Category Archives: English

Staff Augmentation: What it is and How it Works?

Posted on March 22, 2023 - 2:55 pm by

Staff augmentation is a business strategy that allows companies to quickly and easily increase their workforce by hiring temporary staff to meet specific project needs. This strategy is commonly used in the technology and IT industries, where there is a high demand for specialized skills and expertise.

 

 

Staff augmentation is different from traditional hiring:

In that, it involves the temporary addition of skilled professionals to an existing team, rather than the creation of a new team. The temporary staff, also known as a contract or contingent workers, work alongside the existing team to complete the project on time and within budget.

 

The process of staff augmentation typically involves three main steps: identification of the skills and experience required, finding and hiring the necessary talent, and integration of the temporary staff into the existing team.

 

Once the company has identified the necessary skills and experience, the next step is to find and hire temporary staff. This can be done through various channels, such as recruitment agencies, freelance marketplaces, or personal networks. The company must evaluate the potential candidates based on their skills, experience, and fit with the existing team.

 

After the temporary staff has been hired, the final step is to integrate them into the existing team. This involves providing the necessary training and orientation, as well as ensuring effective communication and collaboration between the temporary and permanent staff.

 

There are several benefits to using staff augmentation as a business strategy:



First, it provides a flexible solution to quickly scale up or down the workforce as needed. This allows the company to meet project deadlines and complete projects within budget, without the long-term financial commitment of hiring permanent staff.

 

Second, staff augmentation allows the company to access a broader range of skills and expertise than would be possible with a small, permanent team. This is particularly important in the technology and IT industries, where specialized knowledge and expertise are critical to project success.

 

Finally, staff augmentation can help the company maintain a competitive advantage by staying up-to-date with the latest technology and industry trends. The temporary staff brings with them new ideas, insights, and knowledge that can help the company stay ahead of the competition.

 

In conclusion, staff augmentation is a powerful business strategy that allows companies to quickly and easily increase their workforce to meet specific project needs. By identifying the necessary skills and experience, finding and hiring the necessary talent, and integrating the temporary staff into the existing team, companies can take advantage of the benefits of staff augmentation to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.

 

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Outsourcing software services: What is it and why should you consider it for your business?

Posted on March 17, 2023 - 1:51 pm by
Outsourcing software services: What is it and why should you consider it for your business?

Introduction:

Software is a key element for any business as it forms the backbone of the system and enables various tasks such as tracking customer orders, managing inventory, scheduling employees, and accepting payments. Therefore, it is important that companies manage their infrastructures efficiently to avoid excessive costs for customers and the company as a whole. One interesting option for reducing costs is outsourcing software services, where companies can obtain products at much lower prices than if they were managing their own operating system. In this way, they can develop new services and products without having to spend money on maintaining them.

What is the outsourcing of software services?

Software services outsourcing is contracting an external company to develop, maintain, or update custom software for your business instead of employing an in-house team of developers. In this way, companies can leverage the resources and expertise of an external service provider like The Flock to meet their software needs.

Benefits of Working with The Flock and How It Can Help Your Business:

  • Lower costs: outsourcing can be much more cost-effective than an in-house development team because it avoids the costs associated with hiring and maintaining in-house staff, such as salaries, benefits, and training. Plus, at The Flock, we already have the infrastructure, tools, and technical team needed to develop software, which means there’s no need to invest in expensive equipment and software.
  • Flexibility: Outsourcing gives your company the flexibility to scale its software development team as needed, allowing it to better manage its resources and budget at each stage of the project.
  • Specialized experience and skills: The Flock has a highly skilled and experienced team in a variety of software technologies, which means you can access specialized skills you do not have in-house, allowing you to develop more advanced and complex software solutions.
  • Focus on your business: outsourcing software development allows you to focus on your core business instead of worrying about software development. This can improve the overall efficiency of your business and allow you to focus on your core business goals.
  • Reduce Risk: Software development can be a complex process that comes with many risks. Outsourcing software development can reduce the risk to your business, as The Flock has a team of experts who are in constant contact with you at every stage of development, looking for solutions.

In summary, outsourcing software services can be a very beneficial strategy for companies. It allows them to reduce costs, access specialized skills, improve the overall efficiency of their business, and reduce the risks associated with software development. For these reasons, companies should consider outsourcing software services to improve the efficiency and profitability of their business.

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Freelance and contractor, two ways of referring to the same thing?

Posted on March 9, 2023 - 12:02 pm by
Freelance and contractor, two ways of referring to the same thing?

Of course not, the freelance and contractor modalities are not the same, although both involve working on projects in a temporary and somewhat independent manner.

Although remote work and contractors share some similarities, such as the fact that both involve working outside of the traditional office, there are some key differences between these two concepts.

A freelancer:

An independent professional who offers services to different clients without having a fixed employment contract with any company. Freelancer can work from home or their office and is responsible for finding their own clients, negotiating their rates, and setting their own work schedules. Freelancers typically work on a project or hourly basis and have no guarantee of job continuity. In addition, freelance work is usually short-term.

A contractor:

An independent worker who is hired for a specific period of time, typically contracts of 1 to 2 years, depending on the project, within the company. Unlike freelancers, the contractor has an employment contract with the company that hires them. They receive a fixed salary and may have additional benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations.

persona editando foto en computadora

The key lies in the type of work they perform. Although freelancers and contractors are independent workers, their work may differ in scope and duration. Freelancers can work on a variety of projects for different clients, while contractors are often hired by a single company to work on specific long-term projects.

Companies, such as startups, have specific and urgent roles to fill, which is why our platform is designed to solve this problem for them. We look for on-demand talent, make a match, and get to work.

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Layoffs in the technology Sector and their Impact on remote work

Posted on March 6, 2023 - 12:37 pm by

Layoffs in the technology

The current situation in the world of technology is one of uncertainty and constant change. Many #tech companies are experiencing a decrease in their revenues and are cutting costs, which has resulted in an increase in layoffs in the industry. Although in the past, employment in technology companies used to be considered a secure job, nowadays this is not necessarily true. The demand for human labor has decreased in some areas, and there is increasing pressure on workers to be better and more efficient.

The technology sector:

is one of the most dynamic and fast-moving in terms of change and evolution. It is constantly transforming and developing, just like the capital market. This modifies the plans of #tech companies. The focus is no longer on growth, but rather on profitability.

Investors are increasingly seeking technology companies that can demonstrate their ability to generate sustainable revenues and maintain a competitive advantage in the long term. This means that technology companies must be more aware of the risks and opportunities that arise as technology evolves and markets change. They are feeling the pressure to be more transparent about their strategy and financial results. Investors are demanding more information and accurate data on the performance of technology companies, including information on profitability, growth, and the ability to maintain a competitive advantage.

 

Layoffs

 

The increase in global competition:

is playing a significant role in the context of layoffs in the technology sector. With more companies competing for a share of the market, many find it difficult to stay afloat and cut costs by eliminating jobs.

Repeated layoffs shake the stability of full-time employment, leaving a pool of highly skilled talent available to join the freelance remote talent mode. Reconsidering their job security and eager for greater control and flexibility over their time.

Work dynamics are changing as much as this industry

Faced with the massive reduction in personnel that prominent companies are carrying out, different hiring models and opportunities that respond to the concerns and interests of new talent become relevant. In this way, a conglomerate of technology workers is created, available to participate in new projects.

Furthermore, layoffs can also affect the work culture of a technology company. Technology companies often have unique work cultures, based on collaboration, innovation, and teamwork. When a company lays off a large number of employees, it can negatively impact the morale and work culture of the company. The remaining employees may feel less committed or even fearful of being the next to be laid off.

Despite the instability, many niche companies continue to grow and expand. There is a high demand for skilled individuals in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, software development, data analytics, etc.

In this context of accelerated transformation of the technology sector, the constants to face the new labor organization seem to be two: flexibility, remote and asynchronous work.

 

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7 key working trends for 2023

Posted on January 18, 2023 - 7:11 pm by

This year has arrived with some questions that companies ask themselves regarding the upcoming labor market situation.

The last year was marked by the control of the worldwide health situation due to COVID-19 pandemic, which required a new adjustment of the labor dynamics to certain contexts.

Apart from the Great Resignation or the Quiet Quitting of essential talents, in this context there was also the return to the in-person modality to many workplaces but, at the same time, it was possible to guarantee the remote work or the hybrid modality in many companies that have preferred so. 

Open spaces that are environmentally friendly are crucial in order to establishing agile working methodologies in an innovative and sustainable way, favoring personal development and health. Moreover, it is vital to implement home office through an agreement that supports it.

So it is necessary to be up to date on the upcoming trends in 2023.

