork survey, 60% of small businesses’ hiring managers said remote work is more commonplace than three years ago. Five times as many hiring managers expect more of their team to work remotely in the next 10 years, and 38% said their full-time, permanent employees will work mostly remotely.

It used to be that people moved to different cities and states based on the availability of jobs and the type of industries that were present in these locations. In the future, this won’t be a huge factor. As the internet and cloud technology continues to grow location will no longer be an issue.

Remote working will become the norm, which will give people more flexibility to work and live where they please. By 2027, there will be an astonishing 86.5 million freelancers, compared to just 83.4 million non-freelancers.

Already, roughly one in three college graduates are underemployed. The vast majority of jobs, even into 2025, will not require a college education. In fact, since around 2000, jobs have started to become deskilled.

Have you wondered what new job roles the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics will throw up in the near future? In a study Cognizant, the IT major listed 21 roles that will emerge in the next 10 years and that will be central to the future of work. This should serve as a wake-up call for graduates in India who are anyway in dire need for re-skilling.

“We are now in the transitional stage of employers gradually reducing their prejudice in the hiring of those who studied at a distance, and moving in favour of such ‘graduates’ who, in the workplace, demonstrate greater proactiveness, initiative, discipline, collaborativeness – because they studied online.”

Imagine artificially intelligent software that can scan and analyze your online profile. Then imagine it creating a score — a risk rating — that’s searchable by future employers. It’s scary, and now a reality.

Women are disproportionately affected by the automation of jobs and development of artificial intelligence, which could widen the gender gap if more women are not encouraged to enter the fields of science, technology and engineering, the World Economic Forum warned.

The UK government has introduced a package of workplace reforms to protect workers on zero-hour contracts, agency employees or “gig economy” workers. Under the new legislation, staff would have to be told details of their rights from their first day in a job, including eligibility for paid and sick leave. Workers would also be given the right to request more predictable hours.

Flexible workers claim to work more effectively than those working a traditional ‘nine-to-five’ and benefit from feeling happier and less stressed. However, there are drawbacks, which include missing out on their workplace’s social life and feeling lonelier.

In this connected world, all many people need to work is a laptop and a stable internet connection, which can be found in many places other than the office environment.

Great communities and relationships can be built via video conference and companies that understand how to make room for remote workers will continue to attract those that are highly skilled, think organically and oftentimes outside the box and who desire new experiences.

MY WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE COURSE & COACHING:

You can get my work from anywhere course at 50% off for the month of January at the link below.

👩‍ Work From Anywhere: A Guide to Remote Jobs for Work From Home Moms & Dads, Digital Nomads & Freelancers

✅ This course lists over 35 of the best ‘work from anywhere’ careers. All of these remote jobs are completely legitimate and some require few skills and no experience.

✅ You’ll learn about the benefits and disadvantages of working from anywhere and access a huge list of 70+ work from anywhere job boards and agencies to help you earn money from your living room couch or that hammock on the beach.

✅ Plus you’ll get the replay and transcript of my webinar, 7 Proven Steps to Kick-Start Your Work From Anywhere Career and all upcoming webinars.

✅ When you purchase lifetime access to the Work From Anywhere course, you get a BONUS 1-hour Work From Home Strategy Session with me to help you get focused on which career is best for your specific circumstances and skills.

👉 Check out the first 6 modules free and get a New Year discount of 50% off

To get the special payment link for Indian subscribers, please subscribe here (or check the emails you received from me if you’re already a subscriber).

And once you have purchased lifetime access to the Work From Anywhere course, just click on the link below to book your 1-hour strategy session with me.

👉 Book your 1-hour Work From Home Strategy Session with me

This discount will be going away at the end of January, so hurry and get lifetime access now.

2 FREE WORK-FROM-HOME EVENTS COMING UP:

👩 FREE Webinar: How To Start Your Freelance Business In 2019

✅ The first one is a webinar I’m doing on the 8^th of January, 2019, in which I’ll interview Sagan Morrow, who has a decade of experience as a blogger and freelance writer, editor, and social media manager.

