Today's episode has three parts (and a half…)

Plus, Eva Rimbau-Gilabert's endorsement of All the World's a Workplace.

1. The Autonomy Paradox Pilar comments on an article about how autonomy can stop some employees from recovering emotionally and cognitively during their non-work time. The article, shared by Eva Rimbau-Gilabert is "The autonomy paradox: how more freedom at work can leave you feeling powerless" September 8, 2026

   https://theconversation.com/the-autonomy-paradox-how-more-freedom-at-work-can-leave-you-feeling-powerless-284398 Earlier research: https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.10.2.0027. Oscar Pérez-Zapata, Amparo Serrano Pascual, Gloria Álvarez-Hernández, and Cecilia Castaño Collado. "Knowledge Work Intensification and Self-Management: The Autonomy Paradox." Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 10, no. 2 (2016): 27–49. BOOK RECOMMENDATION Under New Management: How Leading Organisations Are Upending Business as Usual by David Burkus

2. How Hybrid Workplaces can Lead to Structural Relational Deprivation Join Pilar as she extracts the learning points from this article on how hybrid places can lead to structural relational deprivation if not designed with (informal) equality in mind. Structural relational deprivation is when the way work is organised consistently leaves some people with less access to the relationships that provide advice, support, learning and recognition, with consequences for their work or career.

   2.5 InterludeEva's endorsement of All the World's a Workplace, which summarises one of Pilar's messages in the book very well! 3. Pilar's Pilates Teaching Learnings Why Pilar opens all her Pilates classes with the same warm-up to stop unexpected events (like the one's that took place last Saturday) from derailing her at the beginning of her class.

In this episode, Pilar shares a different kind of remote-work related story, featuring an unusual (and dark) circumstance showing why it's important for organisations to know when they're employees are actually working, when working from home.

Plus, Jack Nilles' endorsement of All the World's a Workplace, some learning reflections and book recommendations.

Links

Article on remote work: Presunción de accidente de trabajo durante el teletrabajo: La prueba del «tiempo de trabajo» en régimen de flexibilidad cuando la empresa no aporta registro horario. https://adriantodoli.com/2026/09/17/presuncion-de-accidente-de-trabajo-durante-el-teletrabajo-la-prueba-del-tiempo-de-trabajo-en-regimen-de-flexibilidad-cuando-la-empresa-no-aporta-registro-horario-sts-23-4-2026/amp/ Jack Nille's article: https://jacknilles.substack.com/p/taming-the-new-kid-on-the-block Books:

Heaven, My Home: Book 2 (Highway 59 by Attica Locke) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Black Echo by Michael Connelly Lost Boys by James Bloodworth

This episode is part of the All the World's a Workplace Expanded season. Pilar looks at a recently published metastudy, looking at the recent evidence about how working remotely affects job performance in organisations. Plus, personal updates at the end of the episode.

Links: Toward a Better Understanding of Job Performance When Working Remotely: Evidence, Boundaries, and Trade-OffsTammy D. Allen1, Kristen M. Shockley2 and Ryan S. Grant3 Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Vol. 14 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031325-094513

How Coworking Spaces Impact Employee Well-Being Constance Noonan Hadley, et al. Harvard Business Review February 9, 2023 https://hbr.org/2023/02/research-how-coworking-spaces-impact-employee-well-being

WLP239 Match Your Visible Teamwork to Your Team Task Workflow 18 June 2020 https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/task-interdependence-remote-teams Applications of Visible Teamwork in Remote Teams 16 September 2020 https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/applications-visible-teamwork

Pilates class plan bundle https://payhip.com/b/Ogk2E

When we're looking at hybrid workspaces, the emphasis should not just be on where people are working from, but also on how their communication ecosystem is organised. In this episode, Pilar discusses a recent pre-print on communication repertoires in hybrid office work, exploring how face-to-face and mediated channels relate to formal and informal exchanges between colleagues.

Paper discussed:

Klärner, Kai-David, Sophie-Charlotte Meyer and Anita Tisch (2026). "Communication Repertoires in Hybrid Office Work: Mediated Channels, Face-to-Face Interaction, and Formal and Informal Exchange." SocArXiv preprint. https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/skupm_v1

A communication repertoire is the patterned combination of media people use in their work. The study captures this through employees' reported communication frequency across five modes: email, chat, telephone, video conferencing and face-to-face interaction. The concept shifts attention away from individual channels and towards how the modes are combined, including both overall communication frequency and its distribution across those modes.

A little August episode to celebrate the fact that I (Pilar) have finished the manuscript for All the World's a Workplace!

I realise half-way through the recording that while the work is location agnostic, the people are not. (It took me over a decade to articulate this!)

