Working from Anywhere

Alina-Maria Weide: Absolutely. When we talk about Remote Work, we’re talking about employees being able to do their work from anywhere – be it from home, a café, or co-working space. Remote employees utilize digital tools and technologies in the best possible way to organize their work and communication within the team in a way that’s efficient and makes good sense.

I’ve worked remotely most of my career, and have travelled a lot. I always found it challenging working in artificially created surroundings: They’re always the same, they don’t really foster much creativity, and they’re often loud. Why should we persist with old paradigms that are still geared toward the 1920s? We’ve had the digital tools and infrastructure that have enabled us to develop for more than three decades.

Studies show that working from home increases work performance and productivity, while reducing the number of sick days. A Harvard study in 2020 found that remote employees showed increased loyalty: The probability that they would quit their jobs sank by 50%. Flexibility allows employees to work at those times during which they are the most productive and creative. Moreover, when working remotely they can change environments and thus get inspiration when needed – be it from those around them, nature, or city life. Additionally, I’m convinced that companies that offer Remote Work have an easier time establishing employee loyalty, and attracting new talent – specifically, millennials and digital natives.

Covid-19 spawned a lot of new ideas and viewpoints, and our everyday work has completely changed. We had to take stock of our values. What’s really important? What are my constraints? But we also had the opportunity to consider what life can look like with more self-reliance, discipline, freedom, and more quality instead of quantity.

The notion behind TED, “Ideas worth sharing” is something that’s fascinated me since I was in my twenties. I was, and am, very thankful and excited that for just about every topic TED attracts people who can get to the heart of the topic in ways that are eloquent and pertinent. With a question that’s close to my heart, I applied for TEDxSIX so that I could experience this for myself.

I imagine office spaces increasingly becoming places where companies foster collaboration between employees, and where we can meet for workshops. The future is not a place that we have to go to, rather a place that we create for ourselves. We have to seize the opportunity and assume responsibility for the future so that we can continually improve our quality of life. We have to create a normalcy in which we can choose how, when, and where we work best.