Web Worker Daily

When I heard that the folks at Pressitt in the UK had launched the beta of their social media news release tool, I decided to check it out.

Pressitt says the site’s focus is on providing journalists and bloggers with a primary research tool for stories. PR types can upload releases into the system that should then be available to these journalists and bloggers. Read the rest of this entry »

Neil Kay-Jones — of screensharing vendor Yuuguu — has put together a useful overview of recent shifts in UK employment law regarding flexible working arrangements. These changes allow working parents the right to request more flexible working arrangements and could swell the ranks of web workers.

Businesses have been concerned at the potential impact of these changes and, as such, Neil’s guide focuses on five tips to help employers prepare for a potential influx of flexible working applications from employees.

1. Understand the process of application
   The entire process of review and negotiation can take up to 14 weeks. Employers need to be prepared with transparent processes to tackle each case consistently.
2. Take time to understand your staff and the roles they play
   Preempt applications by identifying potential candidates early.
3. Trust your staff
   There’s a mismatch between what web workers think they can achieve and the trust employers place in them to work effectively in remote conditions. Kay-Jones suggests that presence and IM-based tools can act as useful technological measures to help create “remote trust.”
4. Understand the effects on your business
   Efficiency, morale, reduced absenteeism, retention, loyalty and competitiveness are all potential upsides to proactively encouraging flexible working patterns.
5. Security
   It’s harder to maintain the security of your data with remote workers. It’s important to take steps to ensure that your business-critical data is secure..

It’s interesting to see that remote working is practically codified in this legislation. The British government sees increased flexibility in working as a means to address social issues. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this thinking extended to environmental issues, too.

What do you think of these changes to UK law?

I first met Linda Broughton — head of NTI Leeds, part of Leeds Met University — in May 2007, at a meeting on the use of open-source software in the public sector where I planted the seed of an idea to develop a coworking community in Leeds in Northern England.

Within a few months, Linda had launched the “met:space” coworking community at Old Broadcasting House, which has now become the hub for most of the city’s web and new media community (also see my previous interview with OBH resident, James Ward).

I spoke with Linda about the development of OBH and her thoughts on coworking.

Imran: Tell us a little about the background of OBH. What were the motivations for coworking in Leeds?

Linda: It started out as an idea space for our graduates to move on to. We recognized that many of the students’ final year projects had the potential to become commercial businesses, so we wanted to develop a space that could support them in the early days. Read the rest of this entry »

James Ward is a member of Leeds’ Old Broadcasting House (OBH) coworking community in Northern England, working as freelance “digital coach.” I spoke with James on his thoughts and experiences over the last few months as one of the most active evangelists of his coworking community.

Imran: How did you first encounter coworking as a concept and what drew you to it?

James: I heard about an event for freelancers, GoingSolo, being held at OBH in Leeds. I had started working freelance just a few months earlier but from past experience working on my own I had learned the importance of getting out and making connections with other people. Working on your own every day in the spare bedroom can get pretty lonely and soul-destroying.

For me, attending this event was one of those serendipitous moments in life that lead to changes more profound and beneficial than I could have imagined. First off, it was my introduction to a network of professional peers all talking about the same challenges and issues as I recognize: managing finances, clients, confidence. The exchange of ideas was exhilarating. I came away from the day on an absolute high…and I had also discovered coworking. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in April, my first post for WWD introduced Going Solo, a one-day conference for freelancers that took places in mid-May, right on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland’s Lausanne. (Disclosure: I’ve been advising Going Solo as an unpaid volunteer helping with strategy & logistics)

Conference organizer Stephanie Booth has recently announced that she’ll be touring the conference globally, with the next event landing in the UK on 12th September in the city of Leeds.

Like the Lausanne event, Going Solo Leeds will focus on practical and theoretical sessions for freelancing professionals, independent workers, the self-employed, remote workers and those who are considering ‘going solo’.

Though there’s a bias towards internet and media professionals, most of the sessions are appropriate for traditional independent workers too. Here’s a taster of the planned programme…

Read the rest of this entry »

With Gordon Brown’s fiscal reputation following Dubya’s own battered rep into a swirling black hole of oil prices and crunchy credit, it’s heartening to know that (sometimes) Her Majesty’s government can still do its subjects a few financial favours here in Blighty.

A couple of weeks ago, the UK’s tax authority – Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs Service – announced a number of measures that may benefit Britain’s web workers, and more broadly, any Brits working from home.

Those working from home whom have a portion of their residence setup as a dedicated work area or office can claim that portion as a tax rebate. Also, they no longer have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of their home.

Read the rest of this entry »

My hometown of Bradford, in the northern United Kingdom was once the capital of the world’s wool industry and the birthplace of the movements that led to the Labour Party. Like many of the largest cities in Northern England that were once the ‘Silicon Valley of the Victorian era’, de-industrialization has been a painful process.

Larger cities such as Leeds and Manchester have reinvented themselves as financial, media and creative hubs that provide regional alternatives to the global powerhouse of London and attract the Creative Class that Richard Florida defines as the driving economic forces of post-industrial cities.

However, smaller post-industrial cities such as Bradford are still struggling to find a path to attracting information industries, caught between ambitious but incompetent government regeneration programs and projects that misfire and develop facilities for creative classes, but misread what’s actually needed; projects such as a recently announced ‘Digital Park‘.

Much of the core of the city lies dormant, with vacant buildings awaiting vision and leadership, whilst the city’s confidence diminishes along with the hopes of its residents.

However, a pair of recently published articles hints at a way forward for places such as Bradford…

Read the rest of this entry »

So you thought you’d escaped the cubicle farm when you decided to put down roots in your local coworking community? Think again! The cubicle is back!

At Leeds’ The Round Foundry in the UK, entrepreneurs in the creative and digital industries can opt for traditional serviced office space or a hot-desking plan in a large shared space. Each hot-desker gets a cute lockable ‘pod’, that includes…

• Six large shelves (with file holder tabs!)
• Six power outlets.
• Two Cat-5 sockets.
• A coat/bag hook.
• A motorized, adjustable desk area.
• Um, wheels.

The pods (the model is know as a Macro-1)  are actually quite cool, designed by local company Volume Products as part of a range of modular office furniture. Though they appear to be designed for traditional office spaces, they seem to have been adapted well to the Round Foundry’s coworking area.

However is raises some interesting questions about the nature of work environments that coworkers are interested in inhabiting.

Read the rest of this entry »