[0:00] Welcome, and bringing back the show's original tagline [0:39] The book's done, to be published soon: All the World's a Workplace https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/coming-soon [3:30] Why context is everything (and why the book got so long) [5:39] How the book is structured [6:27] "The work is location agnostic. The people are not." [7:57] Office mandates made by people who like the office [9:23] The "reset button" [11:24] Getting clear on what "hybrid" actually means [13:05] Netflix, Reed Hastings and the reversals we never hear about [15:59] Shakespeare, Fakespeare and the dilemmas [18:12] Wrapping up, and what's coming next You can read an article on Netflix's current take on remote here: https://wfa.team/blog/netflix-remote-work-from-anywhere-policy/ (And note that I made a mistake when I quoted the CEO saying that remote work is a pure negative. I said something else!)

In today's episode, Pilar shares her highlights from the book:

How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman

Pilar shares her booknotes from:

Black Box Thinking: Growth Mindset and the Secrets of High Performance

by Matthew Syed

Another episode from the season Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from:

Black Box Thinking: Growth Mindset and the Secrets of High Performance

by Matthew Syed

"The paradox of success: it is built upon failure."

During the episode, Pilar shares:

Zoe podcast episode from 16 March 2026 Tim Spector's 7 health habits for 2026 https://zoe.com/learn/tim-spectors-7-health-habits-for-2026

The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly The Trial by Rob Rinder Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

New newsletter! Pilates and Remote Work: https://pilatesandremotework.substack.com/

And don't forget to check out Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams, the book!

Part 2: Personal Updates Enjoying writing about Pilates, looking for different teachers to learn from and lots of voicoever jobs last week!

If you're interested in All the World's a Workplace, sign up here.

A different kind of episode today! We're back with two voices, and this time, instead of Pilar sharing notes from a book, she speaks to her co-author Bree Caggiati, about their latest book, "Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams". They cover some of the book's topics, how the research has moved on, and for Part 2, they've got some connection-related personal updates. In today's episode: Part 1 Check out Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams, the book!

1. Book and Project Origins

Bree and Pilar explain how their 2019 podcast project on connection and disconnection evolved into their recently published book.

2. Evolution from Remote to Hybrid Work How remote work went from a "niche" concept in 2019 to the mainstream adoption of hybrid models post-pandemic, and the common mistake of forcing traditional office-based practices into remote environments and the benefits of establishing intentional remote-first frameworks.

3. Diversity and Inclusion in Connection: Individuals experience belonging differently and how designing for specific needs can benefit an entire team.

4. Structure and Themes of the Book An overview of the core topics addressed in the book.

5. New Research on Monthly Meetups A new study by Nick Bloom suggesting that bringing fully remote teams together just once a month can significantly boost productivity and reduce quit rates.

6. The "3A Framework" of Connection & Shared Responsibility A breakdown of three ways people connect at work., and the "overarching thesis" that connection is a shared duty between the organisation, the manager, and the individual, requiring deliberate design rather than just hoping it happens.

7. The Connection Quiz A ten-question, quiz to test Bree's memory of key concepts from the book, such as the health risks of chronic loneliness and the "remote-first" approach.

8. Generative AI and Rapport How AI chatbots might replace small human interactions, potentially impacting the bonding and trust-building typically found in quick feedback loops.

Part 2: Personal Updates Talking "Away from the Work", but still connected to today's topic of connection!

Another episode from the season Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from:

Code Dependent: How AI Is Changing Our Lives

by Madhumita Murgia

"The problem that we have is not the algorithms, but the humans."

And don't forget to check out Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams, the book!

Part 2: Personal Updates Pilar shares some of the ways in which she's using generative AI to help with the writing of her book.

If you're interested in All the World's a Workplace, sign up here.

Another episode from the season Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from:

Make Time: How to focus on what happens every day

by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

Four Thousand Weeks: Embrace your limits. Change your life. Make your four thousand weeks count

by Oliver Burkman

"The technologies we use to try to 'get on top of everything' always fail us, in the end, because they increase the size of the 'everything' of which we're trying to get on top."

And don't forget to check out Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams, the book!

Part 2: Personal Updates Pilar is reading this novel, which she's really enjoying: In a Good Light by Clare Chambers An announcement: Pilates for Remote Workers is in the making… Feedback has come through for All the World's a Workplace Pilar has to go back to re-writing the cozy mystery in third person…

pilarwrites.com

Another episode from the season: Booknotes, where Pilar shares the notes she made while reading a book, allowing new insights to emerge spontaneously behind the microphone. In today's episode: Part 1 Pilar shares her booknotes from:

The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary

by Catherine Gray

Favourite highlight:

"Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have."

And don't forget to check out Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams, the book!

Part 2: Personal Updates If you're interested in the future book The A to Z of Spanish Refrains, sign up here: https://atozofspanishculture.com/2025/01/16/n-is-for-un-libro-nuevo/

Pilar talks about her recent experience recording for an audioguide (the producer was great!), how her writing is going (the cozy mystery, not so great) and her ongoing learnings as Pilates teacher.

pilarwrites.com