“Work from anywhere”
…a phrase that may attract one person and deter another, but for me it definitely works like a magnet. So in March I put that phrase to good use, after a 10-hour journey, I landed in Philadelphia. My new workplace of choice for the next few days.
But how did I get a taste for it in the first place? A few years ago, in my student days, learning from anywhere was never a question, for me it was a given to have access to my important tools and documents all over the world at any time of the day or night. But that was probably because I was already looking for a way to be geographically unbound at the time, so I chose the option of distance learning. In addition to an incredible number of benefits that distance learning offers, one of the more difficult things about remote study is self-organization and discipline.
When I started working part-time, it was again much harder to just pack up and leave. Home office and remote work were rare and mostly only common in fancy start ups.
Companies were granting employees freedoms they had been afraid of for decades. But as we saw during the pandemic, nothing happened, no company went down because employees were suddenly formatting Excel spreadsheets from home. It is important to say here that this cannot be applied one-to-one to all industries, of course. In addition, there are certain requirements that need to be met, such as a laptop, another screen for home use, remote access to all internal tools and networks. And, of course, processes that allow them to be done from anywhere.
After this drastic shift in the world of work, it now remains to be seen what else may be in store for workers in the future. How about a four-day week? In any case, the possibilities are not yet exhausted to enable employees to achieve an even better balance between private tasks and an efficient working environment.
Last but not least, what is my experience with “work from anywhere” in Philadelphia?
I would definitely like to repeat my time in Philadelphia. Despite a time difference of six hours, I was able to plan and work together with my colleagues and clients half of the time. Of course, the set up on site plays a role. In my case, it was a fully equipped home office, so I had no adjustment at all. For me, the new environment meant that I was able to work in a very focused way, as I didn’t suffer from my everyday distractions, such as my dog, the mailman always ringing my front doorbell, or even the thought of things that all still need to be done as soon as I finish my work day.
In conclusion, if you have the opportunity to work remotely and combine your work with the pleasure of traveling, you should just go for it! Personally, it was a lot of fun and once again gave me a new perspective on my work. Especially when it comes to the actual usability of project tools, it might be possible to identify and improve pain points.
In our case there was nothing to complain about here, since all our tools used are cloud-based, I always have the possibility to get an up-to-date overview of tasks or a status of projects without having to go into a direct exchange.
For me, it was a welcome break from my daily routine without wasting vacation days and still being in a different place. For me it is certain, I will continue to use this freedom and maybe my next blog entry will already come from a completely different time zone!