Man working on computer. Young it worker using laptop in the office, Internet marketing, technology, finance, business concept

This article aims at providing useful information for companies who want to establish guidelines for expanding themselves in a constant worldwide reality:

  1. Onboarding: the first working months are decisive to guarantee the continuity of the new employees of the enterprise (or their rotation). As this represents a pending in many organizations, it is essential to work with IT talent recruitment specialists to hire the most appropriate candidates, fit the new workers in the company culture and accompany the process of consolidation of successful relationships.
  2.   Company culture based on confidence: one of the most important values for talents’ labor relationships is confidence, either among colleagues or with the organization’s authorities. This can be achieved by building transparent and open communication, promoting collaborative decision-making and encouraging mutual respect and support. This kind of culture can also lead to more productivity, better working environment and greater continuity of employees.
  3. Fulfillment within the organization: according to a report by Indeed and Glassdoor, nowadays people care more about their health and avoid conflicts or unnecessary stressful situations within their workplace. Instead they prioritize the fulfillment, well-being and happiness that allow them to improve their performance and enhance positive leaderships.
    Their goal is to develop a sense of belonging with their colleagues and build sympathetic and supportive bonds, based on mutual respect, regard and inclusion. They try to make a balance between working responsibilities and personal life and they tend to put their values, expectations and objectives in tune with the others.
  4.   Remote and collaborative work modality: taking into account the constant challenges within the business world, several enterprises have decided to design a working plan that can be applied in a short, medium and long term, so talents are able to work from anywhere without commuting and this allows them to get involved in an active and collaborative way by building bonds with their colleagues.
    From now on, remote work will be different from the way we performed it during the pandemic, so many organizations must adjust to the teleworking law, both part-time and full-time jobs.
  5.   Multiple employment: due to the boom of remote work, the involvement of collaborators in certain projects has changed. The remote work modality is more related to goals and tasks fulfillment rather than the pursuit of productivity and greatest performance. Talents want to manage their own time rather than comply with a fixed timetable and, at the same time, they work on various job proposals to increase their earnings.
  6. Flexibility in the team dynamics: at this moment, organizations aim at boosting their freelance members’ performance and career in order to guarantee a great experience in the different stages they work on. Every member of the team has the objective of collaborating in common projects according to their knowledge and technical skills or learning them when necessary.
    After the health emergency, young people are showing that the productivity era, as it was seen before, is being left behind: now it is being replaced by the goal fulfillment within a flexible time scheme and independence.
    Moreover, the idea is to link productive time with leisure through this scheme, that’s why talents need holidays and days off according to their convenience.
  7.   On-demand holidays: remote work requires a change of mindset for talents and business people. This is because compulsory breaks and time off, which are established according to an agreement depending on important dates, are a thing of the past. Now there is another logic regarding time management, as collaborators are the ones who define how long their holidays will be, without any limits established by law.

As it is common every year, those organizations that are ready to face the fixed events and to deal with the unexpected are the ones who will be in the best conditions to take up challenges, overcome obstacles and move forward.

 

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It is impossible to compete with those who enjoy and love what they do

Posted on January 18, 2023 - 7:06 pm by

The Head of Operations in a company not only is in charge of avoiding and reducing failures that do not add any value to the organization but they also try to optimize processes in order to make them more efficient by means of strategic initiatives. Pablo Zuccarino is the Head of Operations in The Flock and told us about the challenges he takes up and the satisfaction he feels in such a job in a startup, where he is ready to draw up on the blank sheets.

 

How do you deal with time management and processes of this kind of ground-breaking company which does not have any how-to manual?

Such a good question, as every company is different and the startups in particular do not have any magical recipe for resolving problems. What I often do is to make agreements among teams that let us work in an organized and efficient way. As an agile person, I am always open to change and many times we apply the Lean manufacturing process for continual improvement. In organizations like this one, with such an exponential growth, procedures are hard to organize due to constant change. However, by using continual improvement, we adapt our processes in small pieces to constant change. The most important thing for us all is to be efficient so the changes can be transparent within our procedures for both the Flockers and our customers.

 

Where do you start from when accelerating processes? How do you focus on a potential problem?

I start by doing an assessment of the place or organization that asks for the process’ improvement. The aim of that need and the expected outcome are established. Then the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) is applied in order to prioritize the needs of improvements that are found and to make changes in the required processes for obtaining the greatest benefit in the shortest time possible.

 

Can you describe a Head of Operations’ typical day?

Really busy. The Head of Operations is focused on every process functioning, on the project’s follow-up and on guaranteeing a proper service for the clients. But above all, we want to make sure the Flockers know this is the best place to work and that the clients consider us as partners in their developments rather than simple software service providers. It is essential to do a daily follow-up of projects and processes without neglecting the long-term strategic aims.

 

Which is the greatest challenge when setting your goals?

Within a start-up, every goal is a challenge. There are too many things to do, changes take place very fast and that is the attractive part of short, middle and long-term aims. It is relevant to identify the quick wins that enable us to make quality leaps in our growth. It is also vital to be defiant with the objectives but at the same time being a bit conservative on some occasions. An uncontrolled growth may cause big problems in the processes at the expense of the customer service quality. That’s why our main objective is to grow as fast as possible without giving rise to risk in our service quality.

 

Which is the most difficult methodology to apply and why?

There are no easy or difficult methodologies to apply. The challenge arises when you work as a change agent in the company you are collaborating with and there is no applied methodology.

It is common that there is some resistance to change and if there are no outcomes or synergy among the teams, it is really hard to generate change opportunities. I used to work as an agile coach for a bank where I worked with a big team and there was a huge resistance to methodological changes.

We agile workers tend to come across as relaxed when you meet with people who are used to working with more traditional methodologies and that generates mistrust. I got really satisfied with the end of the year’s feedback: “This thing about agility gives good results, I didn’t believe it at first but now I see it more organized and we can see the improvements more clearly.”

 

Which is your slogan when working?

“Have fun”. It is impossible to compete with those who enjoy and love what they do.

I constantly get enormous satisfaction from the work we are doing in The Flock, which is really entertaining. New challenges are continually arising and that make us improve every day.

 

Why are startups so attractive for remote talents?

Because of the flexibility and constant innovation that most of them offer. Those who work remotely are not comfortable with the idea of office work and like to manage their own time. And startups allow that. People work by objectives that are in general very challenging but they are able to manage their own time and energy. In most cases, the startups offer great challenges related to technology and continual improvement which is important for those who dare to go beyond and face them.

 

Which are the main challenges of designing processes and establishing them in a remote work enterprise?

Most people who work remotely, either digital nomads or freelancers, usually do asynchronous work. So they adjust their timetable the way they want. The challenge is to synchronize in an efficient way their work with the rest of the team. By means of agile methodologies, specified requirements, repository management and automatic deployment processes it is possible to achieve this even when working from different time zones.

 

Which is the difference between doing a job in-person in a company and doing it remotely?

In my whole life I have worked in-person, hybrid and remotely. I consider it is completely possible to work remotely and even more efficiently, as you can invest the commuting time in personal tasks, such as going to the gym or picking up your children from school. However, it is also a nice thing to often meet your colleagues to build better relationships within the company.

It is essential to be organized with time management when working remotely. You should follow certain behavior rules and be able to fulfill the established goals. If we are not able to control this, we may be not doing our best to fulfill the goals or we may be going through a burnout due to working 14 hours (which was so common at the beginning of the pandemic, when people were not used to remote work.)

Today’s worldwide trend is remote work, The Flock knows it and it is ready for this increasing way of working.

 

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10 keys for creating remote business culture

Posted on November 24, 2022 - 1:55 pm by

The business culture

is related to the values, objectives, missions, and view of a certain company and the employers are the ones who transmit them to the employees, who share it with each other in every project. This culture represents the structural foundation, whose purpose is to create a sense of belonging and promote not only the mutual support and the cooperation among the members of the enterprise but also the compliance of the schemes and working rules.

Regarding the internal level, it is expressed throughout the adopted modality and guidelines that regulate the working dynamics but it also controls the relationships among the employees. Those who work for a certain organization feel identified with its proposal, so they adapt their behavior and their way of perceiving what they perform there. But at the external level, it can be present in the exchange and collaborations that the company has with other enterprises.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic

many companies had to start to consider other options completely different from the traditional working model. On this point, we should focus on the factors that allow current companies to keep on track and go for virtuality.

The challenge of creating this culture within the remote model requires new strategies which, among other things, aim at maintaining communication, emotional intelligence and empathy. Besides these strategies promote leadership and make the learning of necessary tools easier in a continuous, efficient and coordinated way.