✅ She also teaches busy, time-crunched solopreneurs how to build their own successful, profitable home-based businesses… without the overwhelm.

✅ In this free webinar, she’ll share some of the lessons she’s learned as a freelancer and solopreneur, as well as how to start your freelance business in 2019.

👉 Click here to sign up for the webinar

👩 FREE Ticket to the 2019 Work Your Way event

This event will eliminate all your doubts and show you how to increase your household income… without sacrificing your family time.

During this 2-week, totally virtual and FREE event, organised by Caitlin Pyle, you’ll be immersed into learning a proven 3-step plan to start working at home.

Many people assume the reason they can’t get their work-at-home business off the ground is that they’re not taking enough action.

The real reason runs deeper than that.

People spend years, even decades of their life filling their heads with absolute garbage. The scariest part — most people don’t even know they’re doing it!

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What Is It Exactly?

An Epic Interactive Online Experience, like nothing you’ve ever seen before!

Who’s Invited?

Anyone who wants to finally start writing their own income story in 2019.

When Is It Held?

January 21 – February 4, 2019: you can see the full event schedule here.

Where Can I See It?

It’s all online, so you can attend from anywhere in the world — even the sofa!

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I’m so excited about this event and looking forward to attending with you. 🙌

YES, you CAN work at home in 2019 and I’m here to help you make that happen!

December 26, 2018June 8, 2020

Work From Anywhere Newsletter: Edition 2

In this edition of the Work From Anywhere Newsletter, read the WFA news for this week, check out articles from my blogs, try my new Work From Home Course, and register for the upcoming Freelancing Webinar.

THIS MONTH IN WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE NEWS:

Here’s one more reason for older workers to consider a work-from-home career. Ageism at work began at 40 for women and 45 for men. Many employees’ careers peaked at these ages; they were no longer considered for promotion or training. Read more.
Automation is set to make many jobs defunct in the not-so-distant future. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Jobs of the Future 2018 Report warns that “routine-based, middle-skilled white-collar roles – such as data entry clerks, accounting and payroll clerks, secretaries, auditors, bank tellers and cashiers” are at risk of automation. Here are five emerging roles that are set to grow, according to the WEF. Read more.
Digital, robotics and AI will lead to job losses of about 5 million. Men will get one new job out of the three jobs they lose; women, on the other hand, will get only one job out of the five jobs they are losing. Read more.
Research by BBVA says that by 2030, individuals will cease to have permanent jobs and there will be an increased rise of freelancers. According to the Future Workforce Study by Dell and Intel, 80% millennials agreed that if workplace technology isn’t up to their standard, they would consider quitting. So what are the key indicators of a smart workplace defined by them—real-time collaboration with co-workers and accommodating work from anywhere! Read more
Flexible working that allows employees to work from home may reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions by 214 million tonnes per year by 2030, according to a study by Regus, a leading global workspace provider. Read more.
WeWork’s India arm plans to double the coworking space it offers in the country to 6 million square feet in 2019 and expand its presence to cities including Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad by the end of next year. Read more.
The Wing, a startup which provides a network of work and community spaces for women, has gained the backing of Airbnb, WeWork and Sequoia Capital in its latest funding round. Read more.
We will all need to become lifelong learners. Depending on industry and geography, between one-half and two-thirds of companies are likely to turn to external contractors, temporary staff and freelancers to address their skills gaps. Read more.
Work is changing, so to stay ahead you’ll need to master these skills that you probably didn’t learn in college. Being successful means setting yourself apart, and you’ll need a personal brand that defines who you are and who you want to become. That involves building a reputation, trust, and a following. These are the 5 “super skills” you need for jobs of the future. Read more.
Recently, it has been noticed that a majority of freelance graphic designers in India are from tier II & tier III cities. Freelancing as a career is lucrative and provides a measure of personal satisfaction. Read more
By 2022 9% of the Indian workforce will be in new jobs which do not exist today. 37% would be in jobs which will radically change skill sets. Entrepreneurs will include new mothers who want more time at home and 75% more females than males prefer working from home. Read more.
As technology seeps into everything from teaching to manufacturing, skilled workers with two-year degrees in computer science, cybersecurity and software development are increasingly in demand – and supply is struggling to keep up. Read more.

