Governments Hire This ‘Future of Work Explorer’ to Help Set Up Digital Nomad Programs

More governments are warming to the idea of digital nomads, shifting their outlook from short-term tourism win to economic development.

Consultant Albert Canigueral recently returned from Croatia, where he took part in the country’s first digital nomads-in-residence program.

The city of Dubrovnik enticed 10 nomads over for a month’s free stay, but on the condition they spent every Friday helping it frame something more structured, beyond simply issuing special visas.

One of the suggestions they came back with was that Dubrovnik should create a certification or stamp for long-term accommodation providers, so they can show they are digital nomad, or workcation, friendly.

Canigueral joked that while in Dubrovnik, he didn’t have a kettle in his room. Small things like that can make a difference. “We’ve suggested kitchenettes with equipment, plus a desk space and good internet. You could have a label that certifies the space,” he said. External inspectors can be appointed, or a user platform built.

The label scheme was mooted at a city level, but there’s scope for national and international expansion.

However, Jana Kutsinskaja, international media project manager at the Estonian Tourist Board (a similarly nomad-friendly destination) told Skift that when it comes to labels, her focus was more on safety.

And she said many hotels with a community focus — which attract digital nomads — tended to naturally cater to all their needs, highlighting Hektor Container Hotel, Hotel Citybox, Oru Hub Hotel and Bob W as examples of a new breed of accommodation, and all located in capital Tallinn.

Staying in Europe, Netherlands chain Zoku has just expanded to Austria and Denmark. Will more traditional hotel groups be able to compete for their share of the market? According to Skift Research, this is a market ready to explode. There will be a dramatic ripple effect across the travel industry, as digital nomads go from niche community to mainstream, and bring significant dollars with them.

Smooth Landings

The whole point, it seems, is to make remote work in new destinations as painless and as friction-free as possible. So another key recommendation for Dubrovnik was it should formalize a “workcation” package.

“Not everyone is a digital nomad in the permanent sense, it’s hard, and it’s more aspirational — there are a lot of people following digital nomads on Instagram,” Canigueral pointed out.

The Croatian collective suggested packages of 20, 30 or 50 days. Itineraries need to be pre-built so people don’t have to figure out where to stay, or where to go. After all, these are people who will be working. “You need to have a smooth landing,” he said.

Canigueral describes himself as a “future of work explorer” on his website as he believes it’s impossible to be an expert on anything that changes so fast. He’s also part of Ouishare, a body of independent consultants, who speak and advise on public policies, including digital health and tourism.

Although just back from Croatia, last week he took on a new role with the Catalan government, to work on digital nomad issues, and is later heading to Estonia. He’s also worked with the Inter-American Development Bank, a multilateral agency based in Washington, as well as the WageIndicator Foundation in the Netherlands.

Plus there have been conversations with Accor, exploring opportunities of long-term stays of a month, looking at what these new types of guests need.

He’s inspired by a range of other efforts, noting one startup that’s yet to launch, Floasis, which is collating inspiring spaces for remote workers. Meanwhile, he cites Malaga WorkBay as an interesting scheme, and namechecks Barcelona for its workcation packages.

But in many cases, these developments represent the first moves, public bodies flirting with ideas on the fringes of what is still mostly a tourism concept. There’s much to explore.

Sidenotes

“The office is a relic of the past.” A controversial take from one of the leading voices in remote work, Darren Murph, head of remote at Gitlab and a previous Skift Live speaker.

“If you’re going to go to an office, it should simply be a place where you go to work remotely. When you go to that office, it shouldn’t change the way you work,” he told TechRadar. “If one of your co-workers is sitting five feet away and the rest are all in different countries, you should all collaborate in the same way. But old habits are very difficult to break.”

The viewpoint is in stark contrast to research presented by McKinsey at the inaugural Work Travel Summit on Wednesday. It found that the majority of employees actually want a hybrid approach, with 64 percent globally wanting to work from home between one and four days. Nineteen percent wanted to work remotely five days a week.

Andrea Alexander, associate partner at McKinsey. Picture: Work Travel Summit

Meanwhile, 29 percent of employees would look to switch jobs if forced to return to the office. The figure goes up to 40 percent for those who have children below the age of five.

“That’s important for employers to hear,” said McKinsey associate partner Andrea Alexander, speaking at the summit.

Differing viewpoints are natural, and there’s still more research needed to be done. But the danger is that the longer companies stand on the sidelines, the more stressed their workers become.

Alexander revealed that the majority of employees (68 percent) said their organization had either vaguely communicated or not communicated their vision of post-pandemic working. “This lack of communication is really creating anxiety and concern from employees,” she said.

What companies should now be doing is consulting with staff, and asking for volunteers who are willing to try experiments, and test new ways of working.

“Change shouldn’t come from CEO. There needs to be the employees’ voice in all of this,” Alexander added. “Interact with all levels of employees … this top-down method that may work in other situations is really something we don’t want to do here.”

What would Murph make of this?

10-Second Corporate Travel Catch-Up

Who and what Skift has covered over the past week: Accor, Booking Holdings, Buy-Now, Pay-Later, Clear, Dell, Gol, Google, Hopin, Visa.

In Brief

62 Percent of Manhattan Office Workers Due Back by End of September

In the U.S., Manhattan offices could soon see workers flowing back into office buildings at a faster pace, according to a recent survey. Non-profit The Partnership for New York City, found that 62 percent of Manhattan office workers were expected to return to the workplace by the end of September, Crain’s New York Business reported.

This marks a significant hike on a similar survey carried out in March, in which 45 percent of employees were expected back in the office by the same time. However, only 12 percent had returned by the end of last month, an uptick of two percentage points from the March survey. The increase was attributed to the success of the vaccine rollout.

More Dismay At Lack of UK-U.S. Travel Corridor

Despite a new Atlantic Charter being agreed at this week’s G7, the UK’s Business Travel Association has criticized it as yet another one of those taskforces that “so far have only wreaked further devastation on our industry.”

The UK’s Department for Transport said both countries would work to relaunch UK-US travel as soon as possible through a new travel taskforce which will make recommendations on safely reopening international travel.

“Jobs won’t be saved, nor livelihoods protected, until we are given a certainty on dates for the resumption of international travel,” said CEO Clive Wratten. “It is wider than our industry. In the first week of June, UK GDP has lost almost $900 million due to the lack of transatlantic business travel.”

TravelStore Adds Health and Safety Updates

Californian travel management company TravelStore has partnered with Tripkicks to provide health and safety insights and alerts, including Covid-19 requirements and trip interruptions. Travelers will need to be using the SAP Concur booking tool. Travelstore found itself leading the battle against the pandemic last year, notching up some 650,000 hotel bookings for frontline workers, and even helping to shelter released inmates.

Reed & Mackay Teams Up With Meetingsbooker

UK-based corporate travel agency Reed & Mackay, which was recently acquired by TripActions, has launched a meeting booking solution called R&M/Meet. It has partnered with MeetingsBooker to gain access to 150,000 Covid-safe venues, and the move comes as travel agencies prepare for an uptick in in-person gatherings. American Express Global Business Travel partnered with Meetingsbooker in March for its new Workspaces tool.