In accordance with the latter, it is essential to point out that, as they do not share a physical space in this new model, employees’ expressions, gestures and behavior during their virtual meetings are crucial in terms of dialogue and exchange with others.

As part of these new marketing strategies, it is also important to highlight which are the market needs that the company can fulfill in the present, which are the skills and techniques in order to do so and which will be the objectives. This enables the enterprise to pay attention to their clients’ needs and desires and design a plan to satisfy them.

Moreover, it is vital that the organization takes actions in order to accompany and strengthen every employee’s and team’s development by promoting the fulfillment of tasks, the meeting of deadlines throughout common agreements and criteria.

In this article, we will review over some aspects to take into account when creating business culture:

  1.   Defining the company’s personality and values: this means not only clarifying the features by which the members will be able to interact between each other and with their clients but also outlining which are the values that they will defend in those interactions.
  2.   Being clear about the mission and view of the brand for developing tasks: employees must be aware of what the organization is like nowadays and where it is going ahead. So the entire purpose of the company, the needs and demands they want to comply with and the strategies must be clarified.
  3.   Encouraging employees to accomplish the organization’s goals: it is essential to let them know about the benefits they can get when meeting the deadlines in search of complying with those goals.
  4.   Motivating employees to learn new skills: the market is constantly changing its conditions, so the workers must be up-to-date by learning the necessary skills in order to remain in it. This will allow them to be more versatile and move forward in their career.
  5.   Providing tools for the leadership development within the team: the enterprise must accompany and allow their members to make decisions and solve conflicts in a proactive way, keeping the connection of the team in search of guaranteeing everyone’s well-being.
  6.   Acknowledging every worker’s performance: receiving recognition makes workers feel appreciated by the company. Being aware that you are doing well and that contributes to the normal whole operation is gratifying to continue improving.
  7.   Promoting mutual support and collaboration within the work team: actions must be taken in order to boost the team spirit and encourage collaborative work, so they can help each other.
  8.   Generating gathering spaces, no matter how far they are: it is essential that there exist spaces outside the working environment, where employees can meet with each other virtually, share common interests, express genuinely and build bonds with their colleagues.
  9.   Boost communication between employers and employees in a flexible way: by adopting more independence and autonomy, remote work involves holding other kind of strategies for communicating. In order to do so, the most adequate channels to share relevant information must be defined. When and how that will happen should also be established.
  10. Improving body language in the digital world: in this type of meetings, the body has a different role from the one it used to have in in-person meetings. So, it is recommended to pay attention to the non-verbal expressions and observe and listen carefully to others, apart from the verbal communication.

 

It is evident that this working model implies making changes and reconsiderations within companies. Creating business culture represents a huge responsibility, which, despite everything, will improve the confidence of workers inside organizations, looking for common development in order to achieve success and prosperity.

 

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Discover the working trends in the #tech world⁣

Posted on November 23, 2022 - 9:22 pm by
Tech World

Remote work has been increasing more and more.


Performing daily tasks from your living room, managing flexible time, and being in contact with people and projects from all over the world was a utopia some years ago. However, the post-pandemic world has shown us that not only is this modality completely possible but also it is a current reality for many.

 

At The Flock, we are keen on getting to know which are the working trends mainly in the tech world. That’s why, in October this year, we carried out a survey of technological profiles around the world in order to look into their preferences when developing themselves as professionals.

 

The survey respondents were men and women of all ages. The main age range was between 25 and 35, followed by the one between 36 and 45. We received responses from different nationalities, such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Costa Rica.

 

 

Most of the ones polled belong to the Development area, followed by Business and Product, and finally, Design. The first answer that called our attention was that 90% of them are currently working remotely. Most of them have chosen this modality during the last years, exactly between 2 and 4 years ago, which coincides with the pandemic appearance that has made us redevelop our working methodologies.

 

Regarding the interests that bring about this choice, most agreed on the fact that the home office enables them to balance their personal life and work in a more effective way. In the second place, almost a quarter of the respondents highlighted the chance of working in any part of the world, which solves commuting issues. Finally, other aspects such as optimization, income level, and improvements in productivity were mentioned.

 

 

Besides, we also wanted to determine if the choice of one modality or another is related to the fact of choosing projects in places away from their cities of residence. But the answers were divided almost in halves into those who work on projects in their own country, those who have international clients, and those who do both. This can indicate the flexibility provided by the new technologies combined with remote work modalities, enabling us to be part of worldwide projects.

 

Moreover, we would like to point out that 60 % of the ones polled stated that they have once received a proposal for working remotely during the last 6 months. And among the most decisive aspects in order to evaluate this kind of offer are time optimization, salaries, challenges involved in every project or position, and finally, the company culture.

 

 

In accordance with labor relations in this type of job, most said that they were full-time independent contractors closely followed by those who work in an employer-employee relationship. To a lesser extent, some respondents are freelancers who look for clients on their own (11%) or use platforms for that purpose (6%). Regarding working conditions, almost half of them affirmed that they were established unilaterally by the company or employer, meanwhile, the minority said they reached an agreement about it together with their employers. Just a small percentage stated that they themselves set the conditions.

 

We also wonder how many of these people that are nowadays working remotely would like to come back to an in-person modality if there is a chance. Taking into account all the benefits that remote work brings about, we were not surprised when we discovered that most of them claimed they would not work face-to-face again.

 

 

However, there was a smaller percentage of respondents that would dismiss the chance of working remotely or would come back to an on-site modality. And there is only one reason: daily contact with the work team. This tells us that there is still a challenge to take up in this new scenario: how to create communities and promote work teams even thousands of kilometers away.

 

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How to cope with Qatar World Cup and not die trying: suggestions for companies

Posted on October 19, 2022 - 7:04 pm by

Global phenomena take place regularly and they alter the normal course of daily situations and the fulfillment of responsibilities.


They are large-scale events that catch the attention of the worldwide population every certain period of time and modify the routine temporally. This also has an impact on work development, such as working time management and execution within the enterprise. Working spaces must take into account some essential aspects in order to cope with these events in the best way possible and encourage their employees to continue working on their projects.

No matter if it is a remote or in-person modality, companies must deal with the challenge of an internal reorganization so they can provide alternatives to comply with the ongoing projects in a flexible way during these spectacles. Both remote and in-person teams have to suggest different ideas which allow to create or strengthen the business culture in order also to avoid a decrease in the productivity of their talents during this period.

The 2022 World Cup is coming and it is interesting to focus on it because of its geographical, economic, and political importance, as well as on what it provokes in every person, considering its values, motivations, and interests.

An encounter among various national football teams which are made up of members who belong to different nationalities; the presence of a huge audience and fans coming from all over the world who invest their energy and resources for getting there; football chants that every team feels represented by; flags waving everywhere, among others features of this championship, are relevant when thinking also about the companies.

 

Male graphic designer cheering while watching football match in office

 

  • How is it possible to integrate talents and promote the values work team without putting aside leisure?
  • How can we set up a virtual space for employees to share recreational activities that allow them to know each other going beyond geographical limits?
  • Which are the most adequate measures to increase the freelancers’ performance and the deadlines and tasks compliance taking into account the worldwide distraction caused by this sport celebration?

Aiming at collaborating with businesses given the need of revising the working schemes, this article offers answers to the questions above.

It is certain that the World Cup turns on passion, emotions, and enthusiasm in people and there is a great interest in being part, either attending the matches or watching them on the screens. Avoiding the lack of focus and the efficiency decrease of remote talents requires coming up with some measures that make possible their temporary adaptation during this celebration.

Let’s share some useful strategic actions that we will roll out in The Flock when negotiating the working guidelines while finding a balance:

  1. Revise and modify the project stages. Extend deadlines: both coordination and cooperation among freelancers are crucial even during these distracting events.
  2. More flexibility, so they can have more available time to attend a certain match or watch it when the national team they support is playing.
  3. Promote virtual gathering spaces for those who prefer to watch the matches together with other fans and share a leisure moment. 
  4. Make marketing advertising campaigns via e-mail where useful information about talents’ personal and working development is provided. The World Cup and other cultural and sports phenomena are important as they show worldwide points of view, objectives, and choices that allow each team and its members to build their own path. It is beneficial that employees have the chance to chat and learn together with professionals who provide tools to boost these aspects of their lives in a constructive and optimistic way.
  5. Set up teams to create interactive games (gambling) for employees to participate in and with real games for winners: providing relaxing and leisure environments that lead to empathy and solidarity but also to self-care and self-defense.
  6. Suggest integration activities among those who make up the work team, promoting working productivity: the idea is to create a solid bond based on mutual support among employees. Empathy, listening, and collaboration are key to fulfilling the planned tasks.
  7. Reflect on inclusion, diversity, and acceptance of differences within the organization, considering the regulations and prohibitions that the host country imposes in relation to religion and sexual orientation or gender identity.

