Working around the world

Working around the world

Mar 14, 2023 | Remote work, Tips

Working around the world

One of the greatest challenges of working remotely is dealing with different time zones.

working remotely

When you have a colleague in Portugal and another in India, keeping track of time is harder. Additionally, team members can find it harder to collaborate in an asynchronous environment, and it can take a while for them to adjust. Moreover, scheduling meetings can be difficult, inconveniencing those who must attend, especially early in the morning or late in the evening.

You can, however, overcome these challenges with the right tools and approaches.

1. Immediately notify third parties of your location.
You should immediately let people know what time zone you live in. Let your colleagues know your schedule and preferred communication channels when introducing yourself. You can also use this opportunity to set boundaries. Give an example of a situation when you can be contacted — even though you’re off the clock.

2. Clearly communicate time zone boundaries.
You need to help your people clearly communicate their preferred work hours and set boundaries with the teams they work with, whether outside your main office or working on a hybrid team. A shared team calendar might be helpful as everyone can see each other’s availability.

3. Decide on a fair time for meetings.
Make sure you take everyone’s time zone into account when setting meeting times. What if there isn’t a way to make meeting times fair for everyone? To avoid inconveniencing the same people repeatedly, you may want to rotate the start time.

4. Use an online calendar.
It is common to waste a lot of time waiting for confirmation when booking appointments or meetings with remote team members.A time zone difference makes it even more difficult to get a real-time response. You will likely not hear from the other parties until the next business day if they live on the other side of the world. An email exchange might even take a week to nail down an appointment.

5. Be aware of cultural norms.
It’s important to understand the cultural norms and traditions of the countries in which your company has remote workers. Due to these cultural differences, they may work different hours, celebrate different holidays, or communicate differently.

To create a cohesive team, it is important to demonstrate an understanding of cultural differences.

6. Be patient if you need to send an unscheduled message.
Emails and messages shouldn’t be sent right when colleagues wake up or go to bed in different time zones. As a result, many global employees will snooze their instant message notifications when they have finished working or turn off their work devices when they are done working.

have your remote work team

As you will see, having a team in different parts of the world is possible. Would you like to know more about how to do it? Contact us

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How to network remotely

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Dec 30, 2022 | Featured, Job, Tips

How to network remotely

Connecting with people is one of the best ways to get new clients and become a good leader. Make ‘networking’ one of the goals for next year’s team and you will have a much better chance of success than if you don’t.

network remotely
1. Join LinkedIn groups

Aside from LinkedIn’s value in connecting people for resume inquiries and job searches, the popular platform also provides a wide variety of groups where you can connect by profession, location, personal interests, passions, and more.

2. Connect with your alma mater

Whether you use Facebook or LinkedIn, you can connect with alums from your beloved alma mater, near and far, across generations and continents. Your shared history and intimate knowledge of your school’s traditions, sports teams, etc. can serve as a great building block for building relationships, both personal and professional.

3. Use virtual coworking spaces

Coworking spaces are a great alternative to working from home. While many aren’t operating due to coronavirus (COVID-19), there are virtual office solutions like Pragli and Sococo that help people connect with one another, wherever they may be.

When it’s safe for coworking spaces to reopen there are a few different coworking spaces to consider. We’re all familiar with WeWork, which places a heavy emphasis on social events like happy hours and “lunch and learns”. Others include Regus, which offers space and meeting rooms in 475 cities across the U.S., and Workbar, which offers cozy coworking spaces and opportunities for social gatherings in the Boston area.

4. Go to the office (when it’s safe to)

Some employers require remote workers to come to the office on occasion, even just once a week. It can be of great benefit to everyone, forcing employees out of their “comfort zone” and allowing employers to reconnect face-to-face. When it’s safe to return to the office, your days can be spent networking with other teams, meeting new employees for the first time, or scheduling lots of coffee meetings with teammates to catch up.

5. Identify online meetups to join

Meetup is an online tool that connects you with people in your local community who share similar interests. Categories include hiking, cooking, photography, and learning a new language. Join a virtual meetup to chat with people who share your hobbies and are also looking to try new things — the possibilities are endless.

6. Attend virtual networking events

Trade shows and industry seminars are being reimagined for the digital world.

