Working-from-anywhere is the new normal. Many companies, in fact, are going ahead with making it permanent. Out of the 70% of remote workers who were happy with the amount of time spent working remotely, 80% reported to work from home, according to a State of Remote work report by Buffer.
Since 2020, the most of the workforce has been working remotely against the backdrop of uncertainty brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. With distributed work on the rise, people are turning to resources to help adapt to this new way of working. Things are noticeably different when you’re collocated, and when you’re not sharing a physical workspace with your teammates. How you communicate for a quick catch up, scheduled meetings and to provide work updates hinge on the reliability of the collaboration and communication tools you use.
More importantly, there’s the added task of remote surveillance. Remote employee monitoring is a necessary evil, given the inclination to lose track of the time during work hours and spend it elsewhere. Increased time on social media, for instance,can tempt even the most productive worker when they are remote. The point of remote work is to ensure that work stays visible, and workers are able to establish their presence virtually.
Many former and current remote work experts have weighed in with their experiences teleworking across work from home blogs. Their insights on how they went remote will help you steel your resolve to stay efficient no matter where you work. Here goes!
1. The Best Work from Home Blogs 2023
1.1 Sorry, I was on Mute:
About SorryOnMute - SorryonMute comprises remote work blogs for and of the ever-growing remote tribe. Founded in 2020 by Aakash Gupta, SIWOM is an acronym for “Sorry, I was on Mute” , a phrase that some of us have uttered several times on virtual calls.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog
Recommendations include work from home blogs on the building blocks of a remote work culture, remote team management, innovation as an employee engagement strategy and twitter accounts to follow. Besides these, Aakash has also written extensive reviews on productivity, project management and collaboration tools that enable remote teams to track their progress and remain self-sufficient.
Reader Score: 8/10. Sorryonmute is growing, and writing about trends that have, or are going to impact remote workers. If you’re on the lookout for the next tool to invest in, or for a new way to engage and involve your workers, you do not want to miss this one remote work blog out!
1.2 Management 30:
About Management 30 - Management30 is a blog on leadership practices, started in 2010 by Jurgen Appelo. It conducts workshops for emerging leaders that aim to boost productivity, nurture innovation and increase happiness at work.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog
There are 6 blogs on remote work that include
- Leaving your office, going home - how to flip the switch and leave work at home, unplugging completely after putting in the required efforts.
- 8 Remote team leadership do’s and don’ts: how to lead teams, cultivate trust and demonstrate to your employees inspirational leadership.
- Managing remote workers; how can we maximize productivity? This blog talks about how to leverage the right tools and processes to make the business run.
- Four tips to establish your value as a remote worker: It is important for a remote worker to be both visible, and present. This remote work blog offers tips on value propositioning oneself as a remote worker.
- Managing remote employees in multi-locations: geographies make it harder on managers. This blog will be useful to remote team managers who want to centralize conversations, decisions and actions.
- Tips to keep remote workers motivated: Motivation can tank when workers are remotely based. This blog gives you tips to reestablish that social connect and context to interactions so that workers have a reason and a person to report to.
Reader score: 8/10. Personally, my favorite reads from this was on remote worker value and leadership Do’s and Don’ts. How work gets done says a lot about how your workers perceive and respond to leadership.
1.3 The Write Life:
The Write life is a resource for remote freelancers and the writing community. It was started by Alexis Grant in 2013 and features eBooks, starting kits and channels to earn income when working remotely.
- Remote work tips and tricks from the blog:
As a resource center dedicated to the freelancing, temping and casual earning network, the write life features blogs on staying disciplined and aware of deadlines. Their remote working blogs on attracting clients, selling your portfolio and the building blocks of trust virtually are a must-read for those looking to explore the job market without stepping out of their homes.
- Reader score: 7/10. The remote work blogs center around how to make your content more readable, engaging and attractive enough to audiences.
1.4 Home Business Magazine:
The Home Business Magazine is one of the oldest blogs in this list and goes back to 1994. It holds the distinction of being the largest website to target the USD 1 trillion home-based business sector. The content centers around raising money, financial management, telecommuting and business operations.
- Remote work tips and tricks from the blog
The remote work 101 blog is a must-read on powering through distractions and placing boundaries between home, and work. Other works that contain remote work tips include appreciation for remote employees and a remote work program to outlast the ongoing pandemic. The tips listed in the work from home blogs are to follow a top-down approach to building trust, setting clear and realistic goals, communicating expectations and community building.
- Reader score: 8/10.
The navigation bit, i.e. finding these remote working blogs requires you to hit the search bar, but the content in itself provides a different, yet interesting perspective on remote work practices.
