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Remote work is on the rise and continues to grow in demand, despite calls to return to the office. This article explores how remote work has become mainstream and why it’s here to stay in 2024, based on insights from Buffer’s State of Remote Work report.
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Remote work has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years and despite the back to office calls, has not dampened the rise. While working outside a corporate office or what we now call "hybrid" has been possible for a few decades, working remotely is come full mainstream.
The State of Remote Work, an annual report compiled by Buffer, shows remote work is not a trend; instead, it is here to stay.
With the remote work movement in full swing, employees can now work at home or anywhere else while being part of an office environment. This arrangement has proven to benefit both employers and employees with a growing number of progressive and innovative companies joining the ranks.
You might have heard people say things like, "I'm so happy to be working remotely now!" or "I've been able to work and travel all at the same time!" And you listen to these people show off their lifestyles' flexibility and the benefits they've experienced in their personal and professional lives because they can work remotely from anywhere. But you still have a few questions.
Remote work is a style of working that lets professionals work outside of a traditional office environment. There are several different ways to define "remote work." And as per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), remote work includes telecommuting, freelancing, and self-employment.
The concept is that remote work is independent of location, and you can execute your work successfully regardless of where you find yourself physically. So instead of traveling to an office daily to work from a set office space, remote workers can complete their projects and top their goals no matter where they are. What I love most about remote work is that you can design your days so that your work and personal life have space to breathe versus each fighting for room over the other.
There has been a cultural metamorphosis in what society considers an appropriate workplace or work schedule, and remote work has made the most of that newfound liberation.
It's elementary. Remote work offers flexibility, freedom, and independence that on-site work cannot. If you're looking at a career change, consider remote work. With the growing number of remote work job boards and companies hiring remotely, there's no time like the present. In reality, working remotely allows you to enjoy the benefits of setting your schedule, working at your own pace, and spending more time with family and friends.
Add in the lack of active travel time to and from the office, and fewer distractions, which leads to increased productivity. You end up with a win-win for both yourself and your employer alike.
There are several ways that you can work remotely. That's the real beauty of remote work. Choosing to work in a way that makes the most sense to you. For example, say, you can work remotely for most of the workweek but you have to commute for in-person meetings at the office one day a week. On a typical day, as a remote employee, you can work from your home office, a nearby café, a coworking space, or your company's office when necessary.
Coworking spaces are a great option if you want a space to connect with others within a work environment. They're like productivity, community, and technology hubs. They offer great network connectivity and opportunities to meet others from diverse industries and career paths. They may be people with freelance careers, full-time jobs, and even entrepreneurs renting office space for themselves or their small teams.
Coworking spaces are the halfway mark between a traditional office and a nontraditional workspace. You get the comfort of working from home with the professional extras and networking opportunities you'd find in a corporate environment. So you get all the benefits if you take advantage of a coworking space in your home city or a coworking collective like Fosbury & Sons (Global Collective).
As most companies have seen a rise in remote work productivity, many organizations worldwide plan to go fully remote. This is with the idea of providing employees with a better work-life balance and saving on infrastructure costs. But like every other work arrangement, remote work or telecommuting has upsides and downsides.
For every person, who is either new to working remotely or willing to start a remote job, you need to consider the key pros and cons of working remotely. And while remote work has pros and cons, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
Check out my blog post on The Pros and Cons of Working Remotely for amore detailed run down to figure out if this lifestyle is the one for you.
Are you sold on the remote work lifestyle? It is appealing, and I wouldn't want to work any other way. The idea of waking up and actually living a life that fits your personal and professional goals and your habits and quirks, sounds too good to be true, right?
Notice: this way of living is possible no matter where you may be in your life right now.
Here are a couple things you can do now if you're keen to start living the remote work lifestyle:
You can become a remote employee if you're currently working full-time. There are a variety of remote job roles you can do from home or anywhere, for that matter. Of course, the environment where you can perform your duties depends on the nature of your job and any equipment you may need.
You can work remotely in several typical roles, including a writer, web developer or consultant, customer service representative, digital marketer, and virtual assistant.
A remote employee is a company employee who works outside of a traditional office environment. This could mean you'd be working from a local coworking space, at a coffee shop, from home, or in a remote work-friendly city on the opposite corner of the globe.
Shifting from traditional office space to remote is optional, however. It's a multi-step process, and you should think about it before jumping right in. You'll need to consider your current role and working style and be prepared to converse in-depth with your boss or manager about how remote working could potentially work for you and your current team. You'll need to build up a well-researched case specific to your current role and use the age old powers of persuasion to get your boss on board.
If you're already a freelancer, you're in the best position to work remotely. Think about your clients and whether you must be available for in-person meetings. If you can do more than 80 percent of your work virtually, consider doing a trial remote work period. Look at starting with one week and build up to more extended periods that feel comfortable to you and your clients.
As a motivated creator and self-starter, remote work could be an excellent option for you to consider. But before you jump headfirst into a remote working lifestyle, consider whether your business requires a physical brick-and-mortar location. For example, a barbershop owner would have a challenging time working remotely. In contrast, an online fitness instructor would have a more straightforward transition. Once you've weighed the pros and cons, and if you're keen to go remote, consider taking your team along for the ride!
Remote work is still an ever-expanding concept in the professional world. With technology advancing faster than ever, old worries like tracking communication and productivity are near wiped out, and more companies are considering remote work as a viable option for their employees.
If you're keen to experience a more flexible lifestyle or maybe pursue a new way of thinking about your personal and professional path, why not take a look into how working remotely could work for you?
As technology progresses, remote work is becoming more and more common across many industries. It is moving from commonplace fields like IT, banking and finance, and customer support to more surprising ones, like arts and entertainment, health and wellness, and legal. Remote jobs are now in nearly every industry imaginable. If you're looking for a job that you can do remotely, there's never been a better time to explore your options. Use resources like your professional network, remote job boards, and lists of fully-distributed companies to start your remote work job search. You never know what opportunities are out there!
I can't wait to see the life you begin to experience once you switch to working remotely.
Besides a flexible physical location, working remotely successfully involves using tools like Slack, Google Hangouts, Whereby, Zoom, or other web conferencing platforms to help you collaborate with people online. These platforms allow you to communicate with your colleagues and clients using text chat, voice calls, and other features. Another means to be able to work remotely is the use of a virtual private network (VPN) service. VPN services allow you to connect to a corporate network or website securely. A VPN also encrypts data so it cannot be intercepted by third parties while traveling across the internet.
Are there any tips that you have for someone looking to work remote? Drop us a line!
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