It is essential that freelancers have the chance to relate and integrate their personal life with the working dynamics (without mixing them), as they can come up with innovative solutions without quitting their leisure activities. This takes to an increase together with development among talents and their projects.

Although all the enterprises should consider this event on their agenda, those who work remotely are the ones who make a greater joint effort, due to time independence, asynchronous work, and places from where talents are involved but, at the same time, they obtain more significant benefits. 

 

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An unknown but increasingly requested position: what CTOs do

Posted on August 22, 2022 - 9:42 pm by
Juan-Cruz-Montes

Technology represents the talent economy basis.


When people can learn, share and work from any part of the world, all traditional assumptions about work are open for revision. The growth of computer speed, the infinite capacity of data storage, and the power of internet connections make global collaboration possible in real-time and in almost all disciplines.

According to research conducted by Harvard University, companies are considering the recruitment of freelance talent as a key aspect of their business strategy. This “new” trend has taken center stage with key figures.

One of these new roles that appear on this on-demand talent stage is the CTO. The responsibilities and tasks of a Chief Technology Officer are well-defined and this job position is increasingly in demand. So, what are these department managers in charge of?

Juan Cruz Montes, Director of Technology in The Flock,


explains some of his duties and tells about his daily routine in the leadership of the technical team of one of the Latin-American platforms with more validated talents. According to him, when making up a technology team, the key is to make a balance between challenges and practice, to find harmony among technologies to fulfill delivery, stability, and trust in the whole area. “Finding talents is also difficult but luckily in The Flock we specialized in that.”

The CTO has a main role within a company’s organizational chart and fluctuates from the commercial to the technical area, as they develop innovative products and take responsibility for the technology that allows the company to operate. “We define the technological direction. I started programming when I was 15, later on at 19 I began to work as a developer and I went from big companies to smaller ones until I ended up being a freelancer for many years. I traveled the whole world as a freelancer and I worked with clients from almost all continents. Then I came back to Argentina and I joined The Flock project.”

Many on-demand talent platforms match profiles with projects and he claims that The Flock’s distinctive feature is the fact of putting the focus on the community and making the freelancer’s life as easy as possible. The talent seeks freedom and flexibility, which is not offered by traditional work. The world is completely different from our parents, working in the same enterprise for decades is no longer attractive. In The Flock, we offer solutions for all the freelancers’ pains, as well as many perks.

 

 

There is an increasing demand for technological profiles. The CTO of The Flock considers that the pair react + node has been the most requested for the last years, at first it was a stack only for start-ups but since the adoption of Typescript is slowly getting into the corporate world.

The tech industry moves forward by leaps and bounds and many of its new developments have a huge impact on society. Juan Cruz considers that technology is disruptive when it changes how we do something or breaks established habits. For example, Uber has changed the way the world moves, Netflix has modified the way we watch TV, Rappi has affected the way we order food and some apps modify, for instance, our way of paying. We in The Flock have changed the way we work.

He thinks Latin America is one of the regions with more tech talents who are very well qualified. “In countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia there is a vibrating and healthy start-up ecosystem that produces many world-class developers. The regional challenges lead to innovation and it’s there where the Latin-American talent shines.”

He considers that a person who wants to become a CTO does not have to know about all the technologies but he is convinced that they must like being up-to-date in order not to be left apart quickly. “I would recommend that person get involved in their favorite technologies community and focus on learning everything about its basis. Opportunities are endless, we only need to be passionate about what we do.”

Being a CTO implies knowing how to attract, manage and promote loyalty within the IT professionals team of the company. His daily slogan to perform successfully at work is: “first make it work, then make it better.” Constant improvement, daily and incessant construction. Sprint by sprint, quarter by quarter.

 

 

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Latin American Talent has the key for succeeding in a remote world in their DNA

Posted on August 1, 2022 - 8:38 pm by

Remote work has increased 91% in popularity over the last 10 years. After the Covid19, it has grown and it has accelerated processes that some companies had already started. Within this new working model, many challenges have arisen but they must be turned into chances. Today it is no longer necessary to be from 9 to 6 in an office to develop professionally. The freelance modality allows workers to manage their own time given accomplishing goals or objectives it’s what is really important. Not where or at what time you are working. Given freelance and remote work are growing exponentially the recruiting world is changing too and now ONLINE has become the main way for connecting with new talent. The biggest demanding task in this post-pandemic era is, at the same time, the biggest advantage of remote work. Nowadays all meetings and interviews are virtual and, although that has provided a wide variety of possibilities when recruiting talents because of the access to people all around the world, it has also taken out an essential part of communication, the non-verbal one.

The most significant challenge for organizations is how to make the best talents work in their company when there is such a great offer in similar conditions. What makes The Flock different from the rest is that despite being freelance #flockers that join the team and certain projects, the enterprise culture is above all the employees. There are activities in common in order to gather and meet each other no matter where they are. The Flock is above all a COMMUNITY of talented tech freelancers, where they can access challenging projects globally, self-managing themselves 100% but being also part of a network that supports them and that they can rely on.

 

The distinctive feature of the Latin-American talent is contained in its DNA

According to the UN, in 2020 remote work was only considered as an option by 3% of the population. Today between 20% and 30% of Latin Americans work this way.

The great difference in all Latin America, not only in the labor market, is that people who are born and live in this region have a more adaptable personality to change. Since childhood, adaptability comes from the culture and the situations experienced in this zone. And that makes them a talent hub for companies outside Latin America. People from this region are brought up in an economically and, in some cases, socially unstable context, which allows them to develop an adaptability and flexibility capacity different from people from the rest of the world.
Doubtlessly, this feature is key when having to work remotely. Currently, the balance between personal life and work is clearer than before the pandemic. Home office stabilizes these two aspects. It is no longer only a “benefit”, workers do not only look for an attractive salary but they consider the offer as a whole. And that involves an equilibrium between work and personal life and a more flexible schedule and conditions.

Today’s workers want to be evaluated for the value they provide and not for the volume. And the question here is how to build confidence in the digital world. Micromanagement (personnel management philosophy that involves the strict supervision of the assigned tasks to employees by the manager or a hierarchical superior) is a waste of time and energy and it generates distrust not only from the leader to their team, but also the other way round and the best results come from teamwork and synergy indeed. It’s the leader who must create that confident relationship so their team can work efficiently and independently without worrying about insignificant matters.

 

The challenge of retaining talent

Before it was common for a professional to stay the whole career in the same organization but these days it is more frequent for talent to change jobs and enterprises and even to work simultaneously for many of them. This represents an explicit and implicit fact. Both parties are aware of the ‘threats’ within the labor market which can tempt the resource drain. Is this the end of the company’s presence? As stated by Forbes Magazine, the main millennials’ ambitions are 57% travel, 52% being rich, 49% buying a house, 46% having a positive impact on society and 39% raising a family. Therefore, every talent wants to add new experiences, instead of accumulating years of experience. They want to work how, when and where they want. They are no longer interested in a career in a company with rigid hierarchies, they want to work with leaders from whom they can learn, and work on challenging and impactful projects.

So, the question is how to retain talent. In relation to freelance talent digital platforms, the key is to provide support for them so they can focus on their tasks without dealing with matters that are not of their competence. This is what happens in The Flock. Every employee works in the area they love and then the community supports them in order to perform well in their objectives.

 

Opportunities: the launch pad to success

Despite the labor market is more and more competitive due to the endless chances of online self-learning courses, it is no longer necessary to have university degrees that guarantee the talent’s knowledge. Every talent has something good to offer and the only thing that separates them from success is the chance of showing their abilities and skills. The Flock offers multiple challenges and projects in which each talent can develop without worrying about anything but their work. Clear goals, a supportive community, and the opportunity to start the life you long for.

 

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The Flock: the digital platform of validated talent where everyone wins

Posted on June 16, 2022 - 5:06 pm by 1

Ramiro González Forcada and Nicolás Castro are 29 years old and founders of The Flock, a freelance validated talent platform that matches technological projects with Latin American freelancers.

 

Its beginnings and the pandemic as an opportunity

It was in the midst of the pandemic and socially isolated, as almost everyone, when they started to brainstorm about their current enterprise, which is present in more than 10 countries and manages more than 20 projects at the same time with 50 #flockers working on that. The confinement played in their favor to have greater availability and thus be able to work, almost exclusively, in the project they trusted so much.

