Work from anywhere (WFA) is a flexible approach to working, where a company or organization empowers their employees to work productively and autonomously from anywhere, while remaining aligned and connected with company culture and goals.
This could be at home, in an office, from a coffee shop, on a train, in a co-working space, at a hotel…you get the idea.
Rather than focus on the literal definition of working from anywhere though, perhaps it’s more productive to focus on WFA as a concept. Having the ability to work from anywhere means having the tools, resources, technology, and flexibility at your disposal to set up your workspace and be productive at a location that is right for the task at hand. This is a notable departure from working traditions of old where it was believed that employees could only be productive in an office space.
WFA pushes back on the notion that work is a place you go and instead implies that it is a thing you do. The beauty of this is when work isn’t tethered to a single location, organizations can harness the power of environments geared towards productivity, collaboration and innovation – rather than waste precious time reinforcing arbitrary rules which can be limiting to growth.
Work From Anywhere vs Remote Work
So, work from anywhere and remote working ate the same thing, right?
Well, yes. Kind of. But the concept of work from anywhere is more than just a flexible working arrangement.
When the pandemic hit everyone like a bolt of lightning out of the blue, one thing became abundantly clear: lots of organizations weren’t prepared for a full-scale shift to remote work. Definitive, consistent policies and procedures weren’t in place, employees didn’t know how to work effectively away from the workplace, and the right technology wasn’t in place to facilitate productivity and collaboration.
Work from anywhere is a company-wide commitment to the notion that some or all employees can work effectively from anywhere. It is not a flexible working arrangement agreed on a case by case basis, but a normal way of working. And for that to be achieved, organizations need the right infrastructure in place to support WFA employees in being productive, collaborative, autonomous, connected and happy within it.
