Episode Details

Brought to you by Virtual Not Distant Ltd.

There's more to remote work than improving life and work for those exploring its potential. Remote work can be a tool for social change - and today's episode explores different ways that remote work can have broader impact, with a diverse range of stories and approaches.

One quick update before we meet our expert interviewees: Pilar has a new podcast with the International Association of Facilitators - so if you're interested in stories from the frontline of facilitation and learning and meetings, then do check that out and enjoy.

Now, onwards with the social impact of remote:

Chris Slemp is a Customer Success Manager for Modern Workplace, at Microsoft UK, and long-term friend of this show (joining us in episodes 123, 144 and 202)

I asked Chris how remote work can help us build and be part of our community (wherever we want to build that, rather than necessarily at work)?

He reminded us that commuting culture put responsibility on the workplace to provide 'community', and hubs like WeWork strive to provide everything the worker needs apart from sleep. But we have options now, and employers can dial it down a bit - Chris after all introduced us to the term 'office optional', and participating in office cultural activities (as opposed to work activities) should be optional too, freeing people to engage in their local communities as appropriate.

Chris takes a fluid view of location-dependency and work, reminding us how flexible things can be, and that we all have a right to extend that optionality at other times. We can advocate for that flexibility for all workers, to take advantage of the technology now available to us.

Chris also talked about the way remote work is affecting how and where people choose to live, and the social impact of this, a moving target for the future.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn (and tell him we said hi!).

Remember that remote does not always mean flexible, and vice versa… check out episode 21 of My Pocket Psych for more on this point, while we meet:

Mandy is the managing editor of Working Mums and Working Wise (specialising in employment for over 50s), and joined us way back in episode 74. So she's been working with the idea of flexible working for years, since Working Mums started in 2006 (now joined by Working Dads as well as Working Wise, to advocate for and promote best practice around working flexibly for all).

They work with employers to help them improve their recruitment and hiring, and has seen many changes in the flexible working agenda over that time. Employers are more open to the concept now, as the evidence is in to support flexibility. But there are still misconceptions (eg flexible = part time) among bigger less nimble organisations. Career progression remains an issue, as does being explicit about remote in recruitment advertising.

Mandy sees flexibility becoming increasingly normalised into the future, as life grows ever more complex for parents, carers and all of us.

Nacho is the founder of the Nomad City conference run from Gran Canaria - a region working