WLP221 Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams.

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome to our new series of 7 episodes on the theme of “connection and disconnection in remote teams”, in association with <a href="https://virtualnotdistant.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Virtual Not Distant</a> partners</span> <a href="https://shieldgeo.com/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Shield GEO</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shield GEO help businesses employ people globally by taking care of all the associated administration, legal and financial - supporting truly global remote work, in a way that’s a great alignment with everything we value at Virtual Not Distant. So we’re very excited to be expanding our podcasting repertoire with this new collaboration.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our host for this series is Bree Caggiati, and for this inaugural episode she is joined by Shield GEO Tim Burgess, as well as Pilar and Maya of course. The chosen theme began as a conversation initially about loneliness in remote teams - a natural part of the maturing of the remote work conversation, as more and more people open up to the possibilities it offers. But this evolved into an exploration of both sides of the coin: connection and disconnection. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tim reflected on a research they had conducted with Sydney University students about the remote work community and what their needs were - what questions were being asked online, and not being well answered. The idea of disconnection due to distance emerged strongly there, as part of the context of greater awareness of emotional well-being more generally in the social and business discourse (and let’s remember as well that people in traditional colocated workplaces can also feel isolated and disconnected).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The extent to which hirers and employers are responsible for the mental health of their team is also under the microscope, but perhaps not all managers are comfo