“I’m a digital nomad!” is a sentence that we can hear more and more often these days. More than a trend, it’s really a lifestyle that is going to change forever the way we used to work. So why is remote working the future of work?
First, the technology needed for remote working is now here. We have laptops, the Internet, collaboration tools… Thus, as soon as we have a computer and an internet connection, we can now work as a web developer, writer, translator…, any job that can be done remotely. And millennials have understood that and it was not very long before this generation who wants more freedom and flexibility took advantage of it.
Moreover, mentalities are changing and many companies now offer remote working possibilities for their employees. They have understood that it can be better for their bottom-line by boosting their employees’ performance, creativity and general well-being. Companies have also understood that it is a necessity for them to offer remote working possibilities if they want to attract and keep millennials and if they want to keep innovating.
From the company perspective, another benefit of remote working is the possibility to hire globally. Indeed, in the past, companies were hiring locally and, thus, were only able to hire the best people in their area or country. Some even offered relocation compensations. On the contrary, with remote working, companies now have the possibility to hire globally and, thus, to hire the best people in the world (and not only in their area) and they are able to offer them the freedom and flexibility they are expecting.
From the remote worker point of view, remote working allows more freedom, the possibility of being his own boss, to choose when and where to work and to choose on which project to work. Moreover, it enables digital nomads to travel while working. Indeed, why would one always stay at the same place if one could work from anywhere? Discovering the world while working is now a dream that is becoming the reality. And this also benefits companies. Indeed, innovation comes from mixing people with different cultures and backgrounds, from meeting new people. And traveling the world enables just that.
Thus, we can see that remote working is here to stay because it has many advantages for both companies and remote workers. But all this also comes with more responsibility for digital nomads, a necessity to research new jobs and a necessity to keep learning in order to stay-up-to-date with the most in-demand skills. Thus, the most important for digital nomads is to find a community of like-minded people to talk to and on which they can count when they are traveling the world: and this is exactly why I created Gigers, the free and international online social network of digital nomads and remote workers (https://www.gigers.io/).