Digital Nomads: The Future of Work

Digital Nomads

Digital nomads are individuals who travel autonomously while engaging in remote employment facilitated by technology and the internet (Ahlberg and Stenström, 2021). Although this kind of working style emerged several years ago, it started to grow popular in the past decade benefited from cloud technology, project management, and communication platforms (Reichenberger, 2017). Currently, it is estimated that 35 million people are working remotely, or in the so-called digital nomads in various parts of the world and remotely add billions of dollars to global GDP.

Important Facts

Source: (Ploscaru, 2024)

Growth in Numbers: The digital nomad population has also been gradually rising in America, growing by 49% in a single year in 2020, to reach 17.3 million in 2024. This number has continued to rise, backed up by companies providing more remote working opportunities (Pumble, 2023).

Global Economic Impact: With currently paying for housing, food, transportation, and tourism, freelance sellers generate nearly $787 billion a year to the global economy (World Bank, 2021). 

Source: (Conchada, 2023)

Diverse Demographics: The concept of being a digital nomad attracts the new generation of employees, those that are self-employed, freelancers, developers, marketers, and consultants.  Significant number of them are Millennials and Gen Z employees, who lean more towards the flexible working model focused on experience rather than standard working hours. 

The Future of Work: What Lies Ahead for Digital Nomads?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into remote work, shared offices and remote work centers for digital nomads appeared. Some of the most favorite destinations for the nomads are Bali, Lisbon, and Medellín the main reasons being cheap cost of living, internet connectivity, abundance of co-working spaces. It turns into possibilities for positive change, including increasing organization’s flexibility and individuals’ satisfaction; it also has its disadvantages, like burnout and isolation (Kozak, Cetin and Alrawadieh, 2024). Corporations require the formulation of suitable flexible working policies to allow employees freedom to leave work while retaining efficiency (Jiwasiddi et al., 2024). It becomes clear that governments of various countries see great opportunities for themselves in attracting digital nomads (Bassyiouny and Wilkesmann, 2023). Estonia, Croatia, and Portugal are some of the countries that have developed the digital nomad visa meaning that remote workers can stay and work for longer periods. These polices are in place to encourage people like myself and others to invest money into local economies and be able to work remotely without taking jobs away from locals.

Flexible and Digital Future

The presence and increased prominence of digital nomads means that there is a new reality under which work changes for the future. Companies can also derive flexibility, remote collaboration, and tools as new standards that put pressure on more conventional work patterns (Van Zoonen et al., 2021). With this trend already in action, one can only expect new policies and opportunities, and more importantly innovations, relevant to a more flexible and non-traditional working. Digital nomadism gives workers one of the most flexible working conditions possible – they get to work from anywhere in the world but at the same time, it implies a certain planning and the assessment of the risks associated with such flexibility (Demaj, Hasimja and Rahimi, 2021). Looking at the employment picture several years ahead digital nomads are paving the way in a much larger shift toward a more flexible work force (Dunn, Munoz and Jarrahi, 2023).