#remote work

#remote work

For industries built on rigid schedules and office walls, Gen Z's flight toward flexibility isn't just a trend; it's a tectonic shift that threatens to leave traditional careers gathering dust. It's no secret that Gen Z is shaking up the workforce with their unique perspective on work, life, and everything in between. From their preference for digital interactions to their demand for work-life balance, this generation is steering away from careers that once seemed stable and go-to options.

As more retirees turn to remote work for flexible income, a growing slate of online gigs is proving that experience can be just as valuable as a résumé full of buzzwords. Retirement used to mean sitting on the porch and watching the world go by, but things have certainly changed in the last few years. Many seniors are finding that a little extra work keeps the mind sharp and the bank account happy, without the need for a stiff suit or a morning commute.

By the end of October, David, who works at a roughly 2,000-person finance firm in New York, already knew he'd be working during the holiday season this year. Usually at the office, he learned he'd at least get to work remotely between December 26 and January 1-with the way the financial calendar fell, it was inevitable that he couldn't just disappear for clients (like institutional investors and family offices) during that time.

Americans are no longer just dreaming about living in Italy-they're actually doing it, and remote work is the main reason they can. As political fatigue, housing costs, and burnout continue to rise across the United States, more U.S. workers are turning to their laptops as a one-way ticket to a different lifestyle. Italy, long known for its food, architecture, and slow-living culture, has now become one of the fastest-growing "escape destinations" for Americans with remote jobs.

When freelance writer Sam Hindman sits down to work for a few hours on Sundays, she knows it will be quiet. There will be no pings and requests from her clients, no rush to meet an EOD deadline, and no scrambling. While logging hours on the weekend is typically more associated with overwork than freedom, Hindman says that locking in on a Sunday feels like liberation.

If you've walked away from an awkward or uncomfortable interaction at the office wondering what happened to good manners, you aren't wrong in thinking nobody knows how to behave at work any more. Years after remote work became prevalent during the pandemic - and under hybrid arrangements that have permitted employees to continue working from home since - the workplace has become far less formal, and less attuned to the often unwritten rules of modern workplace behavior.

Despite the ways in which its forced some uncomfortable adjustment, it's ultimately allowed for a more work-life balance, with the scale slightly tipping more towards life for many. In fact, the "microshifting" trend that's recently surfaced on social media, which references the idea of breaking up your work day into shorter blocks of time so that real-life responsibilities can be squeezed in, proves that with the right kind of strategy, there's always time to do it all.

Between March 2020 and March 2023, appreciated 36.1% in rural areas, more than doubling their rate of growth in the preceding three-year period, according to analysis conducted by researchers at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. In areas with high percentages of seasonal second homes and vacation properties, the surge was even more pronounced at 46.8%, rising from 17.4% from 2016 to 2019, a new working paper by Harvard JCHS' Alexander Hermann and Peyton Whitney finds. Alongside the appeal of nearby natural attractions, such as lakes and mountains, the communities also offer robust infrastructure aimed at supporting traffic flows brought by the tourism industry.

The answer depends on how your home and office are set up and what kind of connection you need. Wi-Fi routers are so good these days that a single access point is often the most straightforward solution. But if you have a larger home or your office is located far away from your router, a mesh network could be a game-changer, boosting the signal no matter where you are.