REMOTE WORK

A law in Portugal prohibits a boss from contacting an employer outside of their regular work hours.

While some are eager to resume in-person work as things return to normal, many people have found that they prefer working remotely and want to keep it that way.

Many people have been working from home for over a year but as COVID restrictions are lifted, many Michigan residents are returning to work.

Instant Offices come in a variety of sizes, and a variety of locations around the Ann Arbor area.

Instant Offices come in a variety of sizes, and a variety of locations around the Ann Arbor area.

HR Business Partner at Oxford Companies shares how the company pivoted to engage employees working remotely during the pandemic.

HR Business Partner at Oxford Companies shares how the company pivoted to engage employees working remotely during the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought on an alarming trend in the U.S.: Women are leaving the workforce by the millions.

University of Michigan employees will start to make a gradual return to on-site work in the coming months.

The share of Indeed's job postings that mention “remote work” or “work from home" reached 7% last month, up from just below 3% a year ago. But in some industries, the gains were far more dramatic, including those that haven't traditionally welcomed remote work. “Remote work has become much more accepted.”Ford is just the latest company to allow more work from home after the pandemic. Company executives overwhelmingly report that remote work has succeeded during the pandemic, according to research by consulting firm PwC. About 55% said they envision allowing continued remote work, according to the survey of 133 executives of mostly large companies.

BRUSSELS – European Union lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a “right to disconnect” from the internet and email, with around one third of people now working from home across the 27-nation bloc due in large part to coronavirus restrictions. “The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we work and we must update our rules to catch up with the new reality,” said Maltese Socialist lawmaker Alex Agius Saliba, who led work on the resolution. The resolution, which is non-binding, was passed by 31 votes to 6 against, with 18 abstentions in the European Parliament’s Employment Committee. It must still have to be rubber stamped by the full house, then submitted to the commission and national EU governments for possible endorsement. They say home workers should be able to disconnect without facing repercussions from their employers.

ANN ARBOR – Starting Wednesday, the Washtenaw County government will be closing its non-essential services in compliance with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' order that all offices that have the ability to work remotely should do so for a period of three weeks in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. “We are still in the midst of a global pandemic," Washtenaw County Administrator Gregory Dill said in a message to county staff on Monday. “Washtenaw County is following the lead of our governor and of our state and local health departments," Jason Morgan, Chair of the Board of Commissioners said in a statement. When we all work together, Washtenaw County wins. Not forever, but for now, so that we can help reduce the upward trend of positive Covid-19 cases in our county, in Michigan and all over the country.”Related reading:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Ann Arbor-based Censys announced that it raised $15.5 million in its latest round of funding and has developed a new platform that scans 44% more of the Internet than its competitors. The engine works by quickly finding security vulnerabilities in a companys online assets. This lets companies make risk assessments and Censys recommends remediation so companies can protect themselves from security breaches. Censys CEO and co-founder David Corcoran said that Censys aims to make security issues more visible for its clients. Check the security of your own home network through Censys risk identification tool or learn more about Censys at censys.io

To help industry leaders and employers navigate employee mental health in the workplace, the University of Michigan Depression Center will host a virtual conference on Aug. 19. Researchers, clinicians and industry experts will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on employee mental health and provide real-world strategies for supporting employees. So we need to act more now because the magnitude of the mental health crisis is much higher right now, said Parikh. In addition to the conference, the U-M Depression Center also offers a program to help businesses support the mental health of their employees. Learn more about the Depression Center and its services here.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Right as Toyotas Research and Development team in Ann Arbor was set to put the final touches on the companys newest minivan in March, the state of Michigan shut down. Forced to work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ann Arbor team got to work finding innovative solutions for making adjustments to the new generation of Sienna from home. Team members were able to get an idea of the changes they needed to make, they just had to come up with ways of making them from home. (Toyota)The Ann Arbor team also had to switch to a paperless approval system to move the changes along faster. Members of the Ann Arbor team would work in tandem with teams in Indiana who could go into the plant and show the Ann Arbor engineers specific parts of the vehicle.