WLP356 April Monthly Reading and Listening (and Watching!) Recommendations
Release Date: 04/25/2024
WLP386 An Unexpected Legal Challenge of Working from Home, plus updates
21st Century Work Life
In this episode, Pilar shares a different kind of remote-work related story, featuring an unusual (and dark) circumstance showing why it's important for organisations to know when they're employees are actually working, when working from home. Plus, Jack Nilles' endorsement of , some learning reflections and book recommendations. Links Article on remote work: Presunción de accidente de trabajo durante el teletrabajo: La prueba del «tiempo de trabajo» en régimen de flexibilidad cuando la empresa no aporta registro horario. Jack Nille's article: ...
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WLP385 How Remote Work in Organisations affects Performance. (All the World's a Workplace expanded.)
21st Century Work Life
This episode is part of the All the World's a Workplace Expanded season. Pilar looks at a recently published metastudy, looking at the recent evidence about how working remotely affects job performance in organisations. Plus, personal updates at the end of the episode. Links: Toward a Better Understanding of Job Performance When Working Remotely: Evidence, Boundaries, and Trade-OffsTammy D. Allen1, Kristen M. Shockley2 and Ryan S. Grant3 Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Vol. 14 How Coworking Spaces Impact Employee Well-Being...
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WLP384 Communication Repertoires in Hybrid Workplaces part of the All the World's a Workplace Expanded season
21st Century Work Life
When we're looking at hybrid workspaces, the emphasis should not just be on where people are working from, but also on how their communication ecosystem is organised. In this episode, Pilar discusses a recent pre-print on communication repertoires in hybrid office work, exploring how face-to-face and mediated channels relate to formal and informal exchanges between colleagues. Paper discussed: Klärner, Kai-David, Sophie-Charlotte Meyer and Anita Tisch (2026). “Communication Repertoires in Hybrid Office Work: Mediated Channels, Face-to-Face Interaction, and Formal and Informal Exchange.”...
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WLP383 All the World's a Workplace season kick off: Work is location agnostic. People are not.
21st Century Work Life
A little August episode to celebrate the fact that I (Pilar) have finished the manuscript for All the World's a Workplace! I realise half-way through the recording that while the work is location agnostic, the people are not. (It took me over a decade to articulate this!) [0:00] Welcome, and bringing back the show's original tagline [0:39] The book's done, to be published soon: All the World's a Workplace [3:30] Why context is everything (and why the book got so long) [5:39] How the book is structured [6:27] "The work is location agnostic. The people are not." [7:57] Office...
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WLP382 Booknotes: How to Change
21st Century Work Life
In today's episode, Pilar shares her highlights from the book: How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman
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WLP381 Booknotes: Black Box Thinking. Growth Mindset and the Secrets of High Performance
21st Century Work Life
Pilar shares her booknotes from: Black Box Thinking: Growth Mindset and the Secrets of High Performance by Matthew Syed Another episode from the season Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from: Black Box Thinking: Growth Mindset and the Secrets of High Performance by Matthew Syed “The paradox of success: it is built upon failure.” During the episode, Pilar shares: Zoe podcast episode from 16 March 2026 Tim Spector's 7...
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WLP380 Booknotes special: a conversation on Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams
21st Century Work Life
A different kind of episode today! We’re back with two voices, and this time, instead of Pilar sharing notes from a book, she speaks to her co-author Bree Caggiati, about their latest book, "Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams". They cover some of the book’s topics, how the research has moved on, and for Part 2, they’ve got some connection-related personal updates. In today's episode: Part 1 Check out , the book! 1. Book and Project Origins Bree and Pilar explain how their 2019 podcast project on connection and disconnection evolved into their recently published book. 2....
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WLP379 Booknotes: Code Dependent: How AI Is Changing Our Lives
21st Century Work Life
Another episode from the season Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from: Code Dependent: How AI Is Changing Our Lives by Madhumita Murgia “The problem that we have is not the algorithms, but the humans.” And don’t forget to check out , the book! Part 2: Personal Updates Pilar shares some of the ways in which she’s using generative AI to help with the writing of her book. If you’re interested in All the...
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WLP378 Booknotes: Make Time and Four Thousand Weeks
21st Century Work Life
Another episode from the season Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from: Make Time: How to focus on what happens every day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky Four Thousand Weeks: Embrace your limits. Change your life. Make your four thousand weeks count by Oliver Burkman "The technologies we use to try to 'get on top of everything' always fail us, in the end, because they increase the size of the 'everything' of which we're trying...
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WLP377 Booknotes: The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary
21st Century Work Life
Another episode from the season: Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from: The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary by Catherine Gray Favourite highlight: “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.” And don’t forget to check out , the book! Part 2: Personal Updates If you’re interested in the future book The A to Z of Spanish Refrains, sign up here: Pilar talks about her recent experience...
info_outlineWe’ve struggled this month to create a collection around remote work, so we’ve gone a bit “around the edges” - but it’s still all relevant to our audience. There is much content around hybrid work at the moment, and it tends to have more of a “how to” angle to it , so we often give it a miss.
So, please send through anything you think we might add in future episodes. https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us
Coffee Break Articles
05.00 MINS
The Pyramid Principle
Via Sketchplanations
How Remote Workers Are Reshaping Corporate Travel Policies
via Skift
E-voice in the Digitalised Workplace. Insights from an Alternative Organisation
via Human Resource Management Journal (Wiley)
Grabbed from Eva Rimbau-Gilabert’s profile on previously-known-as-Twitter.
Airchat Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Obsession
via Wired.com
Article + Documentary
15.50 MINS
Work Different
a documentary by Julien Capraro
This was recommended by Jack Niles, reader of the newsletter, and author of Managing Telework: Strategies for Managing the Virtual Workforce published by Wiley in 1998.
You can read about the documentary here: https://www.createastir.ca/articles/work-different-rendez-vous-french-film-festival and watch the documentary here: https://www.nfb.ca/film/work-different/
Books
18.12 MINS
The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World
by Dorie Clark
(You might also want to check out Entrepreneurial You.)
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
by Adam Grant
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
by Cal Newport
How To Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
by David Brooks
(thanks Bernie J MItchell for the recommendation!)
Audio Recommendations
30.25 MINS
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
294: A Tactical Assault on Business
1 April 2024
The Long-Distance Worklife podcast
Episode: Press Start on SoWork: How Gamers are Influencing the Future of Remote Work
15 April 2024
Remote Work Life
RWL203 From office manager to international remote work expert w/ Laurel Farrer, Founder Distribute Consulting
4 March 2024
What’s Going On with Maya and Pilar
Check out our own work!
Thinking Remote: Inspiration for Leaders of Distributed Teams, a collection of our blog posts.
And Maya’s “Out Of The Office: Making the transition to working from home” and “Finding Your Edge: Establishing And Maintaining Boundaries When You Work From Home”
Pilar is back on Twitter (X)!
Maya’s mainly on LinkedIn, and… during RWE’s LinkedIn’s challenge, Maya posted about Getting Things Done, and got a comment from David Allen on it!
Maya is speaking at Bansko Nomad Fest.
Use her code for a discount! 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗥𝗪𝗘_𝗯𝗻𝗳𝟮𝟰
Our newsletters:
Pilar’s “Spiralling Creativity” https://spirallingcreativity.substack.com/
Maya’s “Remote Echoes” https://mayamiddlemiss.substack.com/
You can message Pilar through the Virtual not Distant website: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us and get hold of Maya over at Remote Work Europe: https://www.remoteworkeurope.eu/ .