 

Read more tips for business owners by Inspection Support Network here

hire international talents

Expanding your remote network can help you find talent in other countries at a lower cost. You want to know more? Contact us

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The skills age

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6 ways to celebrate your team in your end of year meetings

6 ways to celebrate your team in your end of year meetings

Dec 27, 2022 | Remote team, Remote work, Tips

6 ways to celebrate your team in your end of year meetings

Engaging tips to jazz up your end-of-year team meetings, all-hands, or town halls.

Celebrate
1. Review the year’s numbers in a quiz

The end of the year is a great time to look back at the key metrics and results you’ve achieved with your team. Give this exercise a new spin and present your business results as a quiz. Come up with questions around your key metrics, such as revenue, ARR, biggest sales deals, conversions, NPS, number of newly-hired colleagues – you name it.

2. Run a fun quiz to get to know your colleagues better

While the examination in the previous point was more about the business, also try a quiz that will zoom in on your people – the end of year meetings are perfect for team building and getting to know each other better.

Some good quizzes are: ‘Two truths and one lie’ or, go with a good old classic –team trivia.

3. Source the year’s highlights

Celebrate all the great things that you and your team have achieved throughout the year – either professional or personal!

This is a nice exercise to remind people of all the great things that happened and see the success behind their efforts.

Create an open text poll with a question:

  • What was your biggest highlight of the past year?
  • What do you consider to be the greatest achievement of our team in 2022?

Give people some time to think about and type in their highlights. Once the submissions come in, read them out loud to give a shout-out to all the good things.

4. Organize a ‘Thank you session’

Give space to your team to give thanks to their colleagues.

It’s simple: Before the meeting, encourage your team to think about the people who helped them the most in the past year.

During the meeting, dedicate the first (or the last) quarter of your meeting agenda to a ‘Thank you session’, where you activate an open text poll with a question:

“Who would you like to say thank you to, and why?”

Allow your colleagues some time to type in their messages. Then, share the screen so you can all view the beautiful notes that people have written.

5. Recap the year with your team

The last meetings of the year also call for some looking back on the projects, successes, struggles, or failures throughout the year.

Run a little team retrospective. Prepare a recap of the outputs of your teamwork and trigger a fruitful discussion around what went well and what could be improved in the next year.

Create a short Slido survey with questions such as:

  • What went well?
  • What could be improved?
  • What was your biggest learning?
  • What should we do better next year?

Screenshot of a Slido survey with questions aimed to recap the year in a retrospective

Send the survey to your teammates well before the meeting, so they all have enough time to fill it out.

6. Set goals for the upcoming year

After a yearly recap, it’s only fitting to look forward. Take advantage of the last meetings of the year and use them for brainstorming or goal-setting.

Brainstorm ideas for projects, campaigns, or any interesting initiatives that you can take on in the next year.
You can ask questions such as:

  • Which projects should we prioritize next year?
  • What should be our number one priority in the next season?

We hope the above tips have inspired you and that you’ll pick one or two (or even all six!) ideas to make your end-of-year meetings special for your colleagues.

hire internationally without an entity

Recap the year, celebrate your people, use the time to listen to them, and engage in fruitful discussions. If you need more ideas and tips to organize your remote teams follow our blog

Throughout the year we upload material to help you work remotely with your team. And if you need personalized help, contact us! we are here for you!

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3 tips will make your resume stand out above the rest

3 tips will make your resume stand out above the rest

Nov 30, 2022 | Recruiters, Recruiting, Tips

3 tips will make your resume stand out above the rest

Go ahead and give these tips a try.

Make your resume
Create focal points

The hiring manager is typically flooded with resume applications. So you only have about 2 minutes of their attention span.

Here are some ways you can draw their attention to the important things:

  • Put the most relevant experiences at the top, don’t worry about chronology.
  • Bold the important parts. Don’t go overboard here.
  • Use numbers and awards to draw attention.
  • Remove irrelevant experiences.
Use numbers

Ever heard of the term “A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words”? Well, numbers are worth a thousand words on Resumes.

Here are some ways you can use numbers:

  • Consistently outperformed sales targets by 10%
  • Supported over 4 functional areas with financial analysis
  • Increased customer satisfaction rating to 8.6/10
Match keywords

Hiring managers will scan your resume to see if you match any of those keywords and sometimes in higher-demand positions, they will do this through a bot.

