Expats hit hard by economic downturn

by Sean McLachlan on

It’s a popular dream–move to a sunny, beautiful part of the world where life is cheap and say goodbye to the home country forever.

But the BBC has found that the dream of many expats has soured because of the economic downturn. The article focuses on the tens of thousands of British expats living in Spain, but the story could be about expats anywhere. For the past twenty years the English have been moving to Spain in droves, especially the sun-soaked coastline of Costa del Sol and Mallorca (pictured here). They fueled a real estate boom that was one of the major factors of Spanish economic growth until the housing bubble popped, markets crashed, and Spain ended up with a 17% unemployment rate. Oh, and the change from the peseta to the euro caused inflation that ended the “cheap living” part forever.

Now some expats are headed home. Many had jobs related to the housing industry that have since disappeared, and new jobs are not forthcoming. English-teaching jobs may be next as Spaniards rein in discretionary expenditures.

Are you an expat? Has your job or lifestyle been affected by the economic downturn? Gadling readers want to know.

Guilt-free vacation, part II: free your inner workaholic

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you haven’t read the earlier installments in this series, check them out:

Once you’re up to speed, check out the latest round of tips below. Here are even more ways to work yourself to the bone while you are (supposedly) on vacation while minimizing the impact on your family.

1. Bribery
Hopefully, you earn per hour more than your spouse can spend. Hand over the credit cards, and unleash your family on the mall, local shops or spa. Bite the bullet.

2. Encourage relaxation
Suggest that your spouse take a long bath or shower. Emphasize the great smell of the soaps and shampoo. Then, use that time to scratch your workaholic itch. If all goes well, you could buy yourself an hour with your laptop.

3. Bigger is not better
Devices are easier to hide than laptops. If you have an iPhone or Blackberry that’s hooked into your corporate e-mail account, take advantage of it.

3a. Leave the laptop at home
This is easy if you move all your necessary work files to your handheld device. Then, you can make a point that you made the profound sacrifice of not taking your laptop with you.

4. Phone ringers = busted
When the phone rings, you know you’re going to get caught. Vibrate is better, but you still run the risk of being heard. Instead, set your phone to silent and look for missed calls. Then, check your voicemail while you’re in the bathroom.

5. Read your voicemail
Voicemail transcription applications like PhoneFusion, Youmail and Simulscribe solve the problem of having to buy time to disappear and make a call. Reading rather than dialing and listening is much less intrusive.

Good luck out there, and don’t get caught! Do you have any other tips? Leave a comment, and help your fellow workaholics.

Guilt-free vacation, part I: free your inner workaholic

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you haven’t read about how to screw-off and look good while you’re on vacation, check out yesterday’s article. This is what you’re up against. The workaholic invests even vacation time in career success, and to look like that white-collar stud, you need to deliver beyond the appearances of your lazy, poseur coworkers.

But, you will.

When you get to the office, you see opportunities rather than work. You feel high when you pull the proverbial bunny from a hat. You love this shit. You live by it. You need it.

Your family, on the other hand, has no interest in your latest corporate conquest while you’re supposed to be playing water volleyball with them. They get angry because you can’t get away from your Blackberry. They love you, and they want to spend time with you.

So, you need a plan.

The next two days are for you. The Gadling team has come up with some amazing ways to work your ass off while you’re supposed to be relaxing without incurring wrath from spouse or child. As always, leave a comment and share your ideas. There’s got to be some great stuff out there.

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1. Use the plane wisely
This one’s obvious but important. While you are en route to your destination, you have a rare chance to get away with working when there are no competing priorities. Use it.

2. Build layovers into your travel plans
This is free work time! Pick up a wireless connection, and plug into a power outlet while the kids find an ancient Pac-Man machine. Bring plenty of quarters with you.

3. Get up early; go to bed late
When nobody else is awake, you aren’t depriving them of your time. Block of an hour or so at the beginning and end of every day. You’ll be able to crank out some great stuff for the office, and nobody in the room with you will care.

4. Piss frequently
When you dash into the bathroom, you have a few minutes to pluck away at your Blackberry. Drink a lot of water to add credibility. The easiest lies to maintain are actually truths.

5. Smoker, non-smoking room
Not only do they smell better, non-smoking rooms give you a chance to step outside for a bit. Bring your laptop. To get the most from this approach, also bring a cigar … a big one.

6. Waiting in line
Need to kill 45 minutes at Disney World? Take a call; work your Blackberry; review a document. There’s nothing else to do anyway. Bonus points: time your arrival at a long line to coincide with a conference call.

7. Set expectations up front
If there are some pressing issues at the office that you just can’t avoid, prepare the family. Let your spouse know that you may have to duck out for a bit. Be as specific as possible (e.g., provide conference call times). Don’t get greedy, though. Keep the calls to a minimum.

8. Look like you’re relaxing
Print documents you’ll need and bring them to the pool or beach. Tuck them in a magazine. Vanity Fair is thick enough that you can “lose” almost anything in it.

9. Forward your e-mail
If you can’t access your corporate e-mail account from the road, have it forwarded to your personal account. Let your colleagues know that they can reach you this way and to expect to hear from you using a different address.

