Posts Tagged ‘virtual office’
MENLO PARK, CA—Is it good to LOL at work? Let’s take it a step further … how about a good hearty ROTFL? In other words, how important is it to incorporate humor into the corporate culture?
According to a new survey from Accountemps, it seems pretty important. And I might add maybe even more so in a down economy and even more so when you work from virtual offices where your colleagues may not get a chance to know you as well through the less frequent contact.
The survey reveals that 79 percent of Chief Financial Officers said an employee’s sense of humor is important for fitting into the company’s corporate culture. CFOs were asked, “How important is an employee’s sense of humor in him or her fitting into your company’s corporate culture?” Their responses:
- Very important: 22%
- Somewhat important: 57%
- Not at all important: 20%
- Don’t know/no answer: 1%
“Sometimes, a little levity goes a long way toward building rapport among colleagues and diffusing workplace tension. All work and no play can erode employee morale,” says Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Managing Your Career For Dummies.
“Job candidates should let their personality shine when meeting prospective employers. The interview is no place for a standup comedy routine, but it is the right time to show hiring managers you are approachable and will be easy to work with.”
OK, so humor is important in the workplace. And that goes for the virtual office worker too. In a world of e-mails, instant messages and Skype calls, showing your lighter side can help people to get to know the real you. A good laugh from your respective virtual offices can help the “bonding” process, as it were.
So whether you from a coworking facility or a virtual office space, lighten up now and again. Have a laugh—all in good taste, of course.
NEW YORK-If you’ve been looking for a New Year’s special on virtual office solutions, look no further. Davinci Virtual Office Solutions is giving you one–and an attractive one at that.
Davinci Virtual is offering our popular Live Web Chat absolutely free for 90 days when you purchase any Davinci Virtual Live Receptionist package. This is quite the bargain at a more than a $150 value.
Here’s what you get as part of this virtual office communications promotion:
• Proactive live Web chat
• U.S.-based agents
• Power to convert Web traffic to leads
• Improved Web site effectiveness
• Ability to engage more Web traffic
• After hours messages
• Real-time messages to e-mail
• Real-time messages to text
• Trained experts on your products/services
• Full reporting of chat transcripts
• Up to 25 total live Web Chats
Whether you are in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami or somewhere else, you can get a little closer to your customers with this Live Web Chat promotion. Oh, of course we have virtual offices, too. In fact, we have a whole suite of virtual office solutions, including virtual assistants and web conferencing, to help your small business get off to a fast start in 2012.
NEW YORK—In 2012, the market for online contingent work is set to double as more businesses across the globe hire and manage workers online for the first time. So says the Elance 2011 Online Employment Review.
Elance is offering up its take on trends that will shape the world of work in 2012. I’m sharing a couple below, along with my thoughts on how this impacts virtual office users.
The rise of the global, virtual workplace. Elance predicts companies will increasingly tap into the online workforce across geographic boundaries to support key business initiatives. More professionals will build independent careers by working with multiple clients all over the world.
Further, online contractors will collaborate with each other remotely, across geographies and time zones. Technological advancements enabling better online collaboration, telepresence, skills assessment and identity verification, will make significant contributions to the new virtual workplace.
I wholeheartedly agree with this prediction. We’re already seeing it, so if anything it’s just going to escalate. And where there are virtual workplaces there are virtual offices. Virtual office technologies are part of the rise of the global virtual workplace as individuals work from home with virtual office technologies, live receptionists, virtual assistants and other aids.
Promising online careers for 2012. Online hiring for specialized skills will continue to expand in 2012. Promising online careers for 2012 include:
- Software Developer
- Visual Designer
- User Experience Designer
- Digital Marketer
- Technical Writer
- Web Researcher
- Data Analyst
- Content Moderator
- Accountant
- Distributed Workforce Manager
These are all jobs—among many others—that can be accomplished in a virtual office. Whether you are in Beijing or New York, you can set up a virtual office and do business with clients anywhere in the world. So, virtual office users, get ready for new opportunities in 2012!
NEW YORK-So you work in a virtual office … so how do you attend office parties? That’s what CNBC.com staff writer Cindy Perman wants to know—and she got me a little curious, too.
Perman asks the pointed question, “The Virtual Office Holiday Party—How Does That Work, Exactly?” She looks at the trend toward companies taking their office holiday party online, whether for financial or geographic reasons—or simply out of convenience.
In her article, Perman offers some answers: “First, you have to pick a time and date and invite a list of guests, just as you would for a regular party. And, while parties can and do take on a life of their own, it’s important for the organizers to have some sort of itinerary to keep the festivities moving.”
The article goes on to offer examples of gift exchanges that were planned in advance, a virtual whiteboard where folks share their holiday traditions along with live chat with explanations, cash gifts instead of food and drinks, and so on. Be sure to read Perman’s article for more ideas.
But you may have some ideas of your own. If your company has implemented alternative workplace strategies, if you have a distributed workforce with mobile workers and telecommuters who work from virtual offices, there’s no doubt that you’ve faced this issue of the virtual office party.
Sure, if your employees all live in the same city, you could go to a restaurant or rent a meeting room. But then the virtual office party is no longer virtual, is it. So, tell me … have you organized or attended a virtual office party? How did that work for you?
ATLANTA-Commercial real estate strategies are shifting. Alternative workplace strategies are the buzzwords moving forward. Telecommuting, virtual offices, workshifting, the mobile workforce. All of these elements are colliding in a perfect storm—and it’s changing the ways corporations use commercial real estate.
