Lauduree (Haney-Jardine) is a 13-year-old loner passionate about nature and worried about global warming. Greta (Amy Madigan), her grandmother, is a fiery nurse jaded by alcohol and disappointment. When Lauduree is abruptly abandoned by her dreamer single mom (Marin Ireland), she decides to take survival into her own hands, forcing her and Greta to rethink their futures. Featuring outstanding performances by Amy Madigan (Field of Dreams, Gone Baby Gone), Lili Taylor (Say Anything, Six Feet Under), William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile), Marin Ireland (Revolutionary Road, Rachel Getting Married) and newcomer Perla Haney-Jardine (Kill Bill Vol. 2, Spider-Man 3), Future Weather is a coming-of-age drama about saying goodbye to what we love and leaping into the unknown.

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oDesk’s weekly column brings you the latest news on labor markets, innovation, and online work.

Week of 12/14/2012:

Bloomberg: Alternatives To Running Your Business From Home
When working from home, the line between personal and professional can quickly become blurred. If that sounds too familiar, check out Karen E. Klein‘s tips for finding flexible work options outside your home office. Beyond local coffee houses, Klein recommends venturing out to libraries, hotel lobbies, co-working spaces and even incubators for a refreshing change of scenery, some networking and collaboration opportunities, and often a great cup of coffee.

Forbes: Is Your Employment Model Too Stateful?
Is your workforce stateful or stateless? Rawn Shah discusses the concept of “Workforce-as-a-Service” or “talent in the cloud,” repurposing the IT descriptors ‘stateful’ and ‘stateless’ to describe allocation of human resources. Shah writes that a stateless workflow—one in which people can contribute to multiple projects at the same time instead of being stuck in one role or task—can help businesses be more flexible than with a stateful model. The benefits of going stateless include accessing the right employee expertise every time, while fostering greater business agility.

Business Insider: Mary Meeker’s Must-Read Presentation on the State of the Web
Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins shared her annual 2012 Internet Trends presentation this week. In it she discusses the state of the Internet, with analysis and forecasts on everything from mobile advertising to tablet adoption. She also discusses disruptive technologies and how they are transforming traditional industries, shifting the world away from a heavy dependence on fixed assets to one in which assets are lean and resources are on demand. This certainly applies to organizational structure and workforce models—check out one of her slides below!

Did we miss anything? Are there any insights you find particularly interesting? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Our friends over at Singularity University recently published a fascinating article in The Washington Post about the impact of technology on the future workforce. It features an email exchange with Vivek Wadhwa, Singularity’s Vice President of Innovation and Research, and futurist Ray Kurzweil, in which they discuss whether the rapid advancement of technology will have a net positive or negative impact on employment in the future.

They both make intriguing points, but one that I feel strongly about falls on Kurzweil’s side of the argument—which is that Internet technology is creating a revolution in employment, one that’s for the better.

Using mobile apps as an example of new technology that has created employment opportunities, Wadhwa says there have “only” been 500,000 or so jobs created in the mobile app economy. But what I think is important to note is that the mobile app economy is much earlier in its evolution than the Internet is, and there is still significant growth ahead of it. On oDesk for example, we saw mobile app development demand take off just a few years ago and it’s now growing rapidly, at a rate of more than 115% over the past year.

It’s also important to remember that advances in Internet technology have created exponentially more jobs than in the mobile apps sector alone. We see this in online work, where the Internet has catalyzed job creation across the board by eliminating geographic barriers—and not just in industries that deal with new technologies. Even in age-old professions such as legal work and writing, the Internet has brought growth to countless industries by creating opportunities that didn’t exist before, that are unrestricted by geography. And the growth is staggering: from 2009 to this year, hours worked on oDesk have grown 8x.

Everyone’s talking about the rise of “telecommuting” and “virtual work” — all of which refer to leveraging the Internet to bring work to the worker, rather than the worker to the work. Today, it’s about enabling the best minds to work together, regardless of where they happen to be. Technology makes this possible. And we predict increasing connectivity and Internet savvy is going to continue to fuel this employment revolution, with one in three workers hired to work online by 2020. Now that is what I call an employment revolution.

To read the article in full, find it on The Washington Post here.

Gary Swart is the CEO of oDesk, the world’s largest online workplace. Gary is a thought leader in entrepreneurship; how best to hire and manage teams; and the future of work, including online work. He is passionate about helping small businesses thrive, fueled by his extensive experience working with startups and small businesses that use oDesk, as well as by mentoring entrepreneurs and business school students. Gary has spoken at the Inc. Leadership Conference, The Economist’s Ideas Economy panel, South by Southwest, TechCrunch 50, TiECon, GigaOM’s Net:Work Conference in 2010 and 2011, and at Harvard Business School which teaches a case study on oDesk. His commentary has appeared in a variety of publications including Forbes, TechCrunch and The Washington Post. He has also appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including BBC, National Public Radio, and the Fox Business program “After the Bell.” Previously, he led SMB Sales for the Americas at IBM’s Rational Software Product Group, and prior to that served as VP of Worldwide Sales at Intellibank, where he was responsible for leading the sales organization. Gary holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.

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oDesk’s weekly column brings you the latest news on labor markets, innovation, and online work.

Week of 12/7/2012:

Xconomy: Maximizing Value and Minimizing Risk With Remote Workers
A veteran in the world of remote work, Nathaniel Borenstein shares what he’s learned about ensuring that virtual work arrangements are successful for both the employer and the employee. Borenstein emphasizes the importance of trust as a building block for great remote work relationships, allowing teams to collaborate efficiently and work cohesively. While hardly a simple exercise, virtual work is a great way to attract new talent and reward employees for a job well done, he writes.

