About this episode
Simplified Explanation: Working remote means to work from home, or some other location, instead of at your office. Remote workers have always had a place to go, such as the library, Starbucks, and remote offices, but during the COVID pandemic, they all had to return home and work from there. Remote workers are also known for working as they travel the world. Imagine trying to find internet connections in third world countries so you can do your work, but people do it all the time. There is less need for an actual office anymore.
Real Life: Since the COVID pandemic, businesses have learned that they do not need to lease large buildings to house their work. Most companies had to move their employees home, for a time. Grocery stores, hospitals, and other essential businesses kept their employees working, to service those in need (most of the time), but those who were not essential, and didn’t require contact with their customers, were pushed to work from home. So, there are really three types of remote workers:
Pandemic or Emergency Relocation: During COVID, we worked from home. According to scientists, these types of outbreaks will happen again, and more frequently in the future. In order to stop the spread, the U.S. Government locked down the country, economy, and made everyone who could keep their job work from home. The promise was that if we stayed locked down for 4 months, while we let the hospitals slowly increase their emergency beds, we would then be released “back to normal.” People went home to work. Two years later, some states are just still mandating masks.
Businesses are now realizing that, if they could work remotely for a year, why not continue it (since they had to make new procedures that worked remotely, and now their company is as effective as ever, and saving money)?
World Travelers: People have desired to travel the world for long periods of time; yet, they had to afford their ventures. For years now, workers have been able to travel to some very remote areas, and continue their work from their laptops, in their hotel rooms, or the local café. These were the remote workers before Pandemic Remote Working became a thing. They did need a few things to make this work. They had to make sure that their companies were okay with this, that they had all the equipment needed to accomplish this work, and be well versed in the laws of the countries they were traveling through. Some have strict laws, that if you are working from their country, you need to pay them taxes. Most traveling workers don’t listen to these rules, though, and most don’t even know about them. They reserve less expensive housing, plan out access to food and other essentials, and find internet connections wherever they travel, so they can always stay connected with their home office. This takes some work, but could be fun. I have never tried this, but you can learn more by sear
