Patty DeDominic's Top 4 Tips for 2010 Employment Enjoyment

I did an interview not too long ago that was focused on New Opportunities for a New Ways of Working Article series.

New Ways of Working" article:

1. What is flexible working and is it right for every business?

The beauty of flexible working is that it can be customized for almost any industry and lots of job skills, not just computer engineers

Or freelance writers! Many people find working from home enables them to be more productive and it can enable companies to attract

Talent that might not be geographically convenient. Sometimes commuting will still take place, but the employee might just have to go into the office one or two days a week or event a few times a month to maintain face time. Some businesses, like a bank with tellers and customer service personnel, still need people to punch the time clock, but we are seeing far more industries utilizing virtual work forces.

We also see many people having several part time gigs instead of one full time job.

2. What are the issues that companies face as they embrace new working methods? What cultural issues need to be overcome?


How does employer/employee trust change?

There are many cultural and practical issues that still need to be addressed.

• One of the most critical for independent workers who are no longer attached to one employer are (formerly employer supplied) health and educational reimbursement benefits. USA needs more portable plans, and health care reform is coming just in time to give more flexibility to people who will need coverage in the future.

• Some employers are still in “old think mode” believing they need to ask their employees to punch time cards and keep chairs warm. These businesses are the ancient relics of the 90’s not the future. Productivity and results are the name of the game

• Overtime laws and some states work rules as well as independent contractor and employee definitions need formal updating.

• You need mentors and the old ways of getting them at work from your long term supervisor may not work anymore, consider getting a job or executive coach! I wrote an article not too long ago on Getting a Great Coach

http://patty-thenewnewworldofwork.blogspot.com/2009/07/patty-dedominic-on-why-you-need.html

3. Does the notion of a conventional job/employee still exist?

David Harder, of Inspired Work wrote in the New New World of Work recently that “The End of Jobs as We know it is Here”:

Please click on this link for his full article: http://patty-thenewnewworldofwork.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html


Is it the end of the road for the job?



We really believe it's a good to start preparing for it.

In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote the groundbreaking book, "Future Shock."

In it, he talked about how technology would so transform the workplace that one day, we'd look back a hundred years and feel badly for those poor people that felt jobs were the best way to work and make a living. He described how, "Future shock is also the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time."





4. Are modern technology and communications services helping to deliver effective and sustainable new


ways of working? Who is leading the field in this and why? Are certain industries best suited to it? What can tangible advice/leaning can business decision makers take from this and apply to their own company?

Yes, Google for One

Social enterprises for another….

One lesson is that we hope that Corporate greed is dying (just in the nick of time) and that social conscience is growing.

We love how KIVA distributes microloans all over the world via technology, www.kiva.org

We love how Las Cumbres Telecope Network http://lcogt.net/en/science is enabling kids to see space 24/7 and want to empower them in science

I am also a board member of the International medical assistance organization. www.directrelief.org They have used sophisticated technology to deliver medicines all around the world: Aiming Help Where People Receive Care

Direct Relief focuses on strengthening existing, fragile health systems in poor areas with resources that enable the trained health workers already there to address the tremendous needs. The effect is that doctors, nurses, and midwives can care for people who are sick or hurt and have no money and, in turn, give these people in vulnerable situations the chance to survive and realize their inherent human potential. It is in these effects that the value in human terms is realized for the money spent.

Direct Relief’s medical assistance programs equip health professionals working in resource-poor communities to better meet the challenges of diagnosing, treating, and caring for people without regard to politics, religion, gender, race, or ability to pay.

In Malawi, for example, Direct Relief has worked for several years with the Dean of the Medical College, who has trained the small cadre of Malawian doctors running the health system (about 250 physicians are working in a country of 13 million people). Those physicians, and their health worker colleagues, care daily for many HIV positive and AIDS patients – but they also deliver babies, set broken bones, and do everything else. The targeted, medical-material support Direct Relief provides enables them to work, in itself important for the broad goal of public health. But “public health” requires that real people get health services. This happens when the doctors are able to diagnose and treat patients who are sick or hurt, have little or no money to pay, and otherwise would go without.

Strengthening frontline clinics in poor areas, both around the world and in the U.S., also creates a network for responding to disasters, which often hit poor people hardest and stress these very same health facilities caring for newly impoverished people.

We love how Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, youth program is empowering kids in 90 countries to make a difference at home and in Africa.



5.  Can you offer any specific tips for making the most of new ways of working?

My 4 top tips for making the most out of the new ways of working:

1. Give your life some added dimension, if you work at home enjoy the comforts but don’t forget to stay stimulated by being involved in your community.

2. Make new contacts, friends, links etc, but remember that your long term relations, grown with experience and credibility are like gold.

3. Learn from everyone you come in contact with/ consider a job or success coach!

4. There is power in focus…..decide what your passion is and pursue it to make the world a better place.