I’ve been reading “Remote: Office Not Required” by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson and I love it! These guys from Basecamp (previously 37Signals) are always able to summarize how I feel, just like what they’ve done in their previous book “Rework”. “Exactly!” was the most common comment when reading their books.
Their argument feels so reasonable that you start to wonder why everybody is not doing it already. Of course remote working is not practical for every type of role but it’s hard to argue most of office jobs can be done remotely.
Besides the obvious personal gains such as less time and money spent on commute, I can easily think of a few areas where remote working can be beneficial to the bigger picture.
Ease the housing crisis with more options available to people
With remote working, you no longer need to worry about commute when deciding where to live. You don’t have to squeeze in the small yet expensive flat near tube station, but to make decision based on the best living experience your budget can afford. There will be less room for investors to speculate and the price can reflect the true value of a property.
Rebuild the lost community spirit
Since very likely you will spend most of your time in the neighborhood, a lively and friendly neighborhood is probably where you want to settle down. You’ll be more interested in building the community spirit and will also actually have time for it.
Reduce total volume of traffic
After removing a big chunk of commute, traffic during peak time will be more manageable and more distributed. The total demand for transportation will be reduced and focus can be put on running public transportation on a more energy efficient model.
More space for residence, culture and community
If remote working becomes the norm, we won’t need so much commercial office space. They can be instead turned into space for residence or other purpose. What we need more is multi-purpose space which has a higher utilization. Coffee shops, libraries and culture centers can all double as remote office.
London already has the infrastructure required to support remote working. Most people have broadband at home. Even if you don’t, coffee shops with WiFi are springing up like mushrooms through the city. Public hotspots are everywhere. Libraries and cultural centers like Barbican and Southbank offer many seats for public to use. Coworking spaces are available to rent for those who prefer a fixed desk. Even survey says UK is leading other European countries on flexible working, it hardly feels this way. You just need to (try to) jump onto any tube/train during peak hour in London and you’ll have the same doubt. So we have the right to require flexible working, but we need companies and government to take up the initiative rather than us fighting for the right to do so on an individual basis.
If you, like many people, are tired of the weather, food and high living cost in London, remote working allows you to become a nomad. Move to where your family is, where the sun and good food is. According to Nomadlist, London has a disappointing (but not surprising!) score of -86 where Berlin gets 15 and Lison has 46. Chiang Mai in Thailand currently has the highest score of 138 points. Do you love Thai food?
Sir Richard Branson is allowing his staff to take as much holiday as like, and Mexican billionair Carlos Slim is calling for three-day working week. Whether you agree with these change or not, It’s clear that the current model of work will change, even if we’re not switching to remote working immediately.