The way to get noticed while everyone is working remotely isn't by self-promotion, but by reaching out to colleagues. "You can be the one who stands out from the rest by scheduling regular check-in calls with colleagues, deepening your connections with others, and building new valuable relationships at work, perhaps focusing on people that you historically neglected because they did not live nearby or work in the same physical office," writes leadership consultant Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. Full Story: Fast Company online (9/16)
Why your company should have fellowships Fellowships, where a group of peers goes through a professional development program together, is often underutilized as a cost-effective way to improve soft skills. The group can cycle through a program of readings, speakers and team-building exercises with the benefit of learning from each other. Full Story: Forbes (9/15)
Psychologist Traci Stein outlines five habits to enhance your focus, including planning for "escape behaviors" such as checking personal messages or feeling sleepy during the work day. Another method is to listen to binaural beats, which are different frequencies played in each ear. Full Story: Inc. (9/14)
The Landscape
36% of US workforce has freelanced in last year Some 36% of the US workforce has freelanced during the last year, up 22% from 2019, according to Upwork's "Freelance Forward" survey. The survey reveals 58% of new remote workers who don't currently freelance would consider it in the future and Upwork CEO Hayden Brown says, "We expect this trend to continue as companies increasingly rely on freelancers as essential contributors to their own operations." Full Story: CNBC (9/15)
Jobs are returning, but mostly for white employees The unemployment rate among Black Americans is 13%, or less than four percentage points decreased from April, whereas unemployment for white Americans has nearly halved, from 14.2% to 7.3%, according to Labor Department data. "I can't believe I have to say this, but it is not because there is something about Black people that makes them less employable," says Martha Gimbel of Schmidt Futures. Full Story: HuffPost (9/15)
Tests by Microsoft found underwater data centers outperform land-based in reliability, but these data centers are powered entirely by renewable energy sources. This technology could allow water resources currently used to cool data centers to be preserved for agriculture endeavors and/or wildlife, and data centers placed in waters closer to populated cities could increase data speeds for people in those areas. Full Story: The Official Microsoft Blog (9/14),TechRadar (9/14)
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