Working Remotely or Not Remotely Working?

Analyzing the Instagram portrayal

There are two ads on Instagram that are regularly served up to me. The first is a series of photos of a suspiciously attractive Millennial couple traveling the world and purportedly working remotely. The other is a POV shot of a laptop with a pristine beach scene directly behind it (think Corona commercial but with a laptop). I refuse to click into the ads for fear of altering the social media algorithms and instigating an onslaught of similar ads, but as best as I can tell they are selling the concept of remote work from anywhere for everyone. It’s as easy as pushing your chair away from your florescent lit cubicle desk and purchasing an open ended plane ticket.

I might at first seem an odd opponent to such ads. Three and a half years ago my wife and I rented our condo in Chicago, put all of our stuff into storage and set sail for warmer climes. When they began naming cold fronts like Hollywood movies “Polar Vortex”, “Bomb Cyclone” it felt like the right time to bring that 12 year chapter of our lives to a close. After a short stint in Panama we landed in Costa Rica. I surf nearly everyday. That’s not an exaggeration it’s just a reality where we live. I’ve worked with a view of the ocean over my laptop, and while we’re probably too old to be an influencer couple (it’s a darn successful post if I get 30 likes) we aren’t too hard on the eyes. So why do these ads rankle me so? Why the umbrage?

They are selling a fiction. Now hear me out, I worked in advertising for 10 years so I know first hand that fictitious ideals are the cornerstone of the ad industry, but this one hits close to home. Perhaps Italian chefs felt a similar twinge of disgust each time a Hot Pockets commercial aired in the 90’s. A microwavable “stromboli” filled with the worst of American flavor combinations — per favore no! So, yeah, these ads are kind of like that for me.

While the aforementioned beach laptop, surfy lifestyle vibes are possible the reality is much less Instagram’able. In order to do my job properly I need a Wacom tablet, large second monitor, laptop and monitor stand (posture, posture, posture) and external hard drive. All that stuff is not easily carted around town, not to mention the paltry hotel wifi speeds being divvied up amongst the vacationing tourists if I did want to pack it all up. I pay for high speed internet and require two providers at my rented apartment as an insurance plan against the regular internet service interruptions. I also have a backup battery to keep me online and functioning during the nearly daily power outages.

Hence, work occurs in a studio. Currently, that’s the 2nd bedroom of the apartment we rent. I have an ergonomic chair, desk and air conditioning. Broadcasting my tropical good fortune is met with ambivalence and/or jealousy. Clients — especially in the winter months — don’t generally take kindly to a video conference where one participant is wearing a tank top (or no shirt at all). I take care to keep the palm trees, glorious sun and beautiful flowers hidden and I always put on at least a tee.

Ever try casually swatting a mosquito while on a video call? The mosquitos here can carry Dengue Fever or what is colloquially called “Bone Breaking Disease”. It’s in your best interest to squash them before their filthy proboscis makes purchase with your skin. But try doing that without making it look like that’s what you’re doing. Better yet try explaining to the CEO of the start-up or Creative Director at the advertising agency you’re working for that their designer lives in a place where mosquitoes can send you to the ER. Spoiler alert, it leads to blank stares of wonderment about who they’ve contracted.

The few times a power outage or other issue have necessitated I take a call from outside my home, the results are always the same; everyone is distracted by the scenery and the meeting is less efficient. I leave that meeting wondering if I’m being professional. Am I presenting myself in the manner in which my passion, the creative calibre of my work and 19 years of experience should be seen?

Because I didn’t retire. I’m not on perpetual vacation. I’m enrolled nearly constantly in online professional development courses and I’m doing some of the best work of my life. I simply approached the idea of mid career from a different angle. I decided life was too short to spend 7 months of each year in a puffy coat popping Vitamin D pills like breath mints on a first date. There is no guarantee that I will ever know the pleasure of actual retirement, so I took control of my fate and am enjoying my life now, not in a hypothetical distant future.

That’s all well and good as a personal credo, but in my weaker moments — the moments I spend most of my day in — the issue I have with these ads, the “fiction”, comes from being self conscious about my own magical surroundings and good fortune. Just like a closeted, Republican law maker, I’m offended by exactly the thing that I am doing. When I see these ads I judge the people being depicted. I say to myself, they can’t possibly be doing very good work. How does he even see his screen with all that beach glare? Who would want to work with a couple more interested in passport stamps and selfies in far flung places than the work at hand? And inevitably the question arises, who would want to work with me? Why put up with potential radio silence due to technology or lack thereof? Why hire a designer 2 flights away when there are more than enough chomping at the bit in every coffee shop from the office to your home?

A reported 30% of Americans now perform at least part of their job remotely each week. Businesses across all industries are coming around to the the idea of an off-site workforce. They save money on office space, computers and benefits. Employees shorten the time they waste commuting, cut down on their carbon footprint, spend more time with their kids and possess a modicum of control over their daily routine like no other previous generation of employees have. This in turn leads to happier workers and increased productivity. How much time is wasted each day in the office with meetings, social media browsing, online shopping, water cooler chat and aimlessly looking out the window? These activities don’t happen or happen far, far less when working remotely. A remote employee doesn’t need to be there from a set time to a set time and therefore is less likely to do non-work related things to fill the day. An 8 hour day — on a really good day — contains maybe 5 hours of productivity. Working remotely either means less time spent each day to complete the same amount of work, or for the extra motivated, it means an increase in what is accomplished because all 8+ hours spent working were actually work.

For me this means working a few hours in the morning, taking a break, a few hours in the afternoon, taking a break and maybe again a few hours in the evening. Nighttime is boring in the jungle so I don’t mind at all working after dark. When the sun is out however I like to surf, walk our dog, enjoy a yoga class or that most glorious of adult taboos, take a nap! My schedule works for me and because of honest, upfront conversations with clients, it works with their schedule too.

But the vast majority of people working remotely aren’t doing so from the beach. They’re doing it from the comfort of their own home, co-working space or neighborhood coffee shop. By selling the fiction as solely having value if it checks off bucket list items it undermines the actual value of a flexible schedule and work environment. Worse, by only showing one form of remote work there is potential harm done to the ability of employees to negotiate these kinds of scenarios. If business owners, bosses and hiring managers are under the impression that “remote” is synonymous with “off playing”, they are going to be less likely to agree to and embrace this kind of work. In 2009 IBM boasted 40% of their employees worldwide were working remotely. In 2017 they mandated that thousands of off-site workers return to the office. Instagram wasn’t founded until 2010. Coincidence? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There are plenty of people in my town and across the globe doing just what I’m doing, but there are so many more working in unglamorous but equally respectable environments. I’d like to see advertisers pay homage to that demographic. How about an Instagram campaign with a web developer in his pajamas in Cleveland or a group of friends that created their own co-working space by renting a small storefront in Brooklyn? What about a single mom who no longer has to shell out a week’s pay for daycare or an animated infographic showing the positive effects a >50% remote workforce would have on the climate crisis. Remote employees and flexible offices are the future, let’s give credit to and welcome all of it’s wonderful forms. The beach is better without a laptop anyway.