What Does Working Remotely Really Mean?

During the last year and a half, the concept of working remotely has transitioned from being nearly unheard of to commonplace.

Many who are now faced with the possibility of returning to the office are considering whether they would rather transition to working remotely permanently.

If you’re considering making the transition to working remotely permanently or just curious what it means to work remotely, read on to learn what working remotely really means. Our Scopic team will also share a few tips that have helped us master the art of working remotely.

What is Remote Work?

Remote work is the term used to describe employees working for an employer with no physical office. Rather than enduring hours in traffic to spend all day in a drab office while working through distractions, employees are encouraged to work in alternative settings. These settings can include a home office, coworking space, coffee shop, or any other space that has Wi-Fi.

Digital nomad is another word you may have heard of during your remote working research. Have you ever wondered how to become a digital nomad? These employees aren’t bound by borders while working remotely and travel the world while they work. After finding work with a remote company or through freelancing, the next step to starting life as a digital nomad is choosing a city – ideally one with already established nomad communities. Nestpick’s Work-From-Anywhere Index has made the search a bit easier by identifying the world’s ten most popular remote-working cites.

Benefits of Working Remotely

There are many benefits of working remotely, maybe even too many to list here. That’s why we’ll be focusing on the benefits of working remotely from home rather than a yurt, cruise ship, or insert-magical-place-here.

Be The Boss Of Your Time

One of the top benefits of working remotely is that you can manage your own time. Worked late last night and want to sleep in? Looking forward to meeting a friend for lunch? Final day of a sale at your favorite store? Yes, to all of the above! If you can manage your time to meet your deadlines and attend meetings, you can plan your week ahead.

Scopic tip: Download apps like Microsoft Teams and Slack to your phone so you can answer messages when you’re on the run. You won’t have to take your laptop with you wherever you go, and you won’t be bound to your home desk.

Save Money While You Make Money

Instead of spending hours in traffic, your only commute will be walking to your home office or desk setup. Sounds good, right? Gone are the days of spending time and money to simply arrive to work and earn money. You can also deduct some expenses from your tax every year. These deductions include internet costs, office setup, cleaning, electricity and water, and upgrades to any hardware you need to do your job.

Scopic tip: Get a tax practitioner you can trust and keep all invoices and slips, noting the currency amount you receive your salary in every month. A spreadsheet of your expenses and income is a great way to keep track of the numbers.

Your Mental Health Will Thank You

The more in control you are of your day-to-day work and leisure, the more your body and mind get into a rhythm. A 2011 study from Staples found that employees who worked from home experienced around 25% less stress. Employees also reported that they were able to maintain a better work-life balance and eat healthier. With that being said, be careful not to overdo it and work more than your allocated hours per day.

It’s important to take breaks too. At Scopic, we keep things interesting by challenging teams to see who is most active each month and set times for employees to grab a coffee and chat about everything but work. This makes it much easier for you to connect with others, no matter which country they find themselves in, and ensure you don’t get lonely during your time at home.

Scopic tip: Don’t be too hard on yourself. Even though a routine is important, you should be ok with breaking out of it now and again. If you overslept, that’s ok; just start the day from there. Worked straight through lunch? That’s ok too; grab a bite when you take a break.

Say Goodbye to Office Politics

What does working remotely mean for office politics? There’s much less of it going around with remote employees skipping the office gossip and the intensity that comes with it. On the other end of the scale, teamwork increases as employees and their teams communicate more often to keep one another updated on projects, feedback, and deadlines. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?

Scopic tip: Make a point of reaching out to colleagues and share some insight into your life outside of work. It makes it easier to find things to talk about and share interests with colleagues. Have your cat join an informal video call, share gardening tips, or have someone lead a lunchtime cookout while other employees follow.

What Does Working Remotely Mean for You?

If you view working in an environment you love, managing your own time, and meeting people from all over the world as some of the pros of working remotely — then it may just be for you! A simple Google search will help reveal some website that specializes in listing remote positions worldwide. These websites are updated daily, so check them out often and subscribe to their newsletters to receive the latest job posts.

Alternatively, you can go straight to the source. We are always on the lookout for developers, project and product managers, SEO specialists, copywriters, marketing specialists, and more. Interested? Visit our careers page for all our openings at Scopic.