Remote working is now an accepted reality. Barbados anyone?

21 July, 2020

As the Covid-19 pandemic spread and countries around the world went into lockdown, so millions of companies discovered that staff did actually work very efficiently from home. It has long been assumed that staff would be less productive but actually it has proved that the reverse is true. Companies are very quickly realising that all that real estate in expensive cities is not making business sense, so the smart money is on more companies now embracing home working into the future.

Business travellers have always known that working remotely is easy and as long as you have good WiFi and a place to sit and work, then a sunny terrace is as good as a dull office. Frequently being out of the office is in fact more productive. US based Prodoscore undertook an evaluation in Mar-2020 and Apr-2020 to compare data with the same period in 2019 and found that telephone calling was up 230%, while email activity was up 57%.

Evaluating some 100 million data points from 30,000 US-based software users revealed that employees are more productive on specific days, and at different times. It found the average worker starts work at 8:32 a.m. and ends work at 5:38 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the most productive days, in order, with Friday the least productive day, followed by Monday.

Meanwhile, many destinations are having to think outside the box to get people to visit them. These range from virtual reality tours such as in the Faroe Islands to recent initiatives by countries such as Estonia and Barbados who are offering a special visa for nomad workers.

The thinking is that while quarantines still exist in many countries around the world, then a short trip is just not worth the effort. Much better to go away for longer and use the time to immerse yourself into a culture or destination. Or maybe go and visit friends or relatives for an extended period while continuing to work.

Barbados has unveiled a new 12-month work visa, the Barbados Welcome Stamp, which would allow visitors to spend up to a year on the island while working remotely. The idea is to encourage more visitors with the visa allowing people "to come and work from here overseas, digitally, so that persons don't need to remain in their countries", said Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. "You can come here and work for a couple of months at a time; go back and come back," she added.

The idea of spending months at a time in Barbados while continuing to work is certainly appealing. It will also attract much needed revenue to the island which, according to WTTC, traditionally has received 31% of its GDP from travel and tourism.

Tourists arriving in Barbados from high risk countries will be tested for Covid-19 and told to self-isolate (at their own cost) for 72 hours while waiting for the results. Travellers arriving from low risk countries (with less than 100 cases in the past week) can take the test up to a week before departure.

Estonia, the birthplace of the Skype digital telecommunications platform, is another fast-thinking country that has announced a digital nomad visa. The visa is aimed at attracting people who can work remotely for their current company while spending money locally in Estonia and not taking work away from the locals. It is likely to be rolled out during the coming months and expected to offer up to 1,800 nomad visa opportunities each valid for up to one year.

Freelancers have always been able to work in any location with a number of countries actively encouraging them, but these two initiatives are seen as the first to offer nomad visas to people who are employed by a single company.

So, if you are footloose and fancy free, then maybe spending up to a year in either country could be an attractive option depending on where your company is based. It's likely that more destinations will see this as an innovative way of encouraging more visitors and it would certainly help to make the work day more interesting.