NEW WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE COURSE

👩‍🏫 Work From Anywhere: A Guide to Remote Jobs for Work From Home Moms & Dads, Digital Nomads & Freelancers

(yes, I know that’s a mouthful 😄 )

✅ This course will list over 35 of the best ‘work from anywhere’ careers. All of these remote jobs are completely legitimate and some require few skills and no experience.

✅ You’ll learn about the benefits and disadvantages of working from anywhere and access a huge list of work from anywhere job boards to help you earn money from your living room couch or that hammock on the beach.

✅ Plus you’ll get the replay and transcript of the webinar, 7 Proven Steps to Kick-Start Your Work From Anywhere Career and all upcoming webinars.

NEW WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE WEBINAR:

👩‍🏫 FREE Webinar: How To Start Your Freelance Business In 2019

Sagan Morrow has a decade of experience as a blogger and freelance writer, editor, and social media manager. She also teaches busy, time-crunched solopreneurs how to build their own successful, profitable home-based businesses… without the overwhelm.

In this webinar on the 8th of January 2019, I’ll interview Sagan where she’ll share some of the lessons she’s learned as a freelancer and solopreneur, as well as how to start your freelance business in 2019.

👉 Click here to register for the webinar

December 10, 2018June 8, 2020

Work From Anywhere Newsletter: Edition 1

The world of work is changing rapidly with robots and AI threatening to take over many jobs.

But there’s good news for those who are life-long learners – people who are willing to learn new skills to make themselves more employable.

Here are some of the week’s most interesting news and resources for Anywhere Workers.

THIS WEEK IN WORK FROM ANYWHERE NEWS

The freelance army: Why many Indians are choosing part-time over full-time – An increasing number of professionals in India are moving from full-time employment and opting for freelance work projects. Read more.
85%of the jobs that today’s students will do in 2030 don’t exist yet. Education can no longer be seen as something that stops when a person graduates from college. Read more.
Workers spend almost 50% of each day on digital vs. in-person communication, and more than half feel lonely as a result. Read more
While freelance work and flexible schedules that allow employees to work from home have become more common, they also limit co-worker interactions and engagement. Remote workers are more likely to quit because of loneliness. Read more.
A third of all UK workers believe those who work flexibly create more work for others. A similar proportion believes their career will suffer if they use flexible working arrangements. Read more
Contact centres will shrink by 50 per cent in the next three years as routine tasks are automated by bots that offer an 8.6 per cent increase in profit margin per customer. Read more.
Reforms and protections, including the banning of exclusive zero-hour contracts, have, thankfully, decreased instances of genuinely exploitative practices in the gig economy. Read more.
Translation- a $50 billion industry globally – is set to grow to over $66 billion in the next five years. Translation tools like Lilt will both lower the cost of translation on a per-word basis and increase the rate translators are able to charge for their time. Read more.

RECENT POSTS ON OUR BLOGS:

September 25, 2018

Gig Workers: What Problems Do They Face In Their Careers?

The gig economy is defined by some as “people using apps or platforms to sell their labour,” and includes independent workers, freelancers and those who take up limited-period contracts rather than permanent jobs.

So, instead of a regular wage, workers get paid for “gigs”.

Just How Big Is The Gig Economy?

In the USA, about 16.5 million people are working in “contingent” or “alternative work arrangements,” and 2.8 million people in the UK are working in the gig economy.

In the US, the gig workforce, comprising independent contractors, temporary and contract staffers and on-call workers, accounted for about 10 per cent of the overall workforce in 2017.

A McKinsey report estimated that between 20% and 30% of people in the U.S. and E.U. have engaged some form of independent work, and around 15% have used a digital platform to find it.

The Gig Economy In India

There is a growing demand for freelancers and short-term contract workers in India, and over a third of 500-plus organizations expect to rely up to 50% on flexible talent in the next five years, according to a survey by Flexing It.

India’s white-collar ‘gig economy’ is growing, with skilled professionals seeking flexibility and purpose in their career. According to a study by PayPal, one in four freelancers come from India and most Indian freelancers are men aged under 40.