“Companies are focusing on two things: employee satisfaction, and productivity and teaming. They are increasingly looking at their office space to help them attract and retain the best talent,” Co-Star reports James B. King, principal of AREA Advisor, as saying.
King also pointed to salesforce.com as a futuristic company, calling it one of the most successful cloud-based computing firms today. He also used Microsoft, one of the largest companies in the world, and Google, one of the most innovative companies in the world, as examples.
“It’s all about empowering sales people to connect with customers digitally, but it wants its employees in the office at least two days a week, because it’s a new company and it’s still building its culture,” King says.
“Microsoft’s policy to get the best talent wherever they may be around the world. They have no problem with people working remotely, even teleworking from different countries. Google has a very different philosophy. It believes you never can tell when that next spark of genius will occur, that’s why they want you there with your colleagues in the Googleplex, even riding on their buses there and back.”
What is your company’s philosophy? Do you believe in flex time? Telecommuting from virtual offices? Working remotely from coworking facilities? Alternative workplace strategies come in all shapes and sizes. Davinci Virtual Office Solutions can help you tailor virtual office solutions for the specific needs of your entrepreneurial organization.
NEW YORK—There’s been a lot of talk lately about the workplace of the future. But such talk wouldn’t be complete without analyzing how virtual office space comes into the mix. Whether you are in a big city like New York or a smaller city like Tampa, Fla., virtual offices are a lasting trend.
Teknion just released the results of its Workplace of the Future survey. Among other findings, the survey revealed the most important strategies used to attract a new generation of knowledge workers. Wouldn’t you know it? Virtual office space is an important factor.
“The number one draw according to 41 percent of respondents is access to flexible workplace options. Another 39 percent indicated that having the most leading-edge technology was the key,” says Kay Sargent, Teknion Vice President of Architecture, Design and Workplace Strategies. “The shift from technology as the main consideration may result from people today being less dependent on the technology supplied by their offices as they often have better devices than those provided by their employer. Today we’re becoming a BYOT, or bring your own technology society, and companies are working to support the devices their employees are selecting.”
Along the virtual office technology lines, 89 percent reported that they plan to increase their investment in productivity-enabling technologies such as voice-activation technologies and sophisticated video conferencing by 2015 beyond current spending levels.
“Today, the only thing we know will be constant is change,” Sargent says. “It’s inevitable so we need to embrace it. Change today is being driven by demographic shifts, economic volatility, the pursuit of sustainability—both for our buildings and for ourselves. But technology is the single largest factor fueling change in the workplace today, so understanding it is essential.”
Are you prepared to go with the flow of the workplace of the future? Alternative workplace strategies that include virtual offices are part of that flow. Virtual offices continue to gain momentum because they offer employees flexible workplace options that actually drive productivity.
NEW YORK-The holidays are a wonderful time, but holidays also bring plenty of stress with them for many of us. After all, there’s more to do at work, home, and otherwise. With so many year-end projects of my own to complete, I can certainly relate to the concept of racing against time. Virtual offices can help.
Consider the statistics from an Accountemps survey:
Thirty-nine percent of workers interviewed said it is more challenging to manage their workloads during the holidays. The additional burden comes at a time when many professionals are already feeling the pinch: More than four in 10 respondents (41 percent) indicated their current workloads are too heavy.
“The holidays can be an especially busy time for many workers, who are trying to balance business priorities with personal demands,” says Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Motivating Employees For Dummies.
“This time of year can be particularly challenging for accounting and finance professionals, who are managing year-end close, tax-season preparation, financial reporting requirements and other cyclical initiatives. Managers must ensure work is completed while also avoiding overtaxing internal staff, who may already be stretched thin.”
Accountemps is offering a suggestion: To help employees better balance work-life demands, offer flexible schedules or telecommuting options to staff whose jobs do not require them to be on-site. Virtual offices can empower those telecommuting options. Virtual offices can give employees the freedom to work at least part of the day, or several days of the week, at home. Believe me, they will thank you into the new year.
Have a nice laugh with this YouTube video:
Fast Company has a good article this week about ways to motivate employees with workplace flexibility. It’s part of the “The Flex and the C-Suite” series.
This installment looks at Mom Corps. Fast Company expert blogger Cali Williams Yost talked with Alison O’Kelly, founder and CEO of Mom Corps, a full-service staffing services company. Mom Corps strives for flexibility—and not just for its own employees but also for its clients.
“Organizations that employ a healthy and robust work/life flexibility environment—not one just on paper—will win the talent war. And moving forward, all of our challenges and opportunities hinge at least at some level on the ability to attract and retain the best talent,” O’Kelly told Fast Company. “In terms of company profitability and employee satisfaction, there really is a silver bullet, and that is alternative staffing.”
O’Kelly offered several tips on how to employ a flexible work culture:
- Ask employees their opinion
- Define regular office hours for both in office and off-site
- Review compensation models
- Promote flexible work programs externally and internally
You can read the rest of the Fast Company article here. But before you do, consider one more tip from Davinci Virtual Office Solutions: you can motivate employees with workplace flexibility to offering virtual office solutions.
With a virtual office, your employees can work from home, at least on some days and definitely during weather incidents. Virtual offices help drive productivity, so long as policies and procedures are in place to ensure that employees are working during work hours.
Virtual offices can also empower workshifting by helping employees connect from home in between physician appointments, childcare issues, and other events that cause employees to have to get temporarily creative with scheduling. The bottom line: virtual offices are part and parcel of modern alternative workplace strategies.
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