Take and add keywords from the job description to your resume. Create a skill section and put some keywords in there.

If you plan to apply for an American company, here we leave you more tips to make your resume

Are you looking for remote work?

Remember the hiring manager goes through countless resumes, especially nowadays where you can work from your home for any company, so makes yours stand out!  Contact us

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3 benefits of working with a diverse team

3 benefits of working with a diverse team

Sep 28, 2022 | Remote team, Tips

3 benefits of working with a diverse team

In addition to personal growth, having diverse teams improves your company’s performance. Find out why.

video conferences
Limit ‘Groupthink’

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that happens within a group of people who all conform to the same way of thinking. The intention is generally good, but the results can be damaging.

By working with a diverse range of people you’re a lot less likely to fall into groupthink, and you’re a lot more likely to learn new things.

For example, learning about other cultures helps us understand different perspectives within the world. It can also help dispel negative stereotypes or personal biases about different groups.

By working with a diverse team, you have more of an opportunity to learn. Diverse teams are also proven to solve problems faster, which is a win-win for employee and employer.

Increase your creativity

Being around, and accepting, people from different backgrounds will make you more open-minded and get your creativity flowing. In a more recent study by Forbes it was reported that diverse teams are 66% more creative. Why is this? If your team has an inclusive culture, it’s likely that you and your team feel comfortable sharing ideas and experiences. It’s also been shown that being exposed to different cultures and different types of people can influence our creativity.

Learn new skills

Professional development and continuous learning are great but they often require a significant time commitment or investment. A cheap and enjoyable alternative is to start paying attention to the people you spend your days with. Invite someone out for coffee and get to know more about their role. Schedule a meeting with a colleague whose work you admire. Ask about their career journey and how they’ve strengthened their skills.

remote and diverse team

Today, thanks to remote work, teams can be very diverse. Are you interested in hiring employees from another part of the world in a legal way? Contact us! We do that job for you:  Contact us 

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5 best practices to help you manage video conferences securely

5 best practices to help you manage video conferences securely

Sep 21, 2022 | Home Office, Remote team, Remote work, Teleworking, Tips

5 best practices to help you manage video conferences securely

The importance of staying safe.

video conferences
1. Use unique meeting codes for every online event and strong passwords.

While having the same meeting ID for consecutive meetings is convenient, it is equally convenient for malicious actors, who once they get a hold of an ID can enter the meeting uninvited. Never reuse the same meeting ID, especially for critical meetings.
Ensure your video conferencing application sets up unique video IDs as default, or you know how to set up unique meeting codes yourself.
While strong passwords may add some bother for participants, it adds an extra layer of needed protection, particularly for critical meetings. Ensure these passwords are at least 10 characters, include upper-case and lower-case letters, and include numbers and symbols.

2. Use a waiting room

A waiting room gives the host control over who enters the meeting. It doesn’t matter if they have the password, all attendees must be admitted by the host before joining. This adds another layer of protection from unapproved individuals attending.

3. Avoid posting meeting links on social media

Avoid posting links to your meetings on social media – even if they’re events open to the public. Once shared on social media you do not know who has access to the link, and this could lead to malicious actors entering the meeting. If you feel the link must be shared via social media, apply required registration so you can verify potential participants.

4. During public events, treat the chatroom with caution

For online events, ensure participants understand to approach the chat with caution, as malicious actors posing as regular attendees may use chat features to share dangerous links or attachments. If necessary, you may even be able to disable the chat feature until the end of the video conference or during a Q/A session, so that participants do not unknowingly click on a malicious file.

5. Don’t allow default screen sharing

In smaller work meetings with colleagues you are familiar with, default screen sharing is appropriate. As a general rule, it is better to ensure screen sharing for participants isn’t set to “on” by default.
The host of the meeting should be able to control who and when screen sharing occurs in order to efficiently manage the meeting and ensure the meeting isn’t interrupted by uninvited content.

work remote, work safe

Thanks to the fact that many of the jobs and meetings today are virtual, we can hire people to work for our company anywhere in the world. Do you want to know how we do it?  Contact us 

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