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Imagine yourself in the standard office setting where clerks and rank and file staff find themselves close to a market-place like environment. Most of them focus on doing their job individually, wanting to finish their daily tasks at the earliest possible time. Others on the other hand choose to take it easy since finishing it ahead of time may lead to being given additional tasks without additional pay.

For some, this may seem as a sorry sight. How can a person expect to reach greater heights with such an attitude considering that being at the bottom of the corporate ladder is only the beginning of a storied working career. Some would care while others would not. But perhaps for people, foregoing the issue of compensation for now would be a rewarding decision especially if you don’t see yourself attached to your current company for long.

Your work will mirror the type of career you will be getting. Moving to bigger job roles is not as easy and similar. The higher your pay, the broader your workload would be and perhaps this is one thing that people fail to realize when you go up, more work and job responsibilities come with it.

A person should not envy higher positioned people in the corporate world. They may seem to earn more but their time for themselves and their families become lesser. This is due to the fact that their responsibilities are now higher and normally this goes beyond the standard 8 to 5 working hours.

So for now, be satisfied with what you have. If you want to get a higher salary, take the risk. It may be something you would need to adjust more to in the end.

Do you use Google Docs? Perhaps Google Spreadsheets? Sure these are great for sharing text and data with friends and colleagues online. Especially with today’s virtual office setup these free tools have made it easy to draft documents, work figures and even share notes with people from across the globe.

Web apps have taken the place of full-blown computer software for many people. This is because of the ubiquity of fast Internet connections and even mobile connectivity. Add to that the fact that portable tools are widely available these days, and not to mention cheap! Today $400 netbooks have replaced big, bulky notebook computers as the gadget of choice for the traveling person. There’s also the iPhone and other mobile phones that can let you get online even while on the road. With these broadband-enabled phones you can even connect your laptop or netbook while on the go.

These days, one app is turning out to be very popular among the online working crowd – Evernote. This app basically lets you clip, create, share and edit information from various devices and interfaces, including mobile, the web and a standalone app.

There’s also the Google suite of apps, which includes the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even other apps that let you access data from any web browser, like notebook and even Gmail.

Advantages

• Access from anywhere. Of course the main come-on of web apps is that you can access data from different computers. You don’t need to be stuck with your PC at the office. As long as you have a web browser, you can access your documents.
• Compatibility with different platforms. Being web-based you can access your information from different computers, and you’re not limited to the OS or platform. You can use a Windows PC, an Apple computer, a PC running on Linux, and in many cases even non-standard devices like mobile phones!
• You can easily collaborate. Sharing is easy. With many apps, two or more people can even edit a document at the same time, and the changes will be reflected real-time. There is also change-logging, so you know what was changed and when.
• Security from crashes. When your hard disc crashes, your data goes with it (unless recovered, but this can be expensive and will take time). When your data is online, you don’t have to worry about system crashes, unless it’s the web app provider itself that crashes or loses your files.

The Drawbacks

• Offline access. Face it, even with mobile broadband, there are those cases when you just can’t get online. No signal perhaps? Or how about slow ISP? Having a standalone app and being able to open a file from your hard drive or USB drive can sometimes be quicker!
• Unavailability of the Web app. It happens! Sometimes even Gmail goes down! What do you do when that happens? What if you have a critical presentation and you can’t access your documents because Google docs is offline?
• Security concerns. When your laptop is lost or stolen, your information goes with it. Sure, but with documents online, it could potentially be easier for thieves to steal your files. No physical access is required. Passwords are not always secure. You never know when you can fall victim to social engineering or even password sniffing!

With any technology there are ups and downs. So as a business user, it pays to cover your bases. Always keep backups and always have contingencies!

Normally you would hear people sounding off that working from home is better than the office setting. Perhaps there is some sense to it but one thing that should be observed here is that of discipline. At home, you can choose to work and not to. You don’t have to worry about bosses roaming around and checking on you or finding the right position to relax. In short, you get the best of both worlds when you work from home.

But while that may be a dream to most, do remember that it can also affect you as a person. Not all people see the reason as to why it is harder to work from home. It is indeed something desirable but would you be productive when you choose to work from home?

The real answer lies on the person wanting to work from home. Ordinarily people fail to look beyond what it means to work at home and the consequences that arise from it. It is something new, especially for the people who have been working in an office setting. There will be some adjustment phases and on whether you would succeed or go down with it is something that may need thorough consideration.

Two thirds of workers would prefer to work from home, feeling they would be happier and more productive if they did, a new study has revealed.

Despite this, the survey by Plantronics found that three quarters of employees are offered no flexibility on where they work from by their job, reports the Press Association.

Source

When you are at work, the usual 8 hour shift is normally not used up to the max. Actually, there are people in office who claim that 8 hours are not enough but if you observe them during the working hours, you may find them slacking off or taking their own sweet time to finish a day’s work.

One reason for this is that the mentality that one should work only on a limited basis depending on the ones stated in their job description and contract may be to blame. Not all people are enthusiastic to work more than what is expected of them. There are people who can work more than what is expected from them but choose not to since they will not be compensated for it anyway.

A logical choice perhaps but if you look at it, it is a wrong approach towards a business perspective. That is perhaps why most employees choose not to do more or impress management although there are some people who do it regardless of being rewarded or not. These are career-oriented people who want to prove something to themselves and of course gain that much longed for promotion.

So as a whole, there is a wide area of slack time in most jobs. It may not be generalized but certainly, not all people make use of the complete 8 hour shift. As long as they can be able finish their job, management cannot blame them for anything. Is that justifiable?

When you apply for a job or perhaps undergo an annual evaluation, chances are you will undergo a series of tests which include tests on your various abilities. They are called the aptitude test, something that is standard in most companies.

Of course, the initial goal is to rank high although it would be best to answer them openly and honestly. It is not an exam wherein anyone passes or fails. Rather, they are exams to determine your shortcoming as a person. For one, there is no such thing as a perfect person and surely there will be some areas in our personality that need to be improved.

Ordinarily, people tend to ignore this belief and answer these tests regardless if it affects them or not. In reality, the organization or group giving these tests have nothing to lose. But on the part of the person taking them, he is depriving himself of improving areas that can help in molding him both into a better individual and professional.

Deep inside though, a person would know which areas need to be improved. People do not want to be embarrassed and hence such improvements are limited to what a person can do on his own. That may be a challenge for him personally but it would be better to authenticate first which among these areas really need attention and improvement.