Best places to work remotely + Ireland's €15.4 mn investment in remote! 💪
In a first of its kind, the Irish government has announced that it will invest €15.4 million in 147 rural towns & villages it has identified with the primary purpose of making these places amenable to remote working. Given the massive shift to remote over the past year, this gives a huge leverage to Ireland and makes it one of the best places to work remotely.
Irish government realises that remote work is a permanent trend and that remote workers want to move away from crowded cities to affordable towns with a lower cost of living. At the same time, it also understands that just the desire to relocate to towns & villages isn't sufficient, there's also the need to improve public infrastructure & other facilities in these towns.
What exactly will the funding be used for?
- Building & improving public infrastructure like walkways, community parks, cinemas, broadband access & other amenities. This will elevate the standard of living at such places making them a favourable choice for remote workers moving out of large cities.
- Development of remote work specific facilities like renovation & conversion of vacant buildings into digital hubs and changes to local community centres to provide for remote working & e-learning facilities.
Other countries taking steps towards becoming the best places to work remotely
Many countries offered remote work visas in 2020 & many more will in 2021.
2020 - Year of remote work in review
— Hrishikesh Pardeshi (@hrishiptweets) December 21, 2020
Countries that offered remote work visas this year:
- Antigua & Barbuda
- UAE (Dubai)
- Barbados
- Germany
- Bermuda
- Portugal
- Georgia
- Estonia
Notice a trend for 2021?
At the same time, there are many existing & new programs that attract remote workers.
Local governments must offer incentives to attract remote workers!
— Hrishikesh Pardeshi (@hrishiptweets) December 2, 2020
Programs already existing:
⚡️ Japan: $9000 to move to countryside
⚡️ Tulsa Remote: $10000
⚡️ Remote Shoals: $10000
⚡️ Live in Vermont: $10000
⚡️ Georgia: $2500
What's stopping others from doing this?
But unless these countries & cities don't combine this effort with an equal or more spending & effort on improving their public infrastructure & providing for remote work specific facilities, it won't stand as a long-term solution. In fact, it will just bring in bad publicity & discourage people from applying in future.
Trend to watch out for in 2021
(Link to the complete list of travel trends).
After the changes in the state of work in 2020, 2021 is a crucial & deciding year for local governments & policymakers aiming to attract remote workers. There's a definite motivation for individuals to move away from crowded, expensive places.
An excellent testimony to this is the recent data revealed about the applications to Finland's 90-day remote work program. It received 3500+ applicants in its very first batch which had a majority of people from US, Canada & UK.
We will surely see more such announcements about programs this year but only time will tell how many of those survive or are successful in the longer run. Meanwhile, rest assured that you will be getting the latest updates about them here (😎) and enjoy this amazing post about travel trends by Ashley (if you haven't read it already).