Since the Covid pandemic, many companies had to quickly adjust to remote work where possible. It may be that the only way they were able to continue trading was to ensure that members of staff could work from home when they needed to. This may have been difficult initially if they did not have the infrastructure set up to do this. There are a number of different programs out there that can be really useful when it comes to remote learning. Some help with planning work and recording time others help with allowing staff members to communicate with other staff or clients without having to use their personal phones.

Although many companies are now having some staff back in the office, remote working is likely to become increasing popular over the next decade. It has many advantages to businesses such as allowing them to work with people all over the country or even in different countries. It also means that staff can be working more as they don’t have to travel to and from one place of work as often.

Remote working can take a bit to get used to but it can be great for workers and employers if set up and managed correctly.

If you are in the process of applying for jobs you may wish that the employer sees you as the perfect candidate for the job but it is also important to ensure that they are the right fit for you too.

Ring the interview stage, you may wish to sell yourself to the company but it may also be that they need to sell the job to you too.

As an employee, it is important to work for a company that you believe in and that shares some of the same values as you do. A job should be about more than just the hours you put in, it should be a working relationship that can be built upon over the months / years. Although not everyone enjoys their job and sometimes you have to just get on with it, having some job satisfaction is important.

If you do not like the ethos of the business and the way it is run, you probably will not enjoy the job either.

IF you are going to need to work closely with other people then you need to make sure that you can get on with them. It is likely that you are going to be spending much of your day with them and being able to work well together is an important part of the job.

It is easy to become complacent in your job, especially if you have been there a while or have lost interest in it. You may feel that you only go to work to get paid and that you simply do not enjoy what you are doing anymore. If this is the case, it is very easy to become complacent and not put in much effort. You may be doing the bear minimum in terms of the quality of the work you produce and the time you spend at work. For some, their job is just that. It is not really a career that they want to progress in, just a way to pay the bills.  For others, a job is something they want to enjoy and maybe they used to but they have lost their way. If this is the case, then it may be time to start looking for new employment or make an effort to make some changes in your current position.

If you want to be given more responsibility, you may find that you are shooting yourself in the foot by not trying very hard. You are unlikely to receive a promotion unless you can show that you are giving it your all and are a reliable, hard worker.

Often when we set up our own businesses, we hit it hard for the first couple of years. After the initial novelty has started to wear off it is very easy to fall in to the trap of of becoming complacent and just letting your business tick over. Sometimes it’s ok to do this, if you have a lot of other commitments at that time or if you need to take things slowly for health reasons. Sometimes though, we just need to give ourselves a quick reminder of what we are trying to achieve and why we’re are doing the job we are.

Being self employed is not always easy. There are many downsides to being self employed that may sometimes make you question of it is really all worth it. At times like that it is important to think about what the positives are. For example, if you have younger children at home it may be that you are able to work around school hours so can be there to pick them up and drop them off. This is actually a huge advantage and one that you are u likely to get if you were working in an employed job.