Having a clear and well-thought-out digital nomad policy in your company is a great way of ensuring that your remote employees are happy and that your company doesn’t run into any issues. But how can you make that happen? Here are some tips and guidelines for the best nomad policy for your company.
Schedules and time
One of the first things you need to iron out is when you expect your remote workers to be reachable. Some companies have asked their location-independent workers to remain in certain time zones so that the time difference wouldn’t be too stark. This might not, however, be everyone’s cup of tea, since it can dramatically limit the countries that digital nomads can visit.
Another solution is to have some “core hours” that everyone needs to attend in person or online, with the rest of the schedule being more flexible. This way, remote workers can schedule their days accordingly and don’t have to either sacrifice the destinations they travel to or their sleeping schedule.
You should also consider the nature of the work itself. IT, copywriters, and other workers can finish their projects more or less on their own schedule with only a few meetings a week that will keep them informed about the overall direction of the project. But teachers, HR workers, and managers need to be more hands-on and available during normal working hours. It’s always good to communicate with digital nomads separately to reach a compromise both parties agree on.
Networks and communication
A key problem in long-distance work is the access to files and the company network as well as communication and management. All can be solved using modern technologies. File access needs to be done through a cloud or a secure server. Remote employees need to always connect through a secure VPN connection and there need to be clear safety measures in place to prevent any data leaks.
On the communication side of things, there are tons of tools to help you out. There are online management tools like Freelo, Trello, or Slack and most of them allow not just clear division of work but also direct messaging. Be prepared for a certain amount of lag between your various departments but if you have a good policy for time zones, the communication should flow just as smoothly as it would between two departments.
Legal issues
Your location-independent employee may work in countries whose tax laws and administration may apply not just to the worker but to your company as well. It’s good to review most countries and see what their international worker policies are.
A good tip for companies can be a complete ban on certain countries due to their tax laws. Digital nomads may travel to many different locations, so if you’re not sure you looked into everything, ask them about their travel plans and discuss the legal situation with them.
Benefits
Your company probably provides all sorts of benefits for its employees but there is a good chance that your remote workers might not be able to enjoy them. If you want to attract digital nomads, having benefits they can actually use is a huge sign of an open and well-informed company.
These benefits can be anything from subscriptions for online courses, online vouchers for stores with international shipping, or healthcare that has a wide coverage. You might even find that your current full-time employees would prefer some of these over their current benefits.