They make up a seamless team and they complement each other. They foster remote, independent and asynchronous work. Nico states that Rami has a good mix of strategic vision, leadership and critical analysis. On the other hand, Ramiro declares that they have both the same desire, objectives and values but from different perspectives. “I encourage the team and always challenge us to go one step further. Nico does short-term oriented management and has a good trade-off between moving on and experiencing the current moment, he knows how to enjoy every step.”

They met when they were children, as they used to live in the same neighborhood and their schools were near. They had many people in common and they met again at university. “We started to get to know each other little by little, at first in study groups, then in social meetings and later on we set up different projects. In that moment we realized that we enjoyed working together, we had similar ideas and dreams and we wanted to create something big. We made some things before that did not result as expected but we never gave up. We had the feeling that we had to work together and we finally got to this project which joined many objectives: global outreach, technology and impact,” say both of them.

The pandemic was a breaking point for the start of The Flock. “That context helped us a lot when trying to demonstrate that it is completely possible to work with people from many parts of the world and focused on meeting objectives instead of schedules,” states Nicolás. The arrival of the pandemic showed people’s potential to the world and that they could be able to develop their tasks from anywhere. Ramiro also claims that “it was a reality before the pandemic but with this phenomenon, everyone was forced to do it, and even some companies that would have never taken the leap are now experiencing positive results.”

 

The challenging world of startups

They are versatile, skilled and passionate about technology and they argue that the start-up world evolves really fast and flexibility is needed in order not to be left out soon. The most challenging is to find the product-market fit. That is to say, to find the moment in which you know exactly the added value that is provided to the client and they perceive it in the same way. That moment, when you understand how to speak to them, what to say and how to sell, which is really important, represents the starting point where more growth can be obtained.

They work with elastic teams which is a win-win scheme where both parties win.

Although there are many similar platforms, the added value of The Flock is that every #Flocker who joins the platform can work in a comfortable way, as they forget about dealing with clients, they have an income in dollars and on time, they have predictability regarding potential projects and it is fully remote. Every talent can decide when and where to work, which gives a real balance between their jobs and personal life. Moreover, they state that it has great benefits for companies, as they have motivated teams, they invest in the necessary skills for every product stage when they need it and they improve their return of investment in the labor force, among others.

The founders highlight communication as an essential aspect in order to be able to work with elastic and remote teams both for the clients and the Flockers. That’s why in The Flock we put a lot of emphasis on following the project implementation methodology.

 

The importance of reliability and curiosity

According to their experience, talent must have reliability in people in order to develop themselves professionally within remote teams. The idea is to know that when they say they will do something they will actually do it. This is very appreciated in The Flock and it adds a lot of value to the profiles. Regarding this, Ramiro mentions a key concept: curiosity.

“Working in remote teams makes you relate to different cultures and languages; you must be curious in order to be constantly learning from others.”

“We are very strict when validating a talent, we permanently look for the perfect manner to make up an IT team.” Therefore, in The Flock they create a rigorous process, by means of which they quickly detect the level of every applicant. Their objective is to become the biggest validated talent platform in Latin America that searches for the perfect match between talent and project.

They affirm that Latin America is a high-quality pole of talent attraction, they are really motivated to grow in a professional way. Besides, they underline the good level of English, which is the universal language in the digital product development world. Nowadays, this region possesses a lot of skilled people, not only in the technical field but also in languages and social skills.

Finally, how do you see TF 5 years from now? We expect The Flock to be the leading digital talent platform worldwide. They see themselves working with more and more quantity and variety of people and enterprises, with increasingly ambitious projects and improving the work-life balance of many people. That’s where we’re headed.

 

#TheFlockTip

What would you advise someone who wants to quit their permanent job in a company and start working as a freelancer? “We consider that nowadays talented people, especially from the digital product development world, have more opportunities than ever. Indeed, enterprises are the ones that are concerned about getting good talent and not the other way round. They argue that it is the right time to take the leap towards the independent and freelance world. “Companies like ours help in that transition and accompany the freelancer’s life.”

The founders made a short, random and a bit nerd quiz so as to know more about their vision and the way they are when working in The Flock.

 

 

Bonus track!

 Does contact beat CV or does experience beat studies?

  • N: This has changed a lot. There are CTOs from huge companies who did not go to university or do not have any degree. I think experience obtained by working and the desire to learn beats any contact or degree.
  • R: Experience without a doubt beats studies. But studies plus experience is a boom.

 

Which is your favorite Google extension?

  • N: https://glossarytech.com/. It is really useful for those who do not know too much about technology and would like to understand and learn a bit more.
  • R: Google Docs Offline → To have access to everything when the internet goes down.

 

Which was the last app you downloaded?

  • N: A customer’s one. I can not tell you too much because of privacy policies 😉
  • R: Bird.

 

Your favorite emoji?

  • N: I really like the rock hand emoji ??.
  • R: The upside down face ? .

 

Your last search in Google?

  • N: Rock hand emoji haha
  • R: Upside down face.

 

Working day or night?

  • N: I love mornings. I wake up early to work or work out.
  • R: Free! No fixed schedule preferences.

 

Physical books or eBooks?

  • N: I am old school regarding books, I prefer the printed ones and their smell.
  • R: Both, it depends. When studying I prefer the physical one so as to take notes on it.

 

Which is your mantra on a busy day of work?

  • N: I try to prioritize and deal with one issue at a time.
  • R: Order and prioritization.

Gig workers and their influence on the Tech World

Posted on June 10, 2022 - 3:01 pm by 1

During the last few years, the way companies recruit new employees and the way professionals offer their jobs have completely changed.


Some of the factors that made it possible are new technology improvement, digital economy development and different changes in a post-pandemic world.

Therefore, an economic concept based on people who offer their services in freelance and temporary ways through mobile applications has become popular. This new relationship within the labor market is called the “Gig economy” and it is applied by many new enterprises, as it accelerates recruitment times, which makes the search for skilled personnel easier for every task.

Small businesses and startups are the main driving force of the creation of digital platforms where workers offer their temporary services which are sometimes related to the tech world. There is currently a great number of young professionals who belong to areas such as web design and development, project management or copywriting, among others that are highly requested. The workers take the advantage of being part of various projects at the same time.

As the economy is becoming more and more digital, the Gig economy is making its way worldwide as one of the favorite options for millennials who prefer working in a remote, flexible, self-employed and short-term way and by objectives.

Although traditional recruitment processes have some known advantages, Gig workers possess certain aspects which seem to be increasingly attractive for 21st-century talents:

  1. Innovation: they get in touch with innovative companies worldwide, which enables them to fully develop their creative potential.
  2. Remote work: they are able to do their job from anywhere, they only need an electronic device and internet connection. In this way, there is a greater labor supply for them.
  3. Labor flexibility: they give priority to flexible schedules that let them organize themselves and combine work and leisure. They prefer short-term projects where they are paid by objectives and not by hours worked. They even do different jobs with many startups simultaneously.
  4. Extra incomes: they often use this labor model in order to generate an extra income by working as freelancers in their spare time, as every worker manages their own time.
  5. Online payments: due to new technologies, professionals can invoice from anywhere in the world. There are several safe platforms by means of which organizations make payments in a digital way.

 

 

These are some of the characteristics of this economic model that is making their way by leaps and bounds thanks to the offered advantages both for enterprises and professionals.

However, within an increasingly competitive working context, it is considerable to know what the companies are looking for and which skills they prioritize when recruiting talents.

These are some recommendations in order to be prepared if some opportunities arise:

  1. Inside the Gig world, working experience or academic qualifications are not as relevant as the specific skills of every worker. The idea is to analyze the main problems, the current world challenges and the talent’s contributions to solving them. The most required skills are language, meeting deadlines and writing. It is also useful to recognize the strengths so as to develop them.
  2.   Learning to work independently without bosses telling what to do or when to leave is not only one of the benefits but also the challenges of this model. Being organized and able to manage time properly is a must.
  3.   Becoming part and familiar with the digital world and the new technologies is vital to perform and improve within a Gig context. Tech-skilled professionals are more and more required.
  4.   The constant training is significant. We are talking about areas that are constantly changing and updating, so a university degree is not enough. Continuous learning candidates are taken into account.
  5.   This economic model is equal to or more competitive than the traditional one, so it is crucial to demonstrate what someone is capable of. It is important to have a portfolio to show in any job opportunity. In this labor dynamics, they have to worry about performing the job properly and acquiring new clients frequently.
  6. Considering what allows the talent to stand out from the crowd is also essential. The idea is to be clear about what their distinctive feature is and create a personal style. Therefore, they will be able to go into the labor market and offer their services successfully.

The gig economy is a trendy model that is chosen more and more by professionals who decide to manage their own time. It has become really popular during the last few years and predictions indicate that it will continue like this.

