Work-from-anywhere weeks is the new office perk

The Future. As companies start asking people to return to work, they’re offering a set number of weeks of remote work as a way to entice employees. The offering may demonstrate that, in the modern workforce, control over one’s time is just as important as pay.

Out there, on the job
While work-from-anywhere may have become a pandemic normal, the practice is becoming a perk for the back-to-the-office workforce.

• Companies as varied as American Express, Google, and Patagonia have introduced WFA weeks as part of their benefits package.
• Typically, it’s two weeks, giving people the ability to take their work on the road either as an addition to an extended vacation or as a buffer around major travel holidays.
• Some companies have either set aside specific months when they need to be taken (Citigroup) or implemented rules that the weeks can’t be taken non-consecutively (Freddie Mac).
• Additionally, employees are typically responsible for any time zone adjustments and tax changes that come with working abroad.

For companies that generally want people back at the office, WFA weeks give employers something flexible to offer in order to attract or retain employees that have been converted by the remote-work revolution.