Companies Face Challenge of Inclusivity on Travel for Remote Workers

One country wants to make its digital nomad visa scheme more “inclusive,” amid calls for companies to broaden their horizons when recruiting remote workers.

To get an idea of where remote work is heading, it pays to look at the more mature countries. Step forward Estonia, which wants to take the privilege status out of digital nomads. As a small country, and a relatively new entity, it looked for ways early on to attract people to spur economic growth. Part of that effort involved targeting richer nations.

In 2014, it became one of the first countries to offer e-residency status to outsiders, and today has 80,000 of these residents, who can be mostly described as digital nomads. Between them they’ve founded 17,000 companies. In 2020, Estonia became the first country in the European Union to officially offer a nomad visa.

A year on, it wants to address a few things.

Filling the Gap

“What keeps me up at night is inclusion,” said Hannah Brown, head of content for e-Residency at the Estonian government.

Most conversations around digital nomads center around middle and high-income countries, where people have ample opportunity to travel and work. “This translates to the markets we reach,” she added, with Estonia’s own overseas embassies and pick-up locations for its visas or e-residency cards located in corresponding destinations.

Estonia has now recognized there are gaps, Brown said. It has only just opened a location in South Africa, marking its first move into Sub-Saharan Africa, and until recently had just two pick-up locations in the whole of Asia, but has since opened two more.

“That for me is something we need to work harder on, in the sense of being able to open up the opportunity more for people to start businesses, or travel here and live here,” she added, speaking at an inaugural Work From Anywhere webinar.

Companies should also treat remote work in the same way they do business travel, or secondment, according to one expert.

“If you’re an employer that is going to support people to work from anywhere, you have to do more than just send them off and worry about the tax,” said trainer Rowena Hennigan, also speaking at the online event. “Tax is important, but it’s like business travel really.”

She argued that extra features like a translator, or local buddy, can be helpful when setting up in a new country. “There are still skills needed to support any worker who’s going to go on this journey,” she said.

Privilege Status

One organization has made it its mission to not just support employees with remote work skills, but refugees.

Community interest company Na’amal was founded in 2019. At that time, many companies weren’t convinced by remote work. “The general public didn’t recognize remote work was viable for anyone, far less for refugees,” its co-founder, Lorraine Charles, told Skift.

The pandemic changed that. Charles said that many refugees are highly skilled, but lack a passport, and in some cases those “soft skills” employers need.

“Their CVs don’t look like ours … they don’t have the social capital we do,” she said.

Na’amal is working with a non-governmental organization in Jordan, and MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT), which is part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Charles wants to connect businesses that are embracing distributed work with refugees. “It takes a lot of training to get employers to get the mindset to hire someone who’s a refugee,” she said, and is calling on remote work experts to help volunteer and deliver training sessions to its refugee learners.

She also has a problem with the term “digital nomad.”

“Being a digital nomad is a complete privilege. Refugees don’t have the ability to move, while the idea of the digital nomad is they can move from country to another. They don’t have that opportunity unless they illegally cross a border,” she said.

“The term needs to disappear, because it separates the haves from the have-nots. It’s a very elite title, and places those who are trying to navigate the space, to earn an income, at a disadvantage.”

Sidenotes

Logic dictates it’s the employees who should shape their company’s post-pandemic working culture, and dictate how flexible the future is. This seems to be the case with the growing trend of companies showing how progressive they are, as they share findings of their staff surveys.

But giving workers the choice is a bad move, according to one expert. Yes, remote work is here to stay, but perhaps the answer is to randomize it.

One problem is that hybrid meetings will always lead to people feeling left out.

“The folks in the conference room appear to be having side conversations … you see people whispering,” said Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics, Standford Graduate School of Business, speaking at a Charter online event on Tuesday. “It’s problematic and people at home complain.”

Even if the office-bound employees are hidden away in cubicles, attending the meting via their laptops, they’ll still be having conversations over a coffee after it’s finished.

But a bigger problem will be longer-term discrimination, with mothers or those caring for other people at home more affected. Bloom cited an experiment that saw random groups work from home four days a week — leading to promotion rates slashed in half for the remote workers.

“If you let people choose, five or 10 years down the line, single young men that live near the office, who go in every day, get promoted rapidly,” he said.

So there’s one case for individuals not choose their work-from-home policies; maybe there’s no need for architects to come up with new concepts for offices after all.

10-Second Corporate Travel Catch-Up

Who and what Skift has covered over the past week: Air France, American Airlines, Icelandair, Lakestar, MeetingPlay, Paragon ID, RedDoorz, Soho House, Southwest Airlines, sustainable aviation fuel, The Travel Association, United Airlines Ventures.

In Brief

More Organizations Embrace Remote Policies

Communications company Nokia has said it will allow employees to work remotely for three days a week, after its current work from home policy comes to an end in December. Deloitte, meanwhile, has said its offices will be mainly used for team collaboration, training and client meetings once restrictions ease. According to reports, the accountancy firm has told staff they are not be obligated to work from the office for a minimum number of days per week.

Europe’s Rail Movement Gains Pace

A new network of European sleeper trains is being planned, stretching from Paris to 12 cities across Europe, including Edinburgh, from 2024, according to the Guardian. The new venture, from startup Midnight Trains, could appeal to business travelers as carriages will feature “hotel-style” rooms offering privacy and security, and an onboard restaurant and bar. The company is funded by French entrepreneurs, including the telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, co-owner of Le Monde newspaper. Meanwhile, European Sleeper is adding Belgium’s Moonlight Express to its operations.

This Startup Proposes Castles and Vineyards for Remote Workers

A French startup wants to make remote work opportunities a lot more exciting. Floasis launched this week, and offers an eclectic mix of properties, including a castle in France. It already has 50 locations in Europe, and 3,000 community members, including 400-plus ambassadors who have tested the various stays to ensure they’re a good fit for remote workers, according to reports. A winery in Portugal and a very remote property in the Azores also make the grade.

Fashion Tips When Returning to the Workplace

For those people who aren’t able to work remotely, and are concerned they’ve forgotten what to wear in an office, this mood board might help. It was set up by digital marketing company HubSpot, according to LinkedIn, which said its chief people officer believes staff can use it to reduce anxiety about getting dressed for the workplace.

Global Hiring Platform Oyster Raises $50 Million

Oyster, a human resources platform for globally distributed companies, has raised a $50 million Series B funding round, led by Stripes with the continued participation of Emergence Capital and The Slack Fund, with the addition of Avid Ventures. The extra cash injection follows its Series A raise of $20 million in January.

“There will be 1.5 billion new knowledge workers entering the workforce over the next 10 years, the majority of whom live in the developing world. These digital-native workers can work from anywhere with an internet connection,” founder Tony Jamous said.

Ascott Debuts Co-Living Concept in Europe

Ascott has entered into agreements to buy two properties in France and Vietnam. The acquisitions total $156 million, and will be made through the Ascott Serviced Residence Global Fund, its private equity fund with Qatar Investment Authority.

The acquisition in Paris will be turned into a 139-unit co-living property, livelyfhere Gambetta Paris, and marks the Lyf brand’s debut in Europe. Last month, Mak Hoe Kit, managing director of the Ascott Global Serviced Residence Fund, said the Lyf brand would expand to Europe following success in Asia. With this addition, Ascott has a total of 16 lyf properties across nine countries

The acquisition in Vietnam is the 364-unit Somerset Metropolitan West Hanoi, and both properties are expected to open in 2024.