#Transformers: A brave new remote-working world •

by Charlie Mathews & Kyle de Waal. The big lesson that has come from covid-19 is how adaptable people are, and how transformation is critical to becoming #FutureFit. Now that remote is the new normal, MarkLives looks at the future of work.

“Transformers Transform 2020” is a special series produced by MarkLives and HumanInsight and sponsored by the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), running Jun–Sep 2020. Our objective is to explore and map new paths for brands and marketers to transform, adapt and build resilience while the world adapts to covid-19 and its resultant social, political and economic toll. This is an independently managed, journalism-driven research project.

Unemployment rate

“This is the first [time] ever that we have hit the 30% mark,” a sombre Risenga Maluleke, Statistician-General of South Africa and Stats SA head, declared as the country’s unemployment rate hit a new high in June 2020. This is the figure for joblessness before covid-19 hit, and shows a profound weakness in this country’s economy prior to the national lockdown that, importantly, helped saved human lives but strangled business revenues.

The first quarter announcement of unemployment figures showed that SA was clearly in a recession before the pandemic, with a Q1 unemployment rate of 30.1% — up from 29.1% recorded for Q4 2019.

In the same week that Maluleke announced that SA’s unemployment rate had hit a record high, Amazon Inc announced that it would give this country a boost by adding 3 000 new jobs. The Seattle-headquartered ecommerce and technology giant stated that it would hire both permanent and part-time staff, bringing Amazon’s SA workforce count to some 7 000. The 3 000 new positions were remote-working roles as Amazon sought to expand its customer service base locally. The positions offered were for customer support staff, as well as for technical experts.

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Working from home

After covid-19 hit South Africa, most locals found that their world of work had transformed, but a new global remote working survey shows that workers around the world want to keep working from home (WFH).

The 2020 State of Remote Work by distributed companies Buffer and AngelList (both great companies to look for work-from-home opportunities), shows that people want to keep working remotely. “There’s one statistic that remains unequivocal each year: remote workers almost unanimously want to continue to work remotely (at least for some of the time) for the rest of their careers,” the survey reads, continuing: “This year, 98 per cent of respondents agreed with this statement. Also, it seems that once someone gets a taste of working remotely, they tend to recommend it: 97 percent told us they would recommend remote work to others.” Over 3 500 remote workers from around the world took part in the survey, which explores the human attitudes towards remote work.

The study clearly shows the benefits and drawbacks of working from home. “There are always challenges that come with remote work, though they vary from person to person. Over the past three years of putting out this report, we’ve seen two unique struggles remain in the top three: the difficulties with collaboration/communication, and with loneliness,” the survey authors write.

Benefits

But there are huge benefits to remote work. A massive boon is greater flexibility — the independence, resilience and growth that comes from being more agile and adaptable.

As South Africa went into lockdown, a large number of people forced to work from home discovered that their internet access and coverage was inadequate. Then there was the challenge of parents needing to cope with schooling and caring for their young ones, as home spaces doubled up as working spaces and classrooms.

Global consultanting company, PwC, advises businesses to be more involved with staff and counsels leaders to be more present and involved in workers’ lives. “As a business leader, you want your team members to have what they need to do their jobs. Are they facing any issues — family, health, domestic situations — that might hinder their work? Are some overloaded with tasks while others have time to take on more? How can you communicate that leadership is there for them and wants to understand how to support them, without infringing on their privacy?”

Distributed companies and agencies

But the big question that job seekers in the creative and communications industries want the answer to is: “Where do we find remote work?”The good news is that there is a growing number of distributed companies and agencies looking for skilled people. But what is a “distributed company”?

Buffer is a great example because it doesn’t have a centralised head office or real-world workspaces; rather, it operates as a virtual business and its employees or teams are distributed across the world.

Drupal development company, Lullabot, has the perfect description of this kind of work: “A distributed company is one in which the vast majority of employees work from wherever they are comfortable and productive. Perhaps most importantly, communication and culture are moved outside the boundaries of a physical location so that everyone is able to be included wherever they live.”

Where to look

There are a growing number of sites that feature remote-only work for creatives and marketers. The better places to look include:

AngelList: A US-based platform for angel investors and startups, AngelList has a jobs board, and a growing number of emerging enterprises at the site are looking for remote workers in marketing or growth-marketing positions. With a similar register-to-participate model as LinkedIn, AngelList boasts up to +130 000 IT and marketing jobs that you mayapply for, once you’ve set up your profile.
DynamiteJobs: A well-curated site for remote jobs, the owners scour hundreds of jobs from distributed companies and remote-working sources each day to verify the positions. This platform claims to have more high-quality remote jobs than on any other site.
WeWorkRemotely: This site claims to be the largest remote-work community in the world with 2.5m monthly visitors. WWR features a regular list of fresh writing, design, content and remote-marketing positions.
Remote.co: A great place to look up a growing list of distributed companies, and there’s a job board with frequently updated remote positions in development and marketing. Take a look at the blog which has hints, tips and good advice for going virtual.
HubStaff Talent: As with LinkedIn and AngelList, you need to register to use HubspotTalent, but it is well worth taking the effort for this free service. Hubstaff has a good reputation with companies and talent alike, but there are a lot of starter positions, or low-paying hourly positions, so choose carefully. Smart curation is how you can use this hub to supplement your income — or land a full-time remote gig.
RemoteOK: Primarily focused on developers and technology types, the job board also has a number of marketing, design and customer-care jobs that may be found at this global site.
TranscribeMe: If you can listen closely to a video or voice clip and type it out quickly and accurately, then TranscribeMe might be a great place for you to earn top-up income. For the most part, transcription is an uncomplicated job, with easy-to-follow style guides. It’s something you can do for a couple of hours every day or in your spare time on weekends. This type of job won’t pay your rent unless you do it 9–5 all week, but it can inject of some spending money into your bank account each week to help you make it through month-end.

Unemployment rate

Working from home

Benefits

Distributed companies and agencies

Where to look

See also