Although it is a competitive model that needs to be one step forward to achieve the best opportunities, it has numerous benefits and no one would regret adopting it as a labor dynamic.

Some say it is the future work, although we think that the future has already arrived. Now it is necessary to analyze how this trend will continue developing in the medium and long term.


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How to manage IT remote teams – 5 key aspects

Posted on June 3, 2022 - 12:48 pm by

The era of fully in-person work is going through a transition toward another working model. There are plenty of ways of making up, maintaining, and leading teams without having to meet face-to-face in a physical space, but this is not exempt from risks, which we must be ready to face.

Taking into account the changes that are taking place in the current world and, mainly, in the labor market, new demands and new stages appear, where it is possible to develop projects at a faster pace and at other spatial levels. These projects are interconnected from different places of the world and it is also feasible thanks to other team dynamics.

Asynchronous work, technological agility and the chance of identifying the geographical location of talents in any part of the world have become really interesting considering that, at this moment, there are other ways of designing, achieving and sharing projects.

Nowadays, there are many digital tools which let us use agile and flexible methodologies in order to assign the roles and tasks among the members of each team, organize the schedule of every activity and establish assessment and revision methods. At the same time, it is possible to come to common agreements related to each project.

 

 

Regarding the IT area, the necessity of finding skilled personnel leads to the search of new talents by outsourcing and, at the same time, to the constant training that the new employees are offered in order to undergo daily challenges.

There are more and more companies that decide to work remotely but they do not know how to do it or fear failing during that process. In spite of that, it is completely profitable. Beyond the economic benefits that are obtained after that decision, it is also true that leading teams remotely means putting faith in new working methodologies and internal and external strategies of communication. The result of these changes can be seen in better working conditions and greater creativity, productivity and efficiency. So, when workers feel more at ease in the enterprise, they are likely to remain there.

The key is to generate a good work environment by creating mutual support conditions, where challenges can be seen as an opportunity to move forward and grow as professionals and not as an obstacle that prevents them from improving their performance.

The IT talents that are part of the teams feel the necessity of incorporating technical competencies and soft skills so as to fulfill their tasks properly and, in many cases, employers must invest in training to achieve that.

Therefore, it is logical that many companies feel that when modifying their work structure, they lose control on the process and the implementation of the planning. However, at this point, it is also essential a supervision strategy and the chance of a fluent communication, where everyone’s position is appreciated, so both of them know they are going on the same track.  

 

Now, let’s speak about 5 key aspects when leading IT teams remotely:

  1.   Set out the working time: every planning requires to set the goals to fulfill, the way of measuring results and, at the same time, it is necessary to fix the deadlines that must be met by the team and the personal time of every worker. It is essential that this planning makes it possible to organize the personal schedule and the quantity of hours assigned to work, because if there is a balance between both of them, performance and productivity in the execution of projects are likely to improve. The way of solving difficulties must also be identified in a responsible way.
  2.   Make a constant follow up: as they are not in the same physical space, both employers and employees need to get in touch to move forward in each stage. Although it is true that when working remotely those distances seem to be longer, the leader of the team must get together with the other members not only through video conferences or video calls but also through common documents where they share the improvements, so as to evaluate the development of the project, revise the KPIs and make the necessary modifications.
  3.   Strengthen the communication: it is key to set out communication channels by means of which notifications, announcements, updates related to the team and relevant information will be sent and shared. It is also essential to coordinate online meetings between the leaders and the people involved in the project, so they can speak about their ideas, suggestions and contributions. Taking into account their needs and answering their questions lead to a fluent exchange that makes the improvement feasible in a fast and clever way.
  4.   Promote and develop confidence: it is important to appreciate empathy, offer attentive listening and promote respect among workers. This makes it possible to develop a confidence environment where everyone feels accompanied by the rest of the workers in order to achieve the common goals. They should also be helped by their leaders to overcome any obstacle and learn from every experience. The fact of having the chance to express their feelings, expectations and aspirations in front of others causes a better understanding, willingness and commitment towards the job they are performing.
  5.   Appreciate the achievements at an internal and external level: this is an effective way to encourage the employees to continue developing their tasks and being part of the team. The appreciation can be within the enterprise or in a public way. This will boost their self-esteem, raise their desire for growth and success and, therefore, they will feel totally encouraged.

In this sense, considering some trends, such as the Gig economy, which leads the way to the future of the business market, it is clear that the leadership of IT teams remotely is completely beneficial, as it is a tool that enables to offer greater temporary job opportunities to skilled personnel (by objectives or being part of certain projects). At the same time, it makes possible a coordinated job that balances the need of keeping certain flexibility and independence and the need of producing in a current context of high competence and hyper-specialization.

 

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Gig economy: A Revolutionary Trend for the Labor Market

Posted on May 17, 2022 - 6:35 pm by 1

Digital transformation of workplaces has generated new trends that revolutionize the labor market.

 

Nowadays, on-demand and independent jobs have caused an increase in worldwide employment options, which has become a feasible and sustainable option for many people.

Digital natives look for new ways of working and prioritize the chance of incorporating their jobs into their personal life. Spending 9 hours in a crowded office is no longer an option for those who have experienced management by objectives and without the pressure of time. This new model is the demonstration of the “life-work balance” on which new generations are based and they put it into practice in every opportunity that the labor market has for them.

So, within this context of freelancers seeking professional growth and labor diversity rather than one job for their whole life, arose a concept in America that has become popular during the last years: the Gig economy. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the Gig Economy is a way of working that is based on people having temporary jobs or doing separate pieces of work, each paid separately, rather than working for an employer. In general, these temporary services set by objectives are offered on digital platforms that establish a connection between workers and users who are asking for a specific service. As stated by the Gig Economy Index, almost 40% of the American labor force generates at least 40% of their incomes within this model. Besides, as claimed by the research From Workforce to Workfit, carried out by Kelly Services, a company specializing in external consulting, the demand for this kind of workers in that country is 47%. Independent freelancers’ microbusinesses in America represent 17% of the gross domestic product, which generates US$2.4 trillion.

 

 

The worldwide figures indicate the growth of this trend: the demand in Asia is 84%, in Europe it is equivalent to 80% and finally, in South America it reaches 54%. Taking into account these figures, many experts claim that the gig economy is the future of work, due to its outreach, facilities and working benefits both for employees and employers.

Among the most remarkable gig economy benefits and advantages for a freelancer, we can mention that:

Independent workers improve their quality of life: reaching a balance between personal life and work is one of the most valuable advantages. Remote jobs enable them to sleep better and even eat better, as they are not under the pressure of time.

They can have a flexible schedule: as they are hired for a certain project or objective, this type of worker is able to manage their time in the most convenient way.

They feel motivated: a freelancer is highly motivated since they have the chance of working in a field they love. Management by objectives makes tasks become more specific, so they feel more at ease.

They can save money: independent workers save on daily expenses, such as commuting or having lunch on the go.

It is also important to note that remote jobs give the possibility of generating incomes to people who are usually excluded from the traditional way of working, for example, those who are in charge of caring for others or are unable to commute due to a lack of mobility.

This methodology is also beneficial for enterprises, as they acquire the necessary resources and talents at the appropriate time and place. Freelancers really value independent work and they are constantly getting qualified, which makes it possible for the enterprise to create a highly competitive work team. However, this represents new challenges for the companies that must incorporate their traditional teams into the remote ones. According to Kelly Services’ research, the enterprises that succeeded in this in an innovative way it is because they passed on the business culture early, implemented a comprehensive onboarding process and used adequate digital tools.

Some data that show this trend worldwide are:

–       The number of digital platforms that facilitate online work or that hire workers directly to offer their services increased fivefold around the world in a decade. 

–       Only 13% of people who worked remotely by the end of 2021 have fully come back to the face-to-face model, as stated by Infojobs’ research.

–       A McKinsey report shows that more than 150 million people from Western Europe and North America have decided to become independent workers during the last decade.

–       Lately, it has been known that more than 4 million American people have quit their permanent jobs willingly in order to set up their own businesses or work on their own.

 

As technology improves and the labor force evolves, the gig economy emerges as an original way of working which is based on independent development and without any geographical limits. Some of its advantages are easier access to opportunities, more efficient use of resources and comfort for workers and clients.

In this model marked by a versatile and disruptive economy, specialization and knowledge are not limited by recruitment methods or borders. More than ever, there is huge competition in the business world and digitalization has become a need rather than an option in order to be at the forefront of the current market.

 

 

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4 Essential Challenges for Talent Outsourcing Companies

Posted on May 12, 2022 - 1:48 pm by 1

The Covid19 pandemic accelerated the setting of a new model that is focused on the digitalization of work. This places us in a full training and developing reality which is being taken on increasingly with its ups and downs.