Deloitte: Making Virtual Work ‘Business As Usual’
The construct of ‘work as a place’ has been replaced by the recognition of work as an action—a thing you do as opposed to a place you go. In this Deloitte report, Julianne McInerney, Omosede Idehen and Leah Goodman write that, due to a multitude of pressures, the way we work is becoming increasingly virtual, diverse and dispersed—changes which present significant challenges for firms looking to compete in the global workplace. While infrastructure issues certainly must be addressed in the shift towards a remote workforce, the authors argue that the entrenched mindsets of managers and employees are the largest barriers to progress. Deloitte provides a useful roadmap for overcoming these barriers, concluding that making virtual work into ‘business as usual’ might be the best way to achieve your goals.

99U: Why You Should Treat Your Freelance Portfolio Like A Stock Portfolio
One of the main priorities of any freelancer is establishing a steady stream of work—and ensuring your skills stay relevant enough to keep that pipeline full. Sarah Horowitz, the founder of Freelancers Union, advocates for the use of a “freelance portfolio” to fine-tune your project mix, allowing you to stabilize your income flow and minimize risk. In addition, by establishing the right distribution of clients and projects, you can meet income goals and focus on fine-tuning your most in-demand skills.

Workbar: 5 Questions Good Managers Ask When Managing Remote Teams
With an astounding 61% of the Fortune 500 reporting they will broaden their telecommuting policies in the next few years, the ability to manage distributed teams is becoming an increasingly important skill in the workplace. Workbar shares five tips for maintaining company culture and improving efficiency when managing virtual teams. Their takeaways? Define goals, integrate communications, and make sure to show appreciation for the work they do.

Did we miss anything? Are there any insights you find particularly interesting? Let us know in the comments section below!

Jenna Weiner is the associate marketing manager at oDesk and the editor-in-chief of the oDesk blog. With a background in business and technology writing, she specializes in public relations, content strategy, branding and social media marketing. Before joining oDesk, Jenna was a writer and editor for Monitor Group’s marketing department and the Business & Technology Section Editor for Brafton Inc. Jenna graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in English.

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oDesk’s weekly column brings you the latest news on labor markets, innovation, and online work.

Week of 11/30/2012:

Harvard Business Review: Make Results Matter More Than Face Time
If performance—not face time—drives organizational success, why are workers still so focused on punching the clock? Ellen Galinsky, President of the Families and Work Institute, considers the lagging implementation of results-only work environments, concluding that it may be due to employee skepticism and the inability of managers to accurately manage performance. Regardless of potential obstacles, Galinsky challenges businesses to put results ahead of face time. She uses the example of Ryan LLC, a global tax firm, to highlight the benefits of a successful transition.

McKinsey Quarterly: The Evolution Of Work—One Company’s Story
Virtual collaboration has revolutionized the way we work today, but how can companies adapt to these changes? Rebecca Ranninger, Chief Human Resources Officer at Symantec, reflects on her company’s implementation of a virtual work program and discusses the dissonance between the tremendous benefits of a flexible workforce and the issues that can occur when employees are no longer in the same room. Ranninger highlights the importance of tailorable solutions, and recommends training managers to utilize remote work as they see fit.

Harvard Business Review: How To Manage Conflict In Virtual Teams
There are few threats to productivity as significant as workplace conflict, but how do you resolve conflicts in the virtual realm? Keith Ferrazzi shares his knowledge about conflict resolution in the virtual workplace. While conflicts are less likely to surface in the virtual world, a lack of face-to-face contact can exacerbate issues that do arise. Ferrazzi suggests that the use of online discussion boards and shared virtual workspaces can help quell issues through promoting frank, productive discussions and helping defuse potential conflicts.

Huffington Post: Commute Smart Means Work Smart
Tired of the morning commute? Ray McGroarty, Global Director for Enterprise UC Solutions at Polycom, urges workers to skip the commute and move towards the flexible, mobile future of work. With ready access to the necessary technology, McGroarty suggests that teams must surmount “cultural and behavioral barriers” to thrive remotely. In order to reap the benefits of mobile working, McGroarty advises corporations to set ground rules, which can shorten the learning curve for both employees and managers. He also recommends establishing support mechanisms for technical issues, bolstering communication on IM and video chat, and creating a culture of trust.

Business Insider: How To Boost Morale In A Virtual Workspace
Workplace collaboration has become increasingly virtual now that teams are often spread around the country, if not the globe. As a result, teamwork has never been more important, relays Katherine Graham-Leviss, founder of assessment and virtual coaching company XBInsights. In her interview with Business Insider, she shares her insight into the intricacies of virtual collaboration. A veteran of managing virtual teams, Graham-Leviss emphasizes the importance of adjusting communications strategies to best fit the personalities on your team, as well as the benefits of a structured virtual work environment.

Fast Company: Remote Worker Disaster Response Checklist
From floods and hurricanes to blackouts, oDeskers have overcome incredible odds to get work done in the face of adversity. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Cali Williams Yost shares some great tips to help freelancers prepare for any trouble that could come their way. From power to security, Yost provides a short checklist of freelancing necessities to help online workers prepare for any disruption.

Jenna Weiner is the associate marketing manager at oDesk and the editor-in-chief of the oDesk blog. With a background in business and technology writing, she specializes in public relations, content strategy, branding and social media marketing. Before joining oDesk, Jenna was a writer and editor for Monitor Group’s marketing department and the Business & Technology Section Editor for Brafton Inc. Jenna graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in English.

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