Most people I talk to who say they're working from home are actually working remotely. I've written this blog because I think there's a distinction we need to recognise if remote working is going to develop in the long-term. People who work from home do their job away from their normal workplace due to a non-work related issue. It may be that they've asked to work from home so that they can be in when the plumber calls or, more recently, because Covid-19 has made it unsafe to work in their office. Because the cause is not job related, working from home implies a compromise between the needs of the business and the needs of the individual: there are still those who refer to working from home with a raised eyebrow and references to daytime TV. While this may be the case for some, Covid-19 has demonstrated that many people work incredibly hard from home to minimise the obstacles their location is creating for them. On the other hand, an individual working remotely works somewhere away from their usual place of work without their ability to do their job being compromised by the change in location. This location may or may not be at home but, from a business perspective, it doesn't matter because productivity remains constant. Covid-19 created lots of home working. This is necessary during the current pandemic but it would be a mistake to assume that this approach can form the foundation for long term changes because of the compromises being forced on both employer and employee by events. The current home working is not robust or sustainable. An attempt to extend it could cause leaders to conclude that remote working doesn't work when, in fact, it hasn't been tried properly. There's no reason why a current home worker can't become a remote worker, but the transition needs to be based on a carefully planned strategic initiative and not a reaction to a one-off external event. Having managed large, remote-working teams, I have first-hand experience of the practical challenges of developing remote working teams. Please get in touch ( david@adept-training.co.uk ) if you'd like to find out more about this issue or attend one of my workshops. Alternatively, if you'd like to be kept informed periodically of my latest research in the field of business and finance, please submit your email below to be added to my distribution list. In the meantime, wherever you're working, I hope you stay safe and well.

We are all eager to do whatever we can to end lockdown and return to normal life. However, we cannot allow our eagerness to be exploited by organisations who recognise far more value in our private data than many of us do.

Accountancy institutes are entreating members to close their skills gaps so that they can translate threats associated with technology into opportunities.

You’re preparing for an important job interview but there’s a problem. The interview will be conducted in a language you barely understand. The interviewer and every other candidate, even the receptionist you’ll meet when you arrive, are all fluent in this language. It’s just you that isn’t. What do you do? Do you even bother going to the interview? Perhaps you try to learn this language from scratch or prepare a few standard phrases to be ready for the questions you think you’re going to be asked. Imagine how nervous you'll be when you arrive. The initial pleasantries, designed to put you at ease, have the exact opposite effect because they contain phrases you don’t understand. It takes so much concentration that you’re exhausted and overwhelmed before the interview has even begun. The chances of you getting this job are virtually nil, even if you have the skills to do it. My teenage son, Brendan, is autistic. He’s keen to engage with those around him but finds social interaction confusing – like a foreign language . Basic interactions that neuro-typical people take for granted can be utterly exhausting for him. When he’s overwhelmed, Brendan goes into a ‘daydream’ state and stims (repetitive hand / rocking movements). He knows that other people think this is strange but it’s not something he can control. To celebrate World Autism Awareness Day, Brendan would like to share with you his thoughts about autism: Hi, my name is Brendan, and I have Autism. A lot of you might be wondering what Autism is. Autism is where other people find it hard to understand a lot of things, especially the meanings of words. People with Autism might find it hard to talk to other people and make friends with other people. I think Autism is something that effects someone’s brain, and makes them think, act, and behave differently from others. For example, sometimes I like to go to my bedroom and daydream. I know anyone can daydream, but when I do it, I like to shake my hands while I daydream. This is what some people like to call stimming. Sometimes people with Autism will talk about something they like, but they will be very specific about it. For example, if someone were to get Minecraft on their computer, they would say, “I just got Minecraft on my computer.” But if someone with Autism were to get Minecraft on their computer, they would probably say, “I got the new Minecraft Windows 10 Master Collection, which came with the game itself, 1,000 Minecoins, the Plastic Texture Pack, the Villains Skin Pack, the Greek Mythology Mash-Up Pack, the-” You get the idea. Sometimes people might think you’re weird because of your Autism, and sometimes people might tell you to act normal for once, but of course, autistic people can’t help it. Sometimes I can’t help but daydream all the time. I’m glad I typed all of this out, because I want other people with autism to read this as well so they can hopefully be inspired. I hope all of you can be inspired by this. I just want to say one more thing. Everyone who has autism, be yourself. Every person with autism is unique. There’s a popular saying, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Nevertheless, on World Autism Awareness Day, I hope that Brendan’s experiences will encourage you to reflect on the challenges being faced by the 700,000 people in the United Kingdom with autism. Back to that job interview. There’s no getting over the fact that the interviewer speaks a different language but imagine how much it would mean to you if, just occasionally, he or she made an effort to say something in your language? For further information about supporting people with autism, visit the National Autistic Society ( www.autism.org.uk ).

Chances are, many of the apps on your smartphone were free to download. This might feel like a bargain: a shiny new app in return for watching the occasional advert. However, the reality is that app providers are tapping into a far more lucrative source of income: your data. Companies have always sought information about their customers to influence their behaviour, but big data analytics takes this to a whole new level. Have you ever had an online advert pop up for something you’d been talking about a few hours earlier? This is just one example of how well companies know and understand you. In fact, such is the volume of data available, many these companies can claim to ‘know you better than your spouse does’. Your data is a gift to any retailer trying to pitch its products or any politician trying to win your vote. In 2017, The Economist declared that ‘the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data,’ in recognition of the value that global giants such as Amazon and Facebook were extracting from consumer data. The wider implications of this were demonstrated in 2018, when Cambridge Analytica was found to have harvested the data of up to 87 million Facebook users in order to influence voters in the UK Brexit referendum and the 2016 US Presidential election. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) attempts to protect consumers by prohibiting companies from using personal data without the consent of the data subject. However, we throw away this protection whenever we agree to terms and conditions without reading them. Deloitte research in 2017 found that 91% of us admit to doing this and, in a famous experiment at St Pancras Station in London, consumers consented to give up their first born child in return for free WiFi access! So, the next time you click AGREE to a set of terms and conditions, bear in mind what you are giving away… Bibliography Professor Frank Luerweg, The internet knows you better than your spouse does , Scientific American, March 14th 2019. https://bit.ly/2UDf5eL The Economist, The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data , May 16th 2017. https://econ.st/2UDJuJX Deloitte (2018), Security & Privacy in the age of IoT , https://bit.ly/38fKqZ6 The Guardian, Londoners give up eldest children in public Wi-Fi security horror show , 29th September 2014. https://bit.ly/2tINCxe