“We’re in Norway today, in the fjords.” For the past year, Augustin Delaporte has been the epitome of a fashionable category of workers: the “digital nomads,” who carry out their duties 100% remotely when their jobs allow it. In fact, the 34-year-old father of two has taken the term “nomad” literally, living in an RV with his partner and young children, changing base camp every week.
The rules are simple. From Monday to Friday, settle down in a campsite with high-speed internet to do your seven hours of work a day, visit the region and move around on weekends, prioritizing wilderness camping, and then do it again the following week, somewhere else.
“In August 2021, my wife was on maternal leave and, since I was already working remotely, there was nothing keeping us in Paris. We sold our home and hit the road for an indefinite period of time,” said the vice president of product at Platform.sh, a company that specializes in creating internet applications. In this way, the family has already visited Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands.
In any case, the company does not give its employees any choice. Apart from its tiny headquarters in Paris, everyone works from behind their own personal screens at home. It is precisely thanks to this that the big start-up has succeeded in attracting all of its 370 current employees. In search of total flexibility, the workers are therefore “distributed” throughout the world.
Prioritizing personal life
Far from being a sacrifice, the lifestyle simply reflects a willingness to prioritize personal life. “The relationships we are building as a family are pretty incredible,” said the executive. “We miss our friends, but it was important for us to spend that time with our kids before they start school. We’re going to limit that to two years. We’re getting a taste of things that we like so much. We’ve gained in purchasing power and in quality of life compared to in Paris.”
Mr. Delaporte does recognize that the feeling of solitude at work is never far away in such conditions and that virtual events are no substitute for in-person communications. “We can never replace a coffee break with a video. Of course, we do it, we talk about other things, we’re very connected on different channels… But we’re not fooling ourselves. These are trade-offs, we gain a lot from having that independence.”
Sharing moments in real life with work colleagues has not disappeared. Taking advantage of a map that shows where “platformers” are around the world, Mr. Delaporte has made a few connections to spend a day working face-to-face with several fellow employees. “There are already four countries I’ve done this in, our route is based on that. More and more employees are expressing a desire to physically meet up with their colleagues.”
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