1.5 Remote.co:
This remote work blog has a strong social media presence and is one of the key twitter accounts to follow for remote-work related inspiration! It was started by Sara Sutton, Founder of flexjobs, and herself a strong advocate for permanent remote work.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog
The remote work blogs are categorized into reasons to go remote, working remotely, building a remote team and remote management. Of these, the blog talking about the interesting benefits of remote work is definitely worth taking a look at. The next time someone’s misgivings around remote work is within earshot, be sure to recommend them this blog! Besides this, there are tips for managers to keep remote teams engaged and why culture matters.
Reader score: 9/10
The blogs are segmented by the audience most likely to benefit from consuming the content.
1.6 Escape the city blog:
Escape the city contains opportunities, communities and courses for the remote tribe. There are resources to help you start your own remote business, find your next job and tips to stay productive when you work from home. Rob Symington launched Escape the city in 2010. What started out as a fringe project became a global movement, with over 1 million professionals quitting the corporate world in favor of the flexibility to work anytime, anywhere.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog
The best selling work from escape the city is their eBook, The Escape Manifesto (available on Amazon). Besides this, other posts uploaded on this blog feature courses that are either self-paced or live. It also lets you indicate where you are in your career i.e. a job seeker or seeking a career change. The topics include remote team leadership, building a personal brand and mastering negotiations.
Reader score:6/10. While the courses are interesting, the content is directed towards digital nomads and is primarily a platform to connect jobseekers to opportunities and networks.
1.7 Nodesk:
Nodesk began in 2015 with the mission to bring companies and people together in a remote environment. It contains articles, books, newsletters, company directory and a dedicated blog center called Intrinsic, which captures insights from the remote community as a whole.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog
The topics covered in the work from home blogs include minimalism, coliving, digital nomading, gig economy, productivity, remote work and the future of work, to name a few. They have curated articles from the Harvard Business Review and BBC, which include how to determine if remote teams feel included in virtual meetings, involve remote teams in virtual meetings, kicking into the digital nomad gear and tips to hire remote workers.
Reader score: 9/10. I personally enjoyed going through the Books section, which features the works of Wade Foster of Zapier fame, and Rework, by Jason Fried and David Hansson.
1.8 Weworkremotely:
We work remotely or WWR has a collection of remote work blogs and free resources that are designed to help you get a dream remote job. It contains articles, lists of remote companies, newsletters, and a remote work community forum. One of the interesting features I liked about this platform is that it offers a learning portal with free resources, tools, and education to achieve your work-from-home goals. It also conducts remote-focused events that help users to nurture their skills and learn from industry experts.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog:
The work from home blog topics include- a day in the life of a remote employee or a remote company, work from home best practices, WWR news, remote events updates, statistics and reports on remote workers, and details of tools and resources needed in remote work.
Reader score: 9/10
Honestly, I really appreciate the WWR’s resources and various blog categories. It's insightful, especially the trends, statistics, and provides information about some world-class remote companies.
1.9 Remoteworkhub:
I was helping my friend job hunt when I stumbled upon Remote work hub site. It is mainly a remote job board but offers plenty of valuable content that is focused on the remote work lifestyle and work from home guide. It has separate sections for candidates looking for remote jobs, employers, and people who want to excel in their remote work lives.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog:
The work from home blog topics usually covered in this platform are related to
- tips and strategies of remote work, work-life balance tricks
- Remote leadership and management
- Skills trends
- Updates on remote work events,
- tools and software.
What I like about this platform is that it helps people to figure out if remote work is the right fit for them.
Reader score: 7.5/10
The resource section contains everything related to remote work such as, salary comparisons, free career guides, courses, work from home practices, details about co working spaces, and more that will help you ace your remote work lifestyle.
1.10 Coworkaholic:
Coworkaholic platform is founded by Mike’s spin who believes in working from wherever, whenever, and however. He loves the idea of making the right blend of working remotely, traveling, and efficiently using coworking locations. He personally evaluates several coworking stations/locations and provides a detailed guide for users.
Remote work tips and tricks from the blog:
The content within this platform is excellent to read and provides lots of career guidance. It also features articles on digital nomads, reviews of coworking spaces, updates of events, motivational guides, and stories. The site also includes a section for a list of resources you need for work and a section for the latest and upcoming deals on travel, remote tools, and software.
Reader score: 8/10
The content from coworkaholic site is definitely something you must add to your regular reading list. It teaches readers how to side hustle and have fun while working remotely.
2 What do remote workers need?
The first thing remote workers need is to know that their employer believes in them. Only then do they feel that their capabilities are supported by the resources the company provides. a remote employee's responsibility is to manage their accountability. but its down to the managerial circle to create a culture of trust and transparency. Only then can work progress remain measurable.
The tips in these blogs take into account the managerial challenges of companies that transitioned or are in the midst of transitioning into remote work. You'll get access to content that lets you build work-ready teams. From this list, which remote work blogs have you already heard of?