Four reasons remote work is here to stay
I don’t know what it is with the terms ‘digital nomad’ and ‘wanderer’, but I associate them with Instagram pictures of tanned blond girls in dresses with captions about organic smoothies and climate change and following your heart – all while flying all over the world. Remote work is not necessarily that. It can be, though! And I believe this is the beauty of working remotely – it can look and feel wildly different and serve a huge number of very different people. It is the antithesis to the straitjacket of the conventional office.
It isn’t wrong to fly to a beach destination and speak up about climate change: girl, you do you! If you want to raise awareness in your bikini I am all for it! Besides, people are full of contradictory desires. I know I am. I also love to travel. I actually love being on a plane – and we all know what that does for your ecological footprint. It’s a little like taking a long, hot shower. It’s so, so bad, but it feels so good. And people with money to afford all of life’s pleasures are the worst. But I digress. I am here to talk about my love for remote work.
I believe the future of work is flexible, remote, and increasingly digital.
I also think there are four factors speeding up this development. They already started way before Covid-19 turned the world upside down.
Reason 1: We found out it doesn’t make that much of a difference.
Your boss doesn’t know whether your laptop is plugged in Mexico City or in Amsterdam. I promise.
My laptop office, as I endearingly call my Macbook nowadays, enables me to live an adventurous life. For the past two years I have set up shop across Mexico, the United States, and the Netherlands. All the while working with the same clients. I’m lucky to have clients who are open to flexible work arrangements. But I think the most important part is that they did not notice I was ‘gone’. Whether I am in the Netherlands or in Mexico, I make sure I am available, responsive, and fun! Whether I jump on a call at 6 AM or 2PM, I’m present, awake, and engaged. Only the lightning might be a little different.
Reason 2: Remote work is not (necessarily) a millenial in swimsuit on the beach.
We found out remote work can be done in a wide variety of ways.
I do appreciate beautiful dresses and perfectly looking beaches with jungle huts. But the problem with the Instagram pictures that pop up under the hashtag '#digitalnomad, is that they are staged. The reality is: those beaches might be filled with smelly seaweed, have an insane amount of mosquitoes, the heat might be unbearable, and the wifi too patchy. This picture-perfect remote work destination might have even replaced regular traffic signs with enlightenment-inspired quotes such as ‘watch your intentions’. Yes, Tulum, I’m looking at you. Places like this have turned into Instagram galleries. This is how the hype continues to get fueled. The thing is, remote work is sometimes motivated by traveler’s dreams, and sometimes it is born out of necessity.
Remote work is awesome and it is amazing, if you choose it.
It just doesn’t need to be a blond woman in bikini on a beach in Tulum preaching about following your dreams – although I celebrate these women, too. It can be a working mom homeschooling her kids. It can be a student temporarily moving home to take care of a family member. It can be a bi-cultural entrepreneur who is at home in two different countries and wants to split her time between both. It’s just like people in regular life: the varieties are endless!
Reason 3: It fits the momentum for diversity and inclusion.
In other words – companies are starting to understand they can’t continue to have the pale stale male brigade represent their management, boards, and senior leadership.
Since we have now moved on from the Instagram clichés, let’s talk about more meaningful aspects of the digital office. I’m a huge fan of ‘We Are Rosie’, whose founder, Stephanie Nadi Olson, wrote about remote work being a form of inclusion. I also loved this blog on a future of work that works for all, called The Life I Want. Remote work has the potential to bring more diversity and inclusion to the workplace.
Flexible work means working in your own time – perhaps combining it with caring duties.
Remote work means access to work regardless of where you live – a small town (more affordable) or a big city. It means being able to work for a startup in Silicon Valley without having to pay 5000$ in rent for a San Francisco studio each month.
Digital work has the ability to bring people closer together. It allows people from across the globe to form a team, with a diverse set of perspectives, lifestyles, languages, and livelihoods – and this diversity is great for business.
Remote work simply brings work to more people. It brings work to you, rather than you having to go to work. That is not to glorify it. I do think there is value in face-to-face time, and certain ‘human’ things are hard to replicate over video. There is energy in meeting IRL, but we are also getting more creative about replicating this online (thankyou, Covid). And live meetings or gatherings can be organised occasionally – and they do not have to be in an office space! There’s more and more beautiful, sustainable alternatives for outdoor gatherings.
Reason 4: Our future lives are going to be taking place in a digital world
Covid-19 has only sped up the process.
The importance for companies and professionals to be visible online has increased tremendously in recent years. And visibility is only step 1. Step 2 is creating and providing good, relevant, engaging content. As the genius Roxane Gay said: I don’t believe people have shorter attention spans. They just have less tolerance for bad content.* When everybody was at home in lockdown, the only access to the outside world, for many, was through our devices. Organizations who didn’t respond to the change fast enough have been forcefully pushed behind. If your only visibility is online, that’s all you have.
Covid-19 has led to a boom in demand for digital creatives – all work that can be done remote.
Our lives are not only becoming increasingly digital. Our lives are increasingly taking place in this parallel, digital world. Who hasn’t felt like their phone is an extension of themselves? Aside from the implications from our wellbeing, this is a business opportunity for those of us who like to work flexibly.
Forget about the Macbook-Millenial on the beach, (or go do it if that’s your thing!**) remote work is for everyone, and it is here to stay.
* Not an exact quote. Taken from the wonderful Masterclass series.
** Ask me for recommendations for the best remote work locations in Mexico. As you might guess, Tulum didn’t make the list. 😉
Written in Oaxaca, Mexico,
while sitting cross-legged with my Macbook on my lap. How’s that for a stereotype?