Over the past week, there has been a lot of coverage on what remote work opportunities could mean for capital cities all around the world.

Traditionally, recent graduates have flocked to cities, like London, to have a chance at nabbing their ‘dream jobs’. According to a 2016 report by the UK think-tank Centre for Cities, 38 % of first or second class degree Russell Group graduates contribute to the ‘brain drain’ and move to the UK’s capital after their studies. This habit forces graduates to leave their hometowns and live in cramped flat shares even if that is not the path they wanted. However, the ongoing pandemic and the shift towards remote working have highlighted that we should not have to relocate in order to excel professionally. While relocating may seem to be a simple task if a local moving company with great reputation is requested, the process might still take a toll both on mental and financial conditions. However, this can now be avoided because remote working is becoming more prevalent. That said, desirable remote working opportunities are increasing as companies, like Facebook, state that as much as 50% of its 48,000 employees could be working remotely within the next decade.

The ‘brain drain’ has also had a detrimental effect on rural areas leading to plummeting populations due to the lack of opportunities available to its inhabitants. Communities which were once well-connected have been drained of businesses and youth, making their futures less stable. It is the mission of charities, like Grow Remote, to make remote work visible locally. Not only could remote work help workers secure a better quality of life but it could also re-inject some life into struggling rural towns in Ireland and further afield.

Wurkr prides itself on its international team. As a fully remote company, we believe that the best workforce is composed of a variety of different skilled individuals rather than workers within a certain geographical location. All we need to do is create a technological environment where the functioning of our operating system is smooth enough for everyone to perform their tasks in record time. Although, our regular employees might not need a technology training as intensive as the one our tech employees would have. The latter would be the ones acting as our backbone during remote working, but if they do not know simple tasks like deleting files and directories from the command line in Linux (pop over to these guys to learn more) or similar others, then that could cause some delay in our business operations.

Gran Canaria based, Matthew, shared his experiences on working remotely:

“I was a remote work guinea pig for a Company in the UK some 6 years ago – we had some initial teething issues as you would expect, creating a remote-first culture, oftentimes I was the sole person on a laptop in the corner of a meeting in the office. However, we soon sussed this out. I’ve never looked back, I still work remotely from my home office in Gran Canaria. I love my commute to work (or non-commute – they say the best commute is no commute) – I simply log into the Wurkr office in the morning, start my day and log off at the end, which gives me the defined start and end of the day. Working remotely has allowed me to be present with my family, go to the gym in the afternoon, go to the shops when they are quiet as well as experience the best that Gran Canaria has to offer.”

The current pandemic has brought many building plans to a halt! 2020 was supposed to be an important year for office construction but some City projects are now likely to be scrapped due to COVID-19 related economic downfalls. This could lead to other big names following in the Lloyd’s of London’s steps. The world’s biggest insurance market is planning on taking their underwriting room virtual following the temporary closure of their Square Mile space in March. As companies expect less of their workforce returning to traditional office life, perhaps the possibility of working remotely in Gran Canaria, like Matthew, or from anywhere else, will lessen the immense pressure being put on our capitals.

Work From Anywhere and Create your own Virtual Office here: wurkr.io