What is Remote Working: 3 Common Misconceptions

By now, if you haven’t seen the stories online about these awesome individuals traveling the world and making a living, you must be living under a rock. If you have, you most likely have some knowledge about remote working. So what exactly is it?



What is Remote Working: 3 Common Misconceptions
By most definitions, a remote worker is someone who works outside the traditional office setting. Imagine noisy environments, countless distractions, and cubicles, that’s your traditional office. While it’s easy to imagine the opposite for remote workers as someone who is completely independent of a physical location with only a MacBook Pro in their lap, sipping away on a Piña Colada, hammering away hundreds of lines of code, that is a bit of a stretch from the actual reality. Sure, there are plenty of people who live this lifestyle, love it, and probably the most popular association with remote working, but it is not always the case. This subset of individuals refer to themselves as digital nomads and is an actively growing lifestyle. However, for the rest of the remote working population, it is a bit different. Here’s 3 of the common misconceptions people have about remote working.

1. Remote Workers Travel Everywhere and Work Anywhere


Like regular workers that commute, most remote workers actually don’t live too far from where they work either. They have either found a way to negotiate location independence from their jobs, work from home, or do freelance work on the internet. Despite its somewhat misleading name, remote working is more about comfort, not just about travel. Just take a look at this research conducted by Hubstaff, a staggering 77% reported greater productivity and over half were less stressed, spent more times with their significant others and were less likely to take time off when working remotely. Of course, there are plenty of people who enjoy traveling all over the world and making money wherever Wi-Fi is available, but for the rest of the folks, it is really about a healthier balance between work and life. Besides the shocking statistics of how much time is wasted commuting each year by the average employee, just recall how unproductive you felt at times with all the distractions going on in the office or being stuck in a traffic jam for 2 hours. Maybe for some people, and even you, comfort is on the beaches of La Digue, but for most remote workers, it’s just in the comfort of their PJs in their living room or their favorite Starbucks. Remote working is about finding a setting you are most productive in so you can maximize your potential instead of being stuck in a box 40 hours a week, eyeing the clock for your lunch break.

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2. Remote Workers Can Work Whenever They Feel Like It


Another popular misconception people have is that remote workers set their own times and basically work whenever they feel like it. That may be true in some cases if you’re the boss of your own online business or you’ve made a killing with a profitable business you can just walk away from and still roll in the dough, it’s not the case for most remote workers. Working remotely does give you a bit more flexibility when it comes to setting your own times, but it really depends on what your job is. If you’re a customer service agent, virtual assistant or any administrative role, you will probably have a more fixed schedule like a typical 9-5. On the bright side, you can skip the drive and get a few more hours of sleep in since your office could be just a 20 feet walk from your bed. Maybe you could even fit in that morning exercise routine you’ve always wanted to do, but didn’t have the time or motivation previously because that meant getting up at 5 in the morning. On the other hand, if you’re a freelancer, you will have a bit more flexibility to set your own times. Since most freelancers are paid by completion of deliverables by a deadline, as long as you meet those deadlines and deliver the quality of work expected, you’re golden. But most freelancers still have their own schedule they set to work because they know that’s when they’re most productive. So while you can technically work whenever you want, it might not be the most effective way for you to get your work done.
What is Remote Working - Work from Home

3. Remote Workers Are Anti-Social


It’s easy to think someone is anti-social if you imagine them just home alone on their computer all day working. Believe it or not, remote workers are really no different from you or me. They have times where they dedicate to work, and also times where they dedicate to life, work and play. While they may have less interaction physically with people when they’re at work, they are almost always in constant communication with their coworkers or team members either in a group message or video chat. A very common trend among remote workers is to hang out in coworking places, hangouts, or cafes so they can help each other out on anything that is stumping them. Although that might seem counter-intuitive to surround yourself with people in a remote working setting, keep in mind these individuals are usually like-minded people who have similar interests, and not some distracting guy replaying the same cat gif on his computer since the work day started. And think of it this way, the 2-ish hours you use to get ready and commute to work each day back and forth, remote workers use that time to relax, have dinner with their family, or grab a cold one with their friends. So who’s the anti-social one now?


What is Remote Working: 3 Common Misconceptions

Is Remote Working for You?


So is remote working for you? The answer is that is really depends. For some people, they thrive in an office setting. They enjoy the social interaction and the idiosyncrasies of the office life. Then there are those who dread going to work in a setting like this everyday and would love no more than to wear their fuzzy socks, sit on the sofa, and work from the comforts of their homes. Regardless of what kind of worker you choose to be, the key is comfort and productivity. What work environment are you most comfortable and productive in? That is a question only you can answer for yourself, because everyone is unique in their own way. So what’s the next steps to remote working? You can join our Facebook Group to get daily updates on remote jobs and posts about remote working and check out our job board for a hand-curated list of 100% remote jobs, or some of these other sites for finding remote jobs. Good luck out there!

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