Digital nomadism has seen a rise in popularity over the past few years. So, why are so many people turning to this lifestyle, how does it pose challenges to businesses, and how is the growing demand reshaping the global workforce? Let’s take a look.
Benefits and Challenges of Digital Nomadism
The key benefits of digital nomadism for the digital nomad themself is the ability to work from wherever they want, as long as they have connection to WiFi and a place to set up. As such, this allows people the opportunity to essentially travel continuously at their own pace, exploring new culture and diverse places, but in a way that allows them to earn some money throughout their travels without slowing them down. Further to this, digital nomads can save money by travelling to places that have a lower cost of living – it is proven to be cheaper to live in countries like Sweden, Spain, Costa Rica, or Brazil compared to the UK or the USA.
That said, the lifestyle can still pose its challenges – a lack of stability, finding it hard to find a work-life balance, and not having a place to call home. Similarly, digital nomadism poses challenges to employers, too, raising questions of physical office spaces, the difficulties of managing a global remote workforce, whether remote working is productive for the business and the industry in question, and certain financial complications of paying salaried employees living abroad.
Impact of Growing Demand
Wider access to more diverse information and the experience of travelling itself leads people to want to explore different cultures, not just on holiday, but through living there, too, and ultimately working from these locales. In fact, in the USA alone, which accounts for almost half of digital nomads worldwide, the popularity of digital nomadism more than doubled in just a few years, reaching 17.3 million digital nomads in 2023 – 10 million more than in 2019. It is almost no surprise, then, that this growing demand is shifting workplace dynamics, and placing more significance on remote working, flexibility, diversity, and cultural awareness.
This demand for exposure to different cultures is not only seen in the context of digital nomadism, but it can be seen throughout pop culture and in the entertainment industry, through TV shows, films, and even online casinos. Many of the popular online casino themes explore diverse cultures, riffing off the histories and beliefs of Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Mesoamerica with games like Cleopatra Grand, Titan Strike, and Dawn of the Incas, as well as the traditions of Asian and Celtic communities with Densho and Triple Irish. What this goes to show is that more and more consumers look to explore new cultures and have access to more diverse options in their work and home life.
Ireland offers a pathway to permanent residency through various immigration schemes. The most common route is the Stamp 4 permission, which grants non-European Economic Area (non-EEA) nationals the right to reside in Ireland on a long-term basis. Applicants typically need to meet specific criteria, such as having legally lived in the country for a specified period, before being eligible to apply for Ireland permanent residency. It’s advisable to check the latest immigration regulations and requirements with the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) for the most up-to-date information.
With this in mind, the desire to explore new cultures in whatever way, shape, or form doesn’t look to be slowing down – and, in turn with this, it will be likely to continue impacting workplaces of the future. Not only this, but as more people turn to digital nomadism, this could very well have a knock-on effect on urban planning and commercial real estate, as fewer people would need to commute or relocate to work, or even have a physical office. Overall, the impact of digital nomadism could transform the world as we know it.
