Best and worst jobs, from Online Employees to roustabout - Business - Careers - msnbc.com. How To 'Thrive': Short Commutes, More Happy Hours. Hide caption Dan Buettner spent years seeking out the happiest populations in the world to try to figure out what characteristics they shared. Tightly knit networks of family and friends were key, he found. In Mexico, for example, Buettner found a "family first" mentality that applied to both immediate and extended family helped Mexicans cope in otherwise stressful circumstances. iStockphoto.com This interview was originally broadcast on Oct. 19, 2011.
Many people believe that happiness comes from money or youth or beauty, but Dan Buettner would respectfully disagree. During a five-year study, the National Geographic fellow located the world's happiest places — in Denmark, Singapore, Mexico and California — and researched the characteristics those areas shared that improved the lives of residents. He found six basic domains that govern happiness: community, workplace, social life, financial life, home and self. Interview Highlights "You don't have to worry about health care. Richard Hume. Another day, another desk: GigaOM tests out New York’s coworking spaces. Free-flowing beer, midday yoga and new classes to choose. My life in college? No, my month spent visiting New York’s coworking spaces.
Five years ago, New York startups had few options for setting up shop — many either worked from home or camped out at a Starbucks. But a local cottage industry has now sprung up for early-stage startups that need a place to plug in their laptops and get down to business. As the city’s startup community has exploded, coworking spaces have moved in to fill a void in a real-estate market that caters to banks, law firms and other big corporations and others that can afford the steep rents. Some provide free snacks and drinks or access to startup-centric classes, while a few even offer discounts on legal services and healthcare insurance.
But for many startups, the most important feature of a coworking space is the access to networks of other entrepreneurs and technophiles that it provides. Photos by Rani Molla, GigaOM. Virtual Employee | Virtual Assistant - Awesome American based Virtual Assistance. Being there: 4 situations where human touch is required in work — Online Collaboration. Why Remote Workers Are More (Yes, More) Engaged - Scott Edinger. By Scott Edinger | 8:00 AM August 24, 2012 Who is more engaged and more committed to their work and rates their leaders the highest? A. People who work in the office B. People who work remotely If you picked A, you might be as surprised as the investment firm I worked with recently, which found in reviewing results of a 360-degree feedback process that the answer was, in fact, B. The team members who were not in the same location with their leaders were more engaged and committed — and rated the same leader higher — than team members sitting right nearby.
It made perfect sense to me, though. Proximity breeds complacency. Absence makes people try harder to connect. Leaders of virtual teams make a better use of tools. Leaders of far-flung teams maximize the time their teams spend together. None of this is to say that working remotely is better than coming to the office. Rasmuson Foundation Gallery of Alaskan Artists Gala.