🌍 South Africa's remote work visa

Good Morning,

Adam Grant recently shared a study on X that found government workers were 28% more productive while working from home than they were in their office:

While the RTO headlines will surely continue to make waves, I’m confident that over time we’ll see more and more of these studies with legitimate data that validates the impact of remote work.

And I’d bet even more executives will start promoting their remote-first policies.

Also — big THANK YOU to everyone who shared their feedback in last week’s survey. If you didn’t fill it out, but would like to share what you want to see more or less of in this newsletter, you can still share your thoughts here: Fall 2024 Survey.

Remote Source Job Board

Featured companies:

Included Health: 114 remote jobs
Asana: 55 remote jobs
Burq: 10 remote jobs

🤝 Find Remote Jobs Here

Need to Know

🎵 Spotify reaffirms remote policy
Amid other major tech companies insisting on a return to office, Spotify is making it clear they are keeping their remote policy firmly in place.

In recent years, Spotify said they gained a lot from remote work, with substantially lower attrition rates and greater access to talent.

They do have offices and events that they encourage employees to join in person for, but overall they want employees’ flexibility to be a top priority. (Fortune)

👩🏻‍💻 Digital nomads helping Latin American cities
There have been plenty of reports that digital nomads have changed cities they inhabit, typically to the chagrin of longtime residents. And in many cases I’m sure those views are warranted.

But this article shares some of the upsides that cities have experienced as a result of digital nomads and their ability to work from new places. For example, in Medellin, remote workers spend almost 3X more on a monthly basis than other residents, providing a clear economic boost.

Further, bringing highly skilled workers is a great way to ensure that innovation grows, whether in the form of starting businesses, growing businesses, or simply bringing outside perspectives to a region. (The Economist)

🤦🏻‍♂️ Dell forces RTO for sales teams
In another boneheaded office policy announcement, Dell decided it’s forcing its sales teams to work in-office five days per week, effective immediately.

Earlier this year, Dell said anyone who stayed remote would not be eligible for promotions. Unfortunately for Dell, a surprisingly high percentage of remote employees decided to stay remote and opt out of promotions.

I guess Dell decided it needed to try a different enforcement strategy, simply requiring sales reps to be in office every day. Lots of employees impacted by this are parents who are now scrambling to figure out childcare and their kids’ school commutes, and they don’t feel like they’re getting any sympathy from the company. (Parents at AWS had similar reactions as seen on internal Slack channels.)

Plus, apparently their offices are crowded now, making it difficult for people to work effectively.

Sales — especially in tech — is one of the categories of jobs that is most obviously able to be done remotely. Can’t imagine this will be good for company morale. (Business Insider)

📈 Employment for older disabled people increased
Remote work gives companies access to talent all over the world, and in turn, it also gives individuals a wider selection of employment opportunities to choose from.

This is especially beneficial for employees with disabilities, and it turns out that older individuals with disabilities have specifically seen a big boost in employment in the age of remote work.

While there are factors other than remote work that could be contributing to these trends, the authors accounted for those and concluded with confidence that remote work is a primary cause of the increase in these rates.

In the tight labor market we’re living through, it’s great to see more job opportunities for those who are already fighting an uphill battle to be employed. (MarketWatch)

👨🏻‍💼 Executives at odds with WFH research
While many studies have shown that remote and hybrid work generally benefit companies, executives seem to continue to ignore these findings. Why is that?

To begin with, many of these leaders have worked in offices their whole careers. It’s what they know best, and it worked for them. They didn’t make the decision to go remote during the pandemic, and they feel like they can revert back to their “normal” now.

Also, CEOs don’t typically measure the impact that remote work specifically has on various initiatives. It would be easier for them to justify one way or another if remote work’s impact (aside from employee satisfaction and retention) was easy to define and measure.

Plus, as one former Google talent executive said, “Leadership is a lot less fulfilling and a lot less fun when you’re doing it remotely.” (New York Times)

Stuff We Like

🤝 The best leadership advice: give autonomy
More Adam Grant content for you: he and many other studies have found that all successful leaders — no matter their management styles — consistently offer their employees autonomy.

And of course, this article points out that return-to-office mandates such as Amazon’s are a perfect example of how not to give your employees autonomy. (Inc.)

✈️ WiFi Tribe: Global Coliving
Stumbled upon this organization last week. While it’s not necessarily unique, it seems like it’s one of the more popular work + travel programs that cater specifically to remote workers. PS: do any readers have experience with similar programs that they’d recommend to others? (WiFi Tribe)

🌍 New remote work visa: South Africa
In a move designed to boost a struggling economy, South Africa is launching a new visa program to attract foreign workers, similar to what other countries around the world have started offering in recent years.

The process should be faster and simpler to navigate than before, and only requires an annual income of $36,894 to qualify.

They hope to bring more investment and tourism to the country, resulting in thousands more jobs for South Africans. (Bloomberg)