Remote Working and the Benefits of Distributed Teams

As I delve more into freelancing, I am provided with more opportunities to work remotely. I’m not unfamiliar with the concept of remote working and the necessity of self-motivation, having done high school online.
Understanding Remote Work

Pretty self-explanatory, remote work is when an employee completes work while away from a dedicated company office.

Also called telecommuting, this doesn’t need to be all or nothing. Employees can work remote anywhere from all of the time, to only on Fridays, to only when the dedicated office is inaccessible. There can be various degrees of remote work with an organization.
Personal Interest

Throughout my career, I’ve had varying commute lengths. Besides how terrible driving-on my own- everyday, 5 days a week is for the environment, it’s also pretty disheartening to realize how much time you’re spending in the car. If you take public transit and are able to make use of your commute time, it’s not as bad. However, the average person commute time in the United States is 25.4 minutes.

That’s 13208 minutes a year. That’s 220 hours or nearly 4 days.

Working from home, you gain more than just your time back. You also can work in pajamas which, honestly, is reason enough to work remote.

Past being able to work from home, I consistently find I’m far more creative when I switch up my work environment frequently. Whether it’s a coworking space, a coffee shop, or even telecommuting at a data center, the fresh environment inspires me and I’m able to be a lot more productive.
Digital Nomads

Personally, I can’t think of a better career than being a digital nomad. These professionals travel while working, usually needing no more than their laptop and a good WiFi connecting to complete their work at any given time. While difficult for someone with a family, this can be a great option for someone who wants to travel and either does not have the funds saved up or does not want to take the time away from work.

Digital nomads don’t necessarily travel on their own. Often times there are tribes digital nomads can travel in together.
Business Benefits

Having a distributed team has a multitude of benefits. One of the largest is the saved expense of not having a brick and mortal office space.

A distributed team also provides more opportunity for a more diverse team originating from different locations.

While timezone differences could prove to be a challenge for organizing internal meetings, it can prove to be very beneficial for providing global customer support.
Startup Trends

Interest in “remote work” since 2004 via Google Trends

Remote work and having a distributed team is continuing to become more and more on trend.

Check out [this list] (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TLJSlNxCbwRNxy14Toe1PYwbCTY7h0CNHeer9J0VRzE/edit) by @rdutel of 600 Startups Hiring Remote in 2018.