Freelancers in India earn an average of Rs 20 lakh annually and need an average of 15 projects a year and 13 retainer clients as the threshold for assured stability and security. 41% of Indian freelancers have seen growth in the past one year.

In India, web and mobile development, web designing, data entry and internet research account for the lion’s share of work for freelancers. Some of them also take up graphic design assignments or provide consultancy services.

However, there is a growing demand for specialised talent in the field of robotics, artificial intelligence, UI and UX design, and digital marketing. There is also a growing freelance workforce of architects, lawyers and chartered accountants.

According to this article, the gig economy is a boon for those who want to actively work even in their golden years and be financially independent. With so much contractual work available today, retired professionals are re-skilling themselves and becoming job ready for new-age profiles.

The gig economy is also a blessing for women who have taken a break in their careers to have children. Many of these women have been out of the workforce for a number of years and find it difficult to get jobs at the same level as when they left.

Remote work job boards and platforms are a lifeline for people who cannot work in the regular economy because of age, disability, or family responsibilities.

Is The Gig Economy Bad For Workers?

The gig economy and workers rights is a topic of much debate and discussion as more people opt to become digital nomads, anywhere workers, or independent contractors.

Gig workers and freelancers don’t get the benefits that full-time employees enjoy, such as health insurance, retirement savings and tax assistance. Critics of the gig economy state that it targets people who are already on the fringes, lacking a safety net.

While the “gig economy” may be filled with promise for workers who want more flexibility, it’s also legally and financially fraught for the employer and the employee says Jeanne Sahadi.

Employers don’t have to offer gig workers benefits like health insurance and retirement benefits, pay them overtime, or give them paid days off.

They don’t have to pay into state unemployment insurance or worker’s compensation funds on the contractors’ behalf. And they don’t have to cover the employer share of their payroll taxes or withhold income taxes.

Gig workers are easy prey for bullies and gangmasters, says Andrew Hill of the Financial Times, noting that the very freedoms people seek by going freelance increase their vulnerability.

Gig economy workers are at risk in legal limbo, according to Diana Kloss of the Council for Work and Health. It has been recognised that some supposedly “independent” contractors are as weak and as subordinate to employers as those directly employed.

Gig workers could easily be abused by employers who want to call their workers freelancers in order to avoid payroll taxes and other benefits to which employees are entitled – leaving them without social security, health insurance, and the protection of labour laws as a result.

It’s certain that gig workers need better employment protections, but as of now, when it comes to health insurance or tax assistance, gig workers and independent contractors are on their own.

Some organisations like Fiverr are working to alleviate this by partnering with companies that will provide these services to their freelancers at discounted rates.

Gig Economy And Workers Compensation

Independent contractors are cheaper for companies to hire. A McKinsey report found that independent contractors get paid 20-30% less than employees.

These low wages, coupled with the competition that gig workers face on online job platforms, lead to sleep deprivation and exhaustion.

An article in the Telegraph notes that “Even the best workers struggle to raise their wage rate because of intense competition. As a result, they have to put in longer hours at anti-social times to improve earnings, leading to 18-hour days and weeks of 70 hours or more.”

Data from a survey by AND CO shows that over 80% of gig workers in the USA earn less than $100,000 a year, with over 50% earning less than $50,000. Engineers outearn other professions, with 19% earning $100,000 per year or more as a remote worker.

Is There Any Good News?

The McKinsey study also found that those who do independent work by choice (free agents and casual earners) report greater satisfaction with their work lives than those who do it out of necessity (the reluctants and the financially strapped).

Free agents also reported higher levels of satisfaction in multiple dimensions of their work lives than those holding traditional jobs by choice, indicating that many people value the nonmonetary aspects of working on their own terms.

The AND CO survey also found that the longer you work remotely, the more you love it. Those who’ve worked remotely for 7+ years were far more likely to intend on working remotely forever than those who are freshly remote (0-1 yrs).

Nearly 80% of respondents want to work remotely as long as possible; only 4% are doing so on a temporary basis. Remote working, freelancing and the gig economy are gaining popularity and they’re here to stay.

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