“Workation”: Working in paradise
Working remotely from paradise still sounds like an unrealistic dream for some employees in Germany. But the pandemic has significantly and permanently changed the way of working in Germany. During the lockdown, numerous companies were forced to digitize their workflows to enable working from home offices. For some employees, this now allows the fulfillment of a long-awaited dream – working under palm trees on the beach. The prospect of workation, a hybrid of work and vacation, is more realistic today than ever.
For employees, this way of working can have some advantages, as Career Bible explains. For example, the “vacation environment” promotes creativity (new and exciting places to work provide new ideas and can break old patterns), satisfaction (moving to a different location can improve satisfaction with work and one’s life situation) and flexibility (workation usually enables temporal and local independence). However, it must be borne in mind that this concept is not possible for every employee in every profession. Accordingly, the target group here is primarily limited to professionals who can only provide their services digitally, for example bloggers, designers, programmers, copywriters or translators.
organization and planning
However, anyone who considers the concept of workation should also bring some important qualities with them. Accordingly, one should be disciplined enough to be able to motivate oneself to work even in a paradisiacal holiday environment. Furthermore, working from a remote location requires clear agreements, good organization and good communication skills. It also takes the right amount of courage and self-confidence to take such a step.
Anyone who believes that the concept can be implemented must first plan and organize a few things. First of all, the project should be discussed with the employer, for example, who – if necessary – must give their approval. In addition, the financing should also be planned and organized precisely. Once you have chosen your location, you also need to organize the right visa that allows you to work in the respective country.
How to find the right location
But how do you find the right location? The digital learning platform Preply analyzed a total of 74 cities worldwide for ten factors in the three categories “quality of life”, “climate and environment” and “costs and security” in order to pursue this question. For example, security, i.e. the human rights situation at the site in question, is particularly important. It is also important that the cost of living and housing costs are affordable. The next thing to consider when choosing the right location is your own biorhythm. This determines that you are more active when it is light and more tired when it is dark. According to this, you can pursue your job most productively in places with many sunny days and hours. The outside temperature also plays a similar role. For example, the ideal temperature for working is 22 degrees Celsius. You should also consider the language barrier. For example, if you do not speak the national language of the location in question and cannot expect German to be spoken there, you should find out what the English skills are like there. However, if you want to further your education, you can also use the time on site to learn the local language.
The top ten cities overall in the Preply analysis were (in descending order): Reykjavik (Iceland), Ottawa (Canada), Auckland (New Zealand), Vienna (Austria), Helsinki (Finland), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Taipei (Taiwan), Nicosia (Cyprus), Lisbon (Portugal) and Brisbane (Australia).
E. Schmal / Editor finanzen.net
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