Nowadays there are around 1.100 million freelancers working around the world. In many countries, the supply and demand for remote workers have risen significantly during the last few years. The search for job advertisements making reference to this modality is placed in a more and more important position. For example, 41% of the American labor force is freelancers.

The independent work methodology is accepted worldwide and the demand will increase because the concept of work itself has also changed. Productivity is not related to the number of hours spent in an office by an employee. Moreover, strict compliance with schedules is a thing of the past. New generations will not want to come back to their workplace as they knew it and remote job positions will become more powerful in contrast to the traditional way of working.

 

 

The future of work, in which the digital world is more and more predominant, comes together with an increasing demand for freelancers. According to this model, not only the enterprises but also the employees are facing new challenges. Although this situation is profitable for many companies as general expenses are reduced, there are some questions that arise:

How to achieve effective communication

Internal communication is essential for the success of an organization since it makes possible the synergy of the work team. Having a virtual place for dialogue will keep the connection among employees and between them and their employers, it also enables them to overcome any obstacle on time. Arranging weekly meetings with clear goals represents a must for a remote team.

 

How to recruit talents

It is hard for those who have worked following the traditional model to think of a recruitment process for freelancers for the organization. However, there are many websites that function as platforms of talents, in which the geographic location is not taken into account.

 

How to build the company culture

It is not easy to imagine a business culture when facing this work fragmentation where one person belongs to several enterprises at the same time. In spite of this, the desire of a person to have a remote job position has to do more with being able to manage their own schedule rather than with belonging to an organization or not. Therefore, the freelancer can be part of a company but without being employed in a dependent way. This is a challenge for the managers, who must use different strategies to strengthen the much-needed culture of work. The first step is great leadership, as employees will respond by recognizing them and themselves as an active part of the company.

 

How to follow up the fulfilling of working goals

his new methodology is showing a positive impact on productivity since employees no longer work under pressure but they pursue an objective. Keeping updates and improvements in tasks is a good way of providing a follow-up without bothering someone. Establishing short-term goals makes it possible for the talents to organize their timetables according to their preferences without hinder productivity nor their approval of the enterprise.

 

 

It is clear that organizations must be adapted, but people who took on this new culture are also facing new challenges, such as:

Time management

One of the advantages of this modality is the lack of a manager giving orders. However, this can be negative if time is not well managed. One of the most valuable aspects of being a freelancer is having available time to enjoy the freedom that this involves. Therefore, it is important to fix a work schedule and priorities, provide a follow up of the working hours and know how to delegate.

How to get new jobs

According to a survey carried out by the financial services company Payoneer, 36% of the clients are in North America, while the European customers represent 27%. Using social media is a useful tool when trying to contact them, as it is free. Another way of acquiring clients is by word of mouth, that is taking advantage of the company’s acquaintances who may need their services. Networking and collaborating with other freelancers are other ways of getting new customers later.

Setting fees

Although remote job positions eliminate the geographical borders, freelancers must take into account that remuneration levels are set according to the cost of living in the customer’s country and not in their own one. It is a good idea to get in touch with other freelancers and revise tariff charts in order to estimate costs. Making an estimate of the hours that will take to fulfill the goals, evaluating the money that is needed and considering a profit margin are different ways of calculating figures. It is not a bad strategy to ask the client which is the budget that is considering investing in that project.

There are many challenges that both employers and employees must undergo, but being able to give answers to them and understand the future of work is essential if we want to be part of the new working model of the digital era.

 

 

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Asynchronous: The Key to Remote Work

Posted on April 27, 2022 - 1:11 pm by 1

The last year’s pace has been set by the new challenges that arise in the companies.

 

Beyond the development of virtual strategies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new work conditions and new necessities for business people and collaborators are considered, as well as new possibilities of satisfying them in order to obtain greater working comfort.

One of the most innovative decisions that enterprises have been making is moving from a 100% face-to-face or synchronic modality to a virtual or asynchronous one, although it is in a partial and graduated way.

The home-office modality does not require doing tasks in real-time nor attending face-to-face meetings (or not fully). This allows the distribution of responsibilities among the members of the company. Therefore, projects move forward together with more independence and autonomy from the people involved in them.

Asynchronous work brings greater efficiency and better team performance, with the help of optimized communication, fewer distractions, and more transparency in the decisions and choices that are made.

Through labor dynamics, there are more and more businesses that aim at decentralizing employees’ working times and spaces.

In order to attract qualified talent, it is essential to understand that, thanks to the asynchronous participation, productivity can rise, objectives can be met in the shortest time possible and the autonomy level of performance in an organization can increase. This enables enterprises to take a leap toward projects that require more intensity and depth in their realization. And this means including larger amounts of people involved in them, as well as being articulated with other worldwide ones.

The advantage of applying greater flexible working strategies is the elasticity of the relationships of the companies, both internal and external. Moreover, it brings creative, new, and customized contributions and proposals, which enables a much more efficient way of working.

As this is a new modality that will stay, the benefits of the asynchronous work for the IT talent will be mentioned below.

  1. Independence related to dates, schedules, and location: in worldwide projects, every person is in a different place, so the time zone also varies, which has an impact on their time availability. Working in an asynchronous way allows using time and location properly in search of the implementation of a plan, without depending on others.
  2. An in-depth look at tasks within the project: it is possible to deal with every project with a deeper approach, paying attention to its distinctive features and details. The greater productivity moment of every talent can be chosen to achieve that task.
  3. Focus on objectives and deadlines: by implementing the asynchronous work, the main aspect is meeting the objectives. Thus, it is more possible to ensure the compliance of the project within the scheduled time.
  4. Autonomy: every member of the team works when they decide to. Under this modality, it is understood that each person has different necessities, which permits true flexibility and freedom.
  5. Performance within the team of the enterprise: by learning to work in this way, the members increase their individual and team performance, as time is more efficient.

 

It is known that this kind of labor organization is a way of working and, contrary to predictions, it is a format that promises to stay definitely.
The fact of not executing it could be risky for companies by calling into question the possibility of hiring new talents who work in this way without exception.

 

 

Let’s mention some requirements to take into account for its greater use:

 

  • Train the employees in the digital tools that are needed to put the asynchronous mode into effect. There are more and more specific digital tools and platforms for every area of the labor market. They can be used according to the special features of each project. Knowing and using them is essential if you want to implement this way of working.
  • Choose the most adequate means of communication, either to make consultations, give notices, or to reach an agreement with the team. In the asynchronous work, communication decreases but, at the same time, it is optimized, as what is communicated represents what is truly important and the project cannot go forward without it.
  • Establish a joint work plan, in which the steps, roles, and tasks of every employee are specified. Before starting with a certain project, it is convenient to plan what it will be about and how it will be developed.
  • Define objectives to meet, deadlines and considerations to take into account for its normal development: it is not possible to work without setting deadlines and objectives to meet. This must be the starting point for all the projects.
  • Create a meeting agenda for the asynchronous meetings, which makes it possible to share, revise and assess the execution of projects and the asynchronous experiences of the members of the team.

 

This new work scheme needs new requirements, so all the members of the company must keep themselves up to date.

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Outsourcing Software Talent: a trend that is here to stay

Posted on April 13, 2022 - 1:55 pm by 1

Work structures and recruitment methods are changing and this creates new opportunities for businesses.

Moreover, the fact of choosing the more adequate professionals for a certain area, within an increasing variety of possibilities, opens up new prospects full of many advantages.

When going through these talent recruitment processes, the supply of candidates increases worldwide. Therefore, companies are forced to update and renew their working dynamics.

Although before it was more complex to work with external participants, nowadays many organizations prefer to hire other enterprises, teams or IT specialists so they can be in charge of the software development outsourcing for their projects.

It is known that large companies around the world have kept this idea for a long time. However, small and medium-sized enterprises now understand that this is also beneficial for them, so that they can obtain better results. This leads to an important question: which are the reasons for this phenomenon taking place more and more frequent and at macro level?

The global market of these services has a value of US$600 million. The companies must think of a new investment due to different reasons: the lack of time to make a recruitment process, the increased pace because of the boom of new technologies and finally the expansion of the outreach of the projects related to those tech tools.

This enables them to reduce not only the costs of doing those tasks but also the time spent by doing them. So they can use that time for other priorities. Also, they try to avoid the expenditures coming from this process being higher than the budget assigned to each project. That’s why the outsourcing is considered to be so viable. The fact of outsourcing this task to external and specialized professionals also helps the internal employees of the companies to focus on deciding which abilities the talents must have. These talents must show that they possess the adequate potential in order to offer customized and more efficient solutions.

