{"id":45441,"date":"2020-12-01T02:12:29","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T02:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/us\/en\/blog\/?p=45441"},"modified":"2025-03-13T06:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:02:15","slug":"are-office-workers-the-next-digital-nomads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/are-office-workers-the-next-digital-nomads\/","title":{"rendered":"Are office workers the next digital nomads?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With office workers everywhere working from home, some wonder if they could reshape their lives and become \u201cdigital nomads,\u201d or location-independent workers who use telecommunication technology to do their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey, who grew up in Hamburg, hasn\u2019t lived or worked in her native Germany for decades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI moved to England to go to university with the intention of returning home after my degree, but then I met my husband, and we\u2019ve lived abroad ever since,\u201d she says. \u201cFor the last 20 years, I have been a trailing spouse, going wherever my husband finds an interesting job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When she realized she needed a career that could move with her, she became a freelance writer. She writes about travel, art, and lifestyle for publications from US travel sites to Middle Eastern magazines and UK dailies.<\/span><\/p>\n

A world traveler<\/b><\/h2>\n

She\u2019s lived all over the world, including a year in Oman, six years in Dubai, and two and a half years in Melbourne. Most recently, she and her husband lived and worked in Paris for six years until he took a job in Qatar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She was supposed to join him there in June but ran into some COVID-related barriers, including closed borders. Until she can join him, she is living\u2014and freelancing\u2014in Bristol, England.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does she work for global publications from wherever she happens to be living? Because the bulk of her editors are in the US, she checks email late at night to keep up with anything urgent. In the Middle East, where the weekend is Friday and Saturday, she worked on local weekend days to be available to editors located elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her nomadic lifestyle is possible because her freelance work is evaluated based on performance, not \u201ctime in seat,\u201d and she finds living and working abroad a thrill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2018s a chance to reinvent myself. To learn everything new around me, to immerse myself in new cultures and languages, and see the world and new places from a front seat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Office workers as new digital nomads?<\/b><\/h2>\n

While Lemmin-Woolfrey is a freelancer, office workers with itchy feet are realizing they, too, may have some real options as to where they live, travel, and work. The prospect of taking off and becoming a digital nomad is becoming slightly more feasible for office workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One reason is that the COVID pandemic has taught employers remote working can be successful. One survey, which polled <\/span>575 IT decision-makers<\/span><\/a> across various industries, found that 67% expect their work-from-home policies will be permanent or at least long term.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another study found that <\/span>more than half<\/span><\/a> of respondents want to continue working remotely most of the time, post-pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n