Remote work hasn’t always been a choice. It was quite the opposite. If you asked your boss 10 years ago if you could work from home they would say you are crazy, and would immediately think that you’d be slacking off more than working.
And let’s face it, remote working didn’t sound as great 10 years ago as it does now. There weren’t any useful and effective ways to keep track of your work while maintaining good communication with your superiors and/or coworkers. On the contrary, more and more workers started to feel left out, as if they were on a deserted island since they spent the whole day without talking to anyone.
Fortunately, that’s not the case anymore. We are now years apart from the outdated and lonely telecommuting and are entering a new era of flexible and versatile remote working.
The Change of Remote Work
Remote working is not what it used to be. In the past, that was only the case when it was necessary, mostly in cases of salespeople who had to travel to meet customers daily.
But as time passes and the world keeps improving, the perspective on remote work has completely changed, and now it’s known that allowing employees to work outside of a traditional environment is better for businesses.
It went from an obligation that the company needed to do to a necessary next step for companies, employees, and entrepreneurs who want to continue to capitalize on the productivity and efficiency that technological advances offer our society.
With the current technology and the spread of high-speed Wi-Fi to nearly every corner of the globe, remote working is a viable option for more people, with different options depending on what you like best.
Different Ways of Remote Working
Today, many professionals, no matter if they are freelancers or regular workers, have the benefit of working wherever they feel most productive, and that could mean a variety of places.
Thanks to the advancement of communicative technology, people are working remotely in ways that we couldn’t have anticipated a few decades ago. Let’s review some of the options:
1. Coworking Spaces:
A coworking space offers you the same benefits and comfort as that of a traditional office, along with a lot more. If you are a freelancer, for example, it won’t cause a dent in your income since you don’t need to sign a long-term lease. Highly increasing your flexibility by having the option of going to the coworking space or not.
Another benefit is networking. You see, a coworking space is a space where people assemble in a neutral space to work independently on different projects, or in groups on the same projects. It’s different from a typical office workspace because the people in a coworking environment generally aren’t working for the same company.
That means that you might be working next to copywriters, designers, developers, programmers, and many more kinds of professionals. So if you want to create new professional relationships or have a doubt about a subject that’s not really your specialty, maybe the person beside you knows the answer.
Take every chance you get to increase your networking, it’ll surely be worth it.
2. Work From Home:
When the pandemic started most employees had to move their work to their homes, changing the office dynamic for a home office dynamic.
This was proof for most businesses that WFH works, and it’s just as efficient (or more) to work in an office. Thankfully, as software capabilities become more complex, and business processes come to rely on them more, employees no longer have to be strictly bound to an office to work efficiently.
And WFH comes with many benefits like a better work-life balance if you set boundaries appropriately, a huge decrease in commute stress, location independence, and much more.
We might indulge further in the benefits of WFH in the future but at the moment let me give you a little sneak peek.
When it comes to location independence, it means that even though you are working remotely, it doesn’t have to be in your house.
Maybe that day you are in the mood to get some coffee and breakfast at one of your favorite cafés, and as long as you have great wifi and your laptop, you could still be working without any troubles. This means you could travel, and visit many places as long as you correctly coordinate your free time and your work time.
Sounds amazing, right?
3. Hybrid: Office Work+WFH
This is the best of both worlds and basically what we apply here at Freelance Latin America. Most of our freelancers work from home, but they will always have our doors open to work in the office full-time, part of the week, or simply to come for any special projects that require face-to-face collaboration.
We want to give our Freelancers the flexibility to work wherever they feel most comfortable so that they can be as productive and creative as ever!
Permanent desks are staying behind, and most employees are now seeking a chance to find a bit more flexibility in their everyday lives.
Here’s your chance. Are you going to take it?
See more articles by Ender Cárdenas.