The companies who outsource IT experts provide a wide range of web development workers, according to each project, with great time availability and an impeccable career path.

It is essential to take into account that enterprises need agility and willingness towards change and innovation, which means more flexibility and openness at work. Regarding this, having a team that works in a freelance way has important benefits.

The idea is to optimize the delivery time of projects. This makes the marketing processes to happen in shorter times, which provides a greater customer satisfaction and makes possible the increase of the competitiveness on the market.

Moreover, by outsourcing skilled professionals for the software development, companies make sure that those talents put their abilities, knowledge and techniques at the service of the project fulfillment. The aim is to improve the work quality by respecting the required outlines and the fixed delivery times, so that it can work properly.

It is essential to be aware of the past outsourcing experiences of such organizations, as this will be useful when looking for new software developers or when creating and executing new projects.

On the other hand, it is true that by hiring other software development outsourcing companies or IT professionals, the enterprises obtain more credibility. The reason is that when their employees meet the deadlines of each project, there is a chance of improving and surpassing its planning, development and delivery to the specific customers.

In this area, there are great leaders who provide the service of external software development outsourcing. This removes some previous tasks of the companies while they develop their potential of the projects hand in hand with great experts.

 

Beyond the reasons that cause the boom of this service, it is relevant to mention its benefits:

1. The enterprises which have more trajectory always ask for information about the past experiences of the recruited staff, so they can focus on the customer’s area of interest. They work with responsible, committed and enthusiastic developers.

2. They hire a team made up of different talents which must have the required features according to the project.

3. A worldwide database of contacts is used in order to choose the best web developers.

4. They give the chance to work in the long term with the external developers, which makes the internal employees know each other better. At the same time, it permits a deeper knowledge of the details of the project as a whole.

5. Outsourcing enterprises respect the software developers’ values, cultures and ways of working by agreeing on some specified dynamics to fulfill the projects.

6. This kind of companies establish a communication plan, so that they can assure the normal understanding of every aspect of the project. They also pay attention to the dialogue with the experts to keep the fluency at work.

7. A joint working plan is defined. It is also divided into stages and levels of scalability.

8. They take responsibility for data security and confidential data related to the project.

9. Indicators are measured to check if the project is successful or not.

10. They control the quality of the products by avoiding mistakes or failures before marketing and selling them.

The secret of effectiveness lies in a Culture of Open Talent

Posted on April 7, 2022 - 3:11 pm by

Nowadays, companies are going through a crucial moment as they are almost forced to innovate some practices and dynamics in accordance with these times but without giving up old work schemes (in which the physical presence in the office was one of its requirements).

 

Therefore, the complex company culture is constantly changing by means of the use of technologies and Internet, which allows more and more new and better ways of exchange, beyond working face to face.

 

The new searches and needs of both enterprises and freelance workers show the current reality of the labor market.

 

Companies are facing the dilemma of continuing with their talent recruitment and selection processes as they have been doing for ages or looking for new ways of recruitment.

 

One thing is certain, they are immersed in the new virtual model, so they are not exempt from using platforms and digital resources at work. The opportunities that can be obtained with this new situation justify the importance of respecting and including the diversity of available options in the known schemes.

 

So the idea is to create an open talent culture by keeping in permanent contact with collaborators and other companies, increasing the talent sources by looking for more flexible and open ones, generating more dynamism inside the enterprises and encouraging the talent flow respecting its time, roles and specific needs.

 

All of this requires a total commitment in the recruitment of new talents.

 

The aim is to prevent a company culture from keeping closed in on itself, blocked and rigid. In this traditional talent system, there is little resources flow and there are not enough movements in order to make the exchange profitable.

 

Most organizations, even the ones that belong to fields that change constantly, keep on being involved in a traditional working model – the permanent employee who has a fixed schedule. That model is no longer able to follow the rhythm of the huge informative and technical change which it has to respond to and the speed at which it has to do it.

 

Promoting an open talent culture does not mean that we must accept everything equally, as this may cause the system to disorder. When we allow more exchange, there is more energy, ideas and tasks flow which are aimed at creating innovative solutions within the organization.

 

In this context, the foundations of the open talent culture are:

  • Transparency and openness. Once the new temporary members are incorporated, there is new constant information and methods to solve problems. The openness to new information and methodologies are the key for the company success.
  • Agility and dynamism. Open talent cultures are abundant in suggestions and experiences from freelance workers who, as a global community, provide a specific approach in order to share new tools and methods.
  • The incorporation of global talent promotes the addition of different cultures and ways of thinking. The fact of having a culture which is focused on inclusion will improve the results significantly.
  • Collaborative environment. It is essential to understand that, in order to achieve the best performance of remote workers, we must collaborate in an open way.
  • Management by objectives. Open talent cultures hire employees who work by projects. The enterprises that apply this methodology have less permanent labor relationships.
  • More predictability. One of the main problems of an organization is to be able to know which actions it may need in the future. In this context, with an open talent culture, the functions of the employees are reduced and remain without internal background that makes them unable to operate. There is no prejudice when leading change.

 

 

What’s the use of keeping a fixed work team in which its members feel blocked, without any chance of growing and even any clear goals? For what purpose do we resist to take advantage of the new work dynamics?

The current work models must be more and more aligned with the hybrid schemes and the dynamism of the context in which they are developed. Having a close talent culture which does not go together with the external events and trends causes the loss of effectiveness in all of its organizational levels.

An enterprise that maintains its open talent culture, with its front doors in constant movement allowing employees to move freely, is likely to have more effectiveness when showing the results.

This is not a new trend but the promoters of the open talent culture allow the mixed and flexible labor force to increase at a pace that has not been possible so far.

How to better manage freelance teams

Posted on March 1, 2022 - 9:50 am by

The search for talent has become global and without geographical boundaries, making teams increasingly competitive and creating an ideal team a great challenge for companies. More and more companies are hiring their workforce on a freelance basis, which has many advantages. However, it is also a great challenge. Some of the tools to achieve this are training and effective communication.

 

The boom of remote work goes hand in hand with the gig-economy. The latter refers to a market system in which temporary projects are common and companies tend to hire freelance workers instead of full-time employees. This trend has been growing more than ever for the last two years. The last survey of human resources consultancy ADP shows that more than half of the global labor force says to be more interested in freelance work since the arrival of the pandemic.

 

The gig economy is the economy of small tasks.

 

On the other hand, many studies by the World Economic Forum show that there is a great economic impact. A research has said that the gig economy will have an annual growth of 17,4%, which represents US$455 billion in global activity up to the end of 2023.

 

It is certain that more and more enterprises prefer to include independent and remote workers in their projects but, as it is an innovating and growing trend, the question about which is the best way of managing a freelance team successfully arises.

 

  • Provide training and tools

As it happens with the joining of a fixed employee, the independent workers who are incorporated to a company must know about its culture, values, mission and points of view. That’s why it is essential to send them documents or style guides, which are necessary to start working.

 

The fact of having a digital admission plan will make it faster and will teach the new employee about the organization and how it works as a whole. As it is possible that a freelancer who works 10 hours per week does not need the same quantity of information as an employee who works 40 hours, it is important to hand in only what is necessary in order to maximize efficiency and not to waste time.

 

  • Document and measure progress

Documentation of processes is relevant in order to understand what are the teams working on, so they can be in tune with each other. Therefore, they can ask for changes according to what they can observe. It is also vital to measure progress through collaborative platforms or tools where expectations, deadlines, orders and comments can be communicated. Thus, freelancers are able to understand how to manage their work within those due dates.

Communication is essential in every team. It must be transparent, pleasant and efficient. By virtue of new technologies, it is easier than ever to connect with remote workers through different platforms. But we must know how to use them, both in a technical and a personal way. It is significant to establish a friendly and transparent communication among teams in order to create a responsible and enjoyable work environment.

Building long-lasting relationships with freelancers will be the key for success to work with them in the future. To be able to trust them in various projects is invaluable as it implies hiring good-quality talent with minimized hiring costs and general expenditures. So it is ideal that they feel well-received and part of the team.

 

  • Understanding their way of working

It is a challenge for companies to understand that an independent worker, no matter how many projects they are working on, keeps on having a freelance work modality. It means that they do not work during common hours or they are not even in the same time zone as the company.

 

Freelancers work on their own and are used to manage their own time and work. But it does not mean that they are not able to fulfill a high-quality task or that they will not be available when required. On the contrary, they achieve aims in a different way but being efficient and productive as a fixed employee. It is relevant to know how to adapt to each other’s requirements and take into account deadlines, orders and common goals of the projects.