Working Remotely: What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Jobs In Europe

Many people nowadays strive to find ways in which they can work from home, whether it's as a freelance writer, an independent sales representative, an online English language teacher or a virtual P.A, the number of people trying to find remote jobs in Europe is on the rise.

High speed internet and a shift to focusing on work-life balance are major reasons as to how and why people are moving towards working remote jobs. It's becoming increasingly more accessible for us to find avenues to work in this way and according to a survey by Code Submit, remote work has increased by 91% in the past 10 years.

Advantages of Remote Jobs

Freedom To Work Where You Want, When You Want!

All you really need when working remotely is a decent computer and access to high speed internet. So if you have (or desire to have) an on the go, traveling lifestyle, then this kind of work could be ideal for you.
According to study by After College, 68% of millennials stated that they would prefer the employer who can give them an option to work remotely.

Freelancing allows us to do a wide range of jobs, from video/audio editing, language translation work, website management, content writing and a great deal of other kinds of miscellaneous jobs. There are lots of websites such as Upwork and People per hour are great resources for freelancers to utilize when looking for work. Also, there are tons of successful freelance stories on the Internet that are inspiring and provide great tips for newbies.

Establishing a strong online presence helps bring you to the attention of individuals and companies who need your skills and can help you to work anywhere, anytime you please. Working remotely means you don’t even have to be in the same country as your colleagues or company so can spend your days travelling around Europe seeing the cathedral of Cologne and the mountains in Bled, to the secret fort cove in Valletta, check out this article for the awesome places to live and travel in Europe and a big advantage of working remotely will be clear to you!

Find A Job That Gives Time To Spend With Your Family Or On Your Hobbies!

It's no secret that most full-time workers experience difficulties in balancing work and hobbies, the 9-5 working day in between commuting to and from work means many people simply don't have enough time to spend on things they love whether it be their own hobbies or even time with their kids.

“For a lot of people it really is a perpetual cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat.  While this lifestyle is suited and even therapeutic for some people, for others it may be strenuous and unfulfilling,” says David M. Maldonado, a freelancer at Resumention.

So if you have other hobbies that you find you haven't got the time for and its causing discontentment in your life, what can you do about it? Just wait until you’re 65 to get the freedom you want? You could…Or alternatively you could… 

Advantages of Remote Work For EMPLOYERS

Let´s say your working from home and want to complete 8 hours of work today, that extra 30 minutes to an hour community to and from work is suddenly yours to do what you want. Spend time with your kids or take them to school? Take the dogs out? Relax with a nice breakfast or a morning swim? Whatever you want!

Aside from this extra time, you can make your own schedule, are you a night owl or maybe prefer working in the morning? Work when it suits you! There is so much research out there on how to help employees get over the midday/afternoon slump but the solution is simple for many - go do something else and work when your refreshed and energized! This will not work in every industry but for many, a free and open schedule can make people happier and more productive! Many bosses care for their employees but ALL of them care about productivity. If your employees are in a job where they don´t NEED to be in the office for 8 or 9 hours a day, why not give them the freedom to make their own schedule? In industries such as writing for example, it can help improve the quality of articles because we need to feel comfortable and in a place that promotes creativity, sitting in the office isn´t always great for this.

More Advantages For Employers Who Allow Remote Work

As stated earlier, many employees will choose the company that allows remote work over the one that doesn´t. It can be difficult for some companies to adjust to as if the employees aren´t in front of me at their desks typing and making calls...how do you know they´re working? But this is a very old fashioned victorian way of thinking and companies who strictly stick to this will struggle to attract great talent (and struggle to keep hold of the ones they have). Benefits to employee retention and a reduced labour turnover are well-known to any manager worth their salt. Do you really want to have so much time wasted every few months training and retraining new hires and losing the employees whose skills you have helped to develop? Of course not!

So GIVE employees the freedom they need, sure some won´t be able to handle it and it won´t be appropriate for them, you can assess this easily by the quality of work they produce. For employees who can work with minimal to no supervision, remote work can really help them flourish and therefore help your company to grow. SO IMPLEMENT THIS IN YOUR COMPANY TODAY AND REAP THE BENEFITS!

Make a Living Doing What You Love!

It's never been easier for people in fields such as writing and IT to live their dreams by getting to spend their 'work' time doing what they truly enjoy. But this also requires some dedication, as there are many writers out there also seeking this type of employment, therefore, it's essential to improve your skills as a writer, for example, using resources such as State Of Writing or Academized which can assist writers in gaining more insight to the language, the writing industry and improve their writing ability.
So you’re interested in escaping the office and working from home but wondering how best to do it? Go check out a quick but instructive 5 minute read on the best ways to get yourself a remote job! 

Disadvantages of Remote Jobs

Unsteady Income

There may be days where your workload is enormous and you're spoiled for choice between assignments. Sadly, the opposite is also true, if you don’t have a contract with a fixed amount of weekly or monthly work, you may also have times where the flow of work is less of a rushing river and more of a slow, slithering stream. This is why it's important to have a competitive standard of work.

If you are a solo, lone-wolf this can be manageable, but for those with co-dependents and family members relying on your income, this is certainly not ideal at all.  
Ways for writers to ensure that they have a more steady income is maintaining quality in their work. Some writers require proofreading to tackle this issue. Australian Help and Paper Fellows have both been highly reviewed for proofreading and editing work for writers.  

Issues with Payment Security

While it is certainly frowned upon in the remote, freelance work industry for employers to withhold payment for completed work, it certainly isn't unheard of for them to take their time with paying due salaries and in some cases, not paying at all! This is especially common while working 'On Spec'. This term is short for 'speculative work', in this case clients opt to see completed works before agreeing to pay. This can mean that writers and other types of freelancers can get the short end of the stick and have their time wasted, with no reward at all after that hard work.  

Lack of Benefits In Comparison To 'Ordinary Employment'

“Despite the benefits of remote work, those who work remotely rarely, if ever, receive any of the perks that come with full-time, on site employment. It's not common for part-time workers of this kind to receive free health checks, weekends and public holidays off, and a number of paid holidays per year,” says George M. Boren, a freelance writer at Big Assignments. 

The “perks” mentioned above may be menial for some people, but for those with families and co-dependents, the security, order and comfort attached to those things may be of a much greater significance.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has highlighted the reality of some of the advantages and disadvantages of remote work to help you make a more informed decision on whether or not this type of work is suited to you. Thanks to Brenda Berg for sharing her experience with us! Brenda is an experienced consultant for students and entrepreneurs alike if you’re interested in seeing more of Brenda’s advice & experience head over to her blog at Letsgoandlearn.com.

Don’t forget, if you want tips on how to get a remote job for yourself to check out our article 5 Tips To Successfully Score A Remote Job! So register with ELJ now and find yourself a remote job! We´re also interested in your experiences! let us know the advantages or disadvantages of remote work in your experience!