Our team member Lena Strohmayer packed her bags last year and moved to another continent without further ado. And what's special about that? It's not a vacation, sabbatical or anything like that. Lena is still working at hrdiamonds, just in a different time zone.
Every day, we advise and support companies in providing their employees with a workplace worth living in. It is particularly important to us that we also succeed in doing this in our own organization. We are constantly trying out new ways of working and enabling our employees to choose their own workplaces. So it happened that our colleague was suddenly sitting on another continent and working with the team from there.
Now the question is: how does it work? Very well, actually! In this article, we want to share Lena's experiences and tips on remote work with you: What is remote work actually? What aspects need to be considered? And what should you know before you set off into the wide world as a digital nomad?
Perhaps our article can inspire some of you to take the plunge into the big wide world yourself, or to enable your employees to work in a similar way.
Remote work - what was that again?
'Remote work' is a broad term and refers to the practice of carrying out professional tasks and responsibilities outside of the traditional office environment. In our increasingly digitalized world, technologies such as video conferencing tools and mobile communication tools make it possible to work from different locations. Remote work has become an important trend, especially in recent years, driven by technological advances and the increasing acceptance of flexible working models by companies. As a result, remote work is gaining importance as a sustainable and effective working practice in the modern business world. Home office is a specific form of remote work where work is done from home. In this article, we mainly refer to remote work abroad.
What do I need to consider when contemplating remote work?
What should you think about before taking the step to remote work?
- Internet Connection:
Working from anywhere, unfortunately, doesn't really mean working from ANYWHERE. If you are one of those people who need a more or less stable internet connection to do your work - which is probably the majority of us - this can be a bit limiting. So, the dream of living on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean is not necessarily compatible with remote work. But don't panic, there are still plenty of beautiful spots on our planet with a good internet connection!
My tip: Before you decide where you want to work from, find out online what the internet connection is like at the possible destinations. You can usually rely on the experience reports of others.
- Workplace
The next point to think about is how you envision your own remote workplace. Do you want an accommodation that is equipped to allow you working from home? Do you see yourself working in various cafés? Or would you perhaps like a kind of fixed workplace that you go to every day, such as a so-called “coworking space”? It's often difficult to answer these questions if you've never worked remotely before. Personally, it took me a lot of trial and error to find out where I can work from best. Coworking spaces have emerged as the best option for me, because a clear -also physical - separation between leisure and working time is important to me.
- Time Difference
Let's stay on the topic of “where do I want to work from?” and look at it from another angle, namely the time difference. Depending on how your work is organized and how much you depend on coordinating with your colleagues, the time difference will determine your daily routine abroad more, or less. If you are able to work completely asynchronously, this is probably not a decisive factor. However, if you need to overlap completely or partially with your company's working hours, this becomes much more significant. The first step here is to discuss with your manager what is expected of you. You should agree on clear working hours to enable good teamwork, but also to be able to estimate your working hours at the destination. For example, I decided against some countries as destinations, as the time differences would have been too much to handle for me personally.
- Equipment and Technical Security
Preparations for remote work also include dealing with work equipment and data security. In terms of equipment, you should think about what you absolutely need for your work. A laptop and a charging cable are usually the first and most important things to think about. You should also consider taking a headset or headphones with you to be prepared for calls and video conferences in different working environments. You should also look into organizing an adapter if you are travelling to a country that uses different network plugs. Technical security, on the other hand, is about ensuring that work devices are equipped with security measures, such as VPN (Virtual Private Network), to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of company data.
- Social contacts
Social relationships play an important role in the workplace, even when working remotely. On the one hand, it is essential to stay in contact with your own team and to continue to participate in team meetings and the like, even if only virtually. When working remotely, the working day can get a bit lonely, especially if you are working on projects independently for the most part, so it is all the more important to take the time to stay in touch with team members and create opportunities to exchange ideas. You should also consider the social relationships on site. If you regularly work in the same café or coworking space, for example, you could find “substitute colleagues” there and create a kind of team feeling abroad too.
My tip: If personal contacts on site are important to you, it's best to research online about coworking spaces or coworking cafés at your destination. Many of these also offer after-work events and similar networking meetings. Even if you don't want to work from coworking spaces or cafés, there are usually still good opportunities for expat groups to meet up, so it's best to find out about these online too.
- Self-Discipline and Organization
Now that we have looked at various practical, technical and social aspects, we should also consider personal factors. Remote work requires a certain degree of self-discipline and organizational skills. You work more autonomously and you are also responsible for creating your own productive workspace. Many forms of remote work also mean that tasks have to be completed more independently, making personal organization and prioritization even more relevant. This is similar to the conditions associated with working from home, but they become even more important when working asynchronously due to time differences.
- Flexibility and Adaptability
Depending on how you want to live your remote work and how much you want to travel on the side, for example, you need more or less flexibility. I personally appreciate the high degree of autonomy and the opportunity to explore many different places. However, this also requires constant adaptation to new situations and environments. In addition to the constantly changing working environment, non-working hours also bring with them many influences, such as different languages, cultures, people and places of residence. My personal motto for the last few months as a digital nomad is “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable”. Constantly changing where you live and work, even across national borders, means that you continuously find yourself in new situations that require you to adapt. In addition to an at times stressful working day, this also means not being able to fully relax in your free time, which can be a big challenge.
My tip: Take it a little slower, stay in one place for longer, especially at the beginning, and give yourself the opportunity to settle in. Keep your options open and don't plan everything in advance so that you can react flexibly to what you need at the time.
(Disclaimer - visa and tax law: What is of course also relevant when working remotely from different countries is to familiarize yourself with the visa regulations and tax law provisions in order to be covered. We will not go into detail in this article, but it should still be mentioned).
Even if you pay attention to these points, remote work is “trial and error” above all else. Only through trying out new things can you find what works well for you and what doesn't. You learn a little more each time and get to know yourself a little better in the process. The different ways of working allow you to learn a lot about your own preferences and no-go’s, which is highly relevant not only for remote work, but also for traditional forms of work.
For me, remote work means above all autonomy, freedom and the opportunity to discover the world without having to decide against working. I can only recommend it to all travel enthusiasts out there!
