🌍 The unlikely Bulgarian nomad hotspot

Good Morning,

We had a great time in Denver last week with @workfromdenver and crew. No surprise to hear the enthusiasm people have for working remotely and their steadfast desire to keep location flexibility in their careers.

It was one of the best examples I’ve seen of community building specifically for remote workers, and I’m sure there will be many more examples of like-minded initiatives all over the country in the near future.

📣 This tech worker is “loud quitting” after an RTO mandate. An anonymous tech worker is dismayed at their company’s decisions, most notably the requirement to be in an office again after being successful while remote for years.

This employee openly speaks up against company policies while other employees aren’t able to. Others don’t have the experience or job security to do so comfortably, or might be dependent on work visas provided by the company. I’m betting these voices will become louder and more frequent as RTO mandates prove to be useless and bad for morale. (Insider)

🇵🇹 Portugal is ending its golden visa program for foreign property buyers. In the past several years, Portugal has skyrocketed in popularity among digital nomads, partially due to its favorable tax rules for international citizens. But similar to other digital nomad hotspots - like Mexico City, for example - locals have not taken kindly to the influx of foreigners, and argue that they have an overall negative effect on the native populations. A “housing crisis” in Portugal seems to be the final straw for the country, leading to the dissolution of the popular foreign tax incentive beginning in 2024. (Bloomberg)

🇧🇬 An unlikely city in Bulgaria, however, has become a digital nomad hub. Bansko hosts an event called Bansko Nomad Fest, which has drawn both temporary and permanent nomads to the 10,000-person city.

While situated at the base of a mountain range instead of a beach, the benefits that Bansko nomads cite are appealing to many: easy access to skiing or other outdoor activities year-round, fast Wi-Fi, low cost of living, and some of Europe’s lowest personal and corporate tax rates. (BBC)

📦 Amazon admits its RTO policy has been flawed. 30,000 employees signed a petition against the initial RTO announcement, which came less than 6 months after CEO Andy Jassy said there were no plans to force staff to return to offices.

But most recently, executives say this relocation policy - irrationally impacting engineers who have historically always worked remotely - has been difficult to manage and will take another few years to fully complete.

This is just another chapter in the Amazon saga that proves trying to enforce an office mandate broadly is a bad idea for morale and retention. (Fortune)

🔄 A sneak peek into the future: office conversion to apartments. 160 Water Street in NYC used to be an office building, but is being turned into an apartment building with a full set of amenities. Gensler and Vanbarton Group are taking into consideration that many Americans want access to “third spaces,” which are places other than homes or offices where they can congregate.

With amenities like a bowling alley, sports-simulation room, a gym, and a kids’ room all in the 588-unit building, it looks like the sky is the limit when repurposing old office buildings, as the demand for office space continues to drop. (Insider)

📉 As of last week: office attendance is still no match for half-empty buildings. A post-Labor Day bump in office attendance led to the highest levels seen since 2020. But those numbers are still half of what they were in 2019.

Business leaders across the US aren’t anticipating much more growth in office attendance. And with factors like rising homelessness and crime in major cities, pushback to RTO mandates, and expected rises in Covid-19 this fall and winter, it’s unlikely office attendance will rise past current levels. (Wall Street Journal)

🛑 The fight against remote work needs to end. Flexible work and remote work have proven to be exceptionally viable, and employees know it. Further, RTO mandates have proven time and time again to aggravate employees.

Despite the many personal and professional reasons company leaders may want to return to the office, there are important lessons to be learned from the office policies enacted since 2020: employees don’t want to return to the office full-time, and the companies who allow flexible work will see measurable benefits in retention, growth, and productivity. (US News)

Colorado has always been a hotbed for remote work, and last week it was revealed to be the state with the highest percentage of remote workers - which might not be a surprise to many. After all, if you can choose anywhere to live, why not within driving distance of an incredible mountain range?

But for those of you who aren’t in Denver: where have you found community? Who else across the country is putting on incredible events for remote workers? I’d love to hear from you so we can highlight more remote community builders in the future.

Cheers,
Grant