BT issue 16 VF - Flipbook - Page 9
ISSUE 16
§
ance W
e may only be in the third
year of the decade but it’s
already been one of rapid
development and change. Not since the
second World War has a single event
reshaped the international landscape
on quite the same scale as the COVID-19
pandemic. The macro and microcosm of
society succumbed to the pressures of
lockdown, with businesses and personal
relationships alike failing at an alarming
rate.
When restrictions lifted and the world
began opening up again we were all
faced with a new reality, on a personal
level, a professional level, or both. And
it is in the personal and professional that
we perhaps see the greatest evolution
of recent decades. In the wake of the
pandemic, and the economic and
political uncertainties it bore, we have
seen an unprecedented shift in the work/
life balance.
HYBRID, REMOTE, FREEDOM
Companies who had, for decades, held
firm in the belief that remote working
wasn’t possible and workers had to
remain on-site in order to perform were
forced to work remotely. Technology
filled the distance created between
coworkers, families, friends, children,
teachers. As the world locked down
a forced evolution occurred; those
businesses that adapted to a world of
distance survived. Individuals forced to
spend more time in their own company
while confined by the same walls came to
realise what truly mattered to them.
Many, upon being told they could return
to work, found they didn’t want to. At
9
9
least, not in a traditional format. Hybrid
working became the new normal.
Workers once forced to commute and
cooperate in a single location now
operate from around the world. The
ability to ‘work from wherever’, once the
province of a relatively minimal number
of freelancers and limited roles, became
an option for pretty much everyone.
WORK FROM WHEREVER
Forcing the world to shut down made
everyone realise how valuable the ability
to explore it truly is. Over fifty countries
around the globe now offer Digital Nomad
Visas, as an ever-increasing number are
choosing to make the world their office.
Why work from a windowless cubicle
swamp when you could be on a beach in
Spain, from a hammock in Bali, beside
hot springs in Iceland, in the shadow of
the Parthenon, or in the dunes of the
Namib Desert?
As a society we have become astonishingly
efficient at working together while
separated by great distances. We’ve also
developed a hunger for a life that enables
us to travel greater distances, see more,
not only of the planet but each other.
Even those who haven’t picked up their
laptops and taken their careers on the
road are valuing more time at home,
being present, in the moment, for the
biggest adventures that happen in the
most mundane settings - a child’s first
step, making the school run, showing up
for friends and family when they call.
All the things worker bees had to learn to
live without while treading the hamster
wheel of the nine to five grind.
