On #remotework as a privilege, COVID-19, Bali & the Indonesians

Over the last decades, new technologies and globalization have triggered a massive shift in how ‘work’ works. One of those notable changes is that, in many cases, work no longer needs to happen at or from an office. It’s something you do, not a place you go to.

Given this new reality, remote work skills are becoming exponentially more relevant each year, with countless (well-paid) jobs now being performed exclusively online. Employers from all over the world welcome and drive the change due to lower overheads and, more recently, health & safety concerns like the rapid spread of the novel Coronavirus.

In these uncertain times, remote work is emerging as equally a necessity, as well as a super-power.

I’ve worked remotely (for at least a part of the year) for the last 8 years, and moved to Bali 5 years ago. Like many others, I quickly fell in love with this gorgeous island and its very special people.

Since I first arrived here, Bali has become a huge hot-spot for digital nomads, remote workers, freelancers and location independent entrepreneurs, who take advantage of all these new ways of working and live as they please thousands of kilometres away from their employees, partners, clients or providers.

They get to surf and have a tropical smoothie before plugging in for a few hours of productive work from a coworking space, their villa or a cafe; then easily squeeze in a yoga/gym session and end their day watching the sunset over power bowls and inspiring conversations on the beach.

Sounds great? It is great.

An interesting, paradoxical realization started to nag me a while ago.

At the same time and around the very same epicenter of the work revolution described above, many of the Indonesians and Balinese around us are left behind. They work long, inflexible hours, 6-day weeks, and depend on largely hospitality-based, low-paid, often seasonal jobs that fail to offer a high quality of life. And above everything else, these jobs are incredibly vulnerable to the whims of the tourism industry. Three years ago, it was Mount Agung that erupted, and caused lots of temporary layoffs. Before that, it was the threat of terrorism; a few other times, earthquakes and potential tsunamis. And these days, it’s the COVID19 pandemic.

So, how do we ensure they, too, have the opportunity to step into the future of work together with the many foreigners they host on their island? How does one acquire these ‘special’ remote work skills, which are not usually taught at schools or universities?

At Livit, we have been recruiting for remote jobs, building highly successful remote teams and working remotely ourselves for the last decade. And, along the way, we’ve learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t. We’re now ready to share that knowledge.

So, the Remote Skills Academy was born, a social impact program where Indonesians can become certified remote workers.

The first installment (a pilot course) took place in April 2020. We aimed to have 15 participants and did not do a lot of marketing. We had 20, and signups were still coming in when we closed the applications.

We’ve joined forces with a number of great mentors and guest speakers and delivered sessions on a variety of topics such as: how to manage inboxes and calendars, create presentations & slideshows, manage social media accounts as well as produce and plan content for them, the basics of digital project management, negotiation, personal branding, newsletters & many more.

The plan is to continue sharing our best strategies and techniques to help build and sharpen remote work skills and we’re planning for the next, more offering intake, for June.

If you:

• know anyone interested or who could benefit
• would like to contribute: speak/teach, sponsor a participant, have a brilliant idea on how to improve this initiative,

ping me at lavinia@liv.it and let’s make it happen :)