10. Make all day “think time”
Take notes on your projects before you leave. Review them in the morning, and take the entire day to mull them over. You can be productive without looking like you’re working.

If you need more than this, fear not. Tomorrow, we’ll bring a few more tips to you. Before you know it, your family will think you can cut your ties to the office, and none of your coworkers will realize you aren’t at your desk.

Have you seen yesterday’s post yet?

Fear-free vacation, part II: look busy while you recharge

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you haven’t read the first 10 suggestions for looking busy without actually working on vacation, check out yesterday’s post. If you’ve already been there, let’s keep pushing ahead. We have even more for you today, thanks to the slothful talents of me and the rest of the Gadling team. Leave it to a group of bloggers to find so many ways to look hardcore without actually lifting a finger that it takes two days to get it all out. Many thanks, in particular, to Scott Carmichael, who looked like he was working overtime to show you how to look like you’re working overtime.

1. Conference calls make you look good
Try to attend a few conference calls while you’re on the road. Dial in, and put your phone on mute. Light up a cigar, pour a drink, or lounge on the beach with a book. At the beginning of the call, mention that you’re in a public place (because you’re on vacation) and can’t contribute too much because you don’t want to broadcast proprietary information.

2. Phone around the office
Randomly call people with whom you work about things you’d normally discuss with them. Don’t raise any heavy issues – stick to quick questions.

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3. Pick the right background noise
If the person on the other end of the phone can hear the beach or the half-naked coed from whose taut stomach you’re about to lick some alcoholic concoction, you’re making a mistake. Turn off the jets for a second, and call from your in-room hot tub.

4. Instant message games
If the company uses an internal instant message system, be logged on as much as possible. When you leave your room, put up an “unavailable” message that doesn’t reflect your vacation. “Grabbing a quick bite” and “back in a few” are just vague enough.

5. Put social media to work for you
Do any of your coworkers follow you on Twitter? Pop an occasional update like “Just realized what this report needs!”

6. Craft an effective “out of office” message
Mention that you’ll be out – give a time zone but not necessarily a location – and mention that you’ll be checking e-mail and voicemail periodically. Provide details on how to reach you “in an emergency.”

Have you taken a look at yesterday’s post yet?

Fear-free vacation, part I: look busy while you recharge

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Many are afraid to take vacations these days, according to a recent study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The 200,000 layoffs in the United States in January alone underscore the importance of looking essential in the workplace. But, you can’t push on forever. Fatigue will catch up with you, and you’ll just need a break. Instead of skipping your vacation and burning out – or taking your trip and worrying the whole time – just look busy. Get credit for being a committed company guy without actually getting committed.

It’s not hard to look busy in the wired age. Armed with a laptop, Blackberry and easy access to the web, you can swap e-mails, review documents and stay on top of your workload. This, however, is exactly what you should not be doing. That’s action work – which you need to avoid for a bit. So, instead of being a slave to your devices, the advice below to look like a machine even when your mind couldn’t be farther away from the office.

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1. Take care of the easy stuff fast
Yes, this involves doing work … but it’s easy work. If you see an e-mail that doesn’t take a whole lot of brain power to answer, click away at the keyboard. You’ll look responsive, helpful and generally in touch.

2. Buy time
For more involved questions, reply quickly with something like, “Give me a few days to wrap my head around this. Can we catch up when I get back?” Again, you look engaged, even though you really give less than a damn about your colleague’s needs.

3. Save some e-mails for later
You don’t have to reply to all the easy messages right away. Put some off until right before you go to bed. It’ll look like you’re blocking out time late at night to address company issues.

4. Reply from your laptop
If the recipient gets an e-mail from your laptop (rather than your Blackberry), the e-mail signature should show the difference. Even if you clear the “Sent by Blackberry” message from your account, you won’t have the benefit of your sig line – name, address, phone number, etc. Someone will notice the difference. Using your laptop means your laptop is open (duh) … and implies that you’re on the clock.

5. Hold back some productivity
Everybody tries to tie up loose ends before going on vacation (or should). The mistake they make, though, is sending everything before they leave. Save some stuff to send when you arrive at your destination and hint that you took care of it on the plane.

6. Print a tree’s worth of documents
When you do this, make sure people at the office see you. It’ll look like you’re bulking up for the flight.

7. Check in
Don’t be too showy. Shoot a simple e-mail to your boss, asking, “Anything blowing up I need to know about?”
Risk: The answer may be “yes.”

8. Schedule your e-mail
If you’re running on certain e-mail systems, you can schedule messages to send at a specific time. Use this to push e-mails while you’re on the beach, at the bar or in the spa. Be careful, though, as someone may reply.

9. Make up a contact
Here it goes: “I met this really interesting [choose profession]. We spent half a day by the pool talking about [something relevant to your job].” Then, tell your boss you need a few days to digest it. If he remembers – or cares – about what you were “digesting,” just say that your company “isn’t there yet” and sigh or roll your eyes.

Not enough for you? Don’t worry, this is just the beginning. We’ll have more tomorrow!