The problem that I have with Work From Anywhere
I like nomenclatures and jargons. They make communication easy. It helps us connect to a concept without having to describe the whole thing again. When certain jargons get accepted by all parts of the world then it also enables all of us to come together for a common cause. Jargons are like standards in the scientific world.
Unlike the scientific world the world of language is tricky. One problem being that they they leave things open for interpretation. Each one of us can derive different meanings from it inspite of the fact that these jargons were coined to avoid them in the first place. Unlike standards no one manages the “gold” standard definition of a jargon and hence no reference to go back to. 🤔
Now let’s come to the jargon under question “Work from Anywhere”. In the recent past it has gained attention like no other point in time in history. But there is a problem with it. It has left too many things in the open and it has led to helluva confusion on what it means. Depending on who you are talking to the definition varies based on their biases and prejudices.
Warning : This post might also have my own bias applied. So (t)read carefully. 😉
Work From Anywhere ≠ No Office
The naysayers of remote working and work from home were the first to come out in defence of the office way of working to say that how can you not have an office. Some questions they raised were 1) What happens to culture? 2) What happens to collaboration 3) What happens to the corporate’s identify and the identity of employees?
They got it wrong here. Work from Anywhere does not mean no office. “Anywhere” is a super set that includes the office also. Yes it on purpose does not give a lot of weightage to the office. So embracing Work from Anywhere certainly is not the same as being 100 % remote. An organisation that opens up their workplace policies to allow employees to telecommute occasionally can still be called a company that encourages work from anywhere.
Work From Anywhere ≠ (Workation or Working from the wilderness or by the pool)
Ever since I started to follow the trends on Work from Anywhere, my Twitter feed is now filled with photographs of people posting a scenic backdrop with their laptop in front with a hashtag #WorkFromAnywhere. You also get to see the top brass of a company posting pictures of them working from their farmhouse or a resort. You occasionally also see resorts put ads for #workation with #workfromanywhere tagged.
Neither do I have a problem with people connecting from the remotest parts of the world and working. Nor do I have a problem with these being called as work from anywhere. My problem is that these visuals get imprinted in many of us as the only way to work from anywhere.
You don’t need to trek the hills or hit the beach side villa to work from anywhere. These are just glorified versions of work from anywhere that make you and me the average Indian get jealous. For the average Indian we are not going to be doing that in the remotest of our dreams even-though we would love to do that.
Going to a nearby library or a cafe and working or just booking (through an app like GoFloaters) and walking over to co-working space nearby and working would all still be categorised as Work From Anywhere.
Work From Anywhere ≠ Digital Nomads
I also see people on Twitter (esp.) relating Work From Anywhere to that of Digital Nomads. They make us picturize a couple with a big back pack on, circling the globe and taking a break to work occasionally. Yes, this is work from anywhere and more specifically an extreme version of that called digital nomadism. But hey let us not scare our poor bosses off by saying that we are heading out on a tour of the world.
Work From Anywhere is just about having the freedom to work literally from anywhere. The anywhere encompasses your good old office, your home and any work spots near your home that you could go dock yourself. You could work from home 3 days a week, step out to a nearby workspace once a week and go to the office once a week. This is still work from anywhere. The only thing that needs to be true is that you as a team member should have the flexibility and freedom to choose where you will work from.
So putting all of this together you get the below Venn diagram for Work from Anywhere.
