Hello co-remote workers of the Triangle!

The summer's brutal heat finally seems to be abating and the best season for outdoor remote work is upon us. Ideally you'd all be taking advantage, but unfortunately, I know some of you aren't...at least not as much as you'd like to. At our meetups I'll sometimes hear people say things like "I'd like to come out more, but I'm constantly stuck in long Zoom meetings," or "I couldn't come out until after my daily check-in with my boss." The subtext of these statements often seems to be: "I don't want my co-workers, and especially my boss, seeing that I'm outside somewhere and thinking I'm fooling around during work hours."

This was recently driven home when I read a study that found the average remote worker wastes 67 minutes per day on "digital presenteeism." This refers to a multitude of online productivity theatrics that serve no real purpose but to show colleagues that you are indeed present and working – things like attending video meetings you aren't really needed at, quickly responding to every email you receive, proactively sending pointless emails, making sure your green "active" light is always illuminated on Slack, or even posting emoji reactions to co-workers' comments. Of the remote workers surveyed for the study, 54% said they feel pressure to show they are online like this certain times of the day. And 73% said they routinely respond to emails, Slack and other notifications outside of work hours.

This feels in the same vein as those who are afraid to let colleagues see that them anywhere but holed up at home clicking and typing vigorously every minute of normal work hours. This is natural for remote workers. We're in a very privileged position with our location-independence, and we constantly feel the need to justify it to those we work with by showing we can be just as productive, if not more so, than those in the office...even if, ironically, that means being less productive because of useless theatrics.

I often used to feel these inclinations too – I'd try to schedule my outside-the-house remote work outings for times when I didn't have any meetings, etc. But eventually, I realized nobody really cared. How many of my colleagues was I monitoring for their productivity? When I send emails, do I usually care whether they respond immediately or a few hours later? Could I care less about what's in the background of their Zoom call? As I started working more often from different cafes around town, I stopped worrying whether it conflicted with Zoom meetings. Eventually, my boss started chuckling about it, saying things like "Ooo, where are you today? Looks lovely."

I realize not all bosses are as progressive as mine. Some do care about pointless productivity signals, and toxic colleagues will sometimes try to make a stink about it looking like you're working from a tropical island. But for the most part, it's doubtful anyone is taking any note of your digital presenteeism. And if they are, it might be time to have a conversation about how your actual productivity is measured. Your true output, the actual substance of your job, is what matters – and it just so happens that real productivity tends to be much better when you have a flexible work schedule, you're happy and you're able to truly "switch off" from work when it's time. If a colleague thinks that being out in the fresh air, having actual human contact and doing things good for your mental health make you a less productive worker, that's their problem, not yours.

Moral of the story: Don't let unfounded productivity anxiety stop you from getting out and making the most of a lovely autumn!

What we're up to

We're chugging along and continuing to grow quickly, with now nearly 700 people in our Meetup group, putting it among the largest remote work groups in the country. We've also topped 150 in our Slack community, where we plan smaller, more spontaneous meetups and talk about random remote work-related stuff in the Triangle. So if you haven't joined one or the other, please click those links!

In the last newsletter, I wrote about my fondness for "workations," "digital semi-nomading" and how more remote workers should get into the practice. To that end, I've partnered with The Nomadic Network – an international network of travel enthusiasts – to bring a chapter to Raleigh and host monthly travel-focused meetups. While that group is separate from this one, I think there's a lot of overlap in the respective audiences and it's a great platform for meeting fellow travelers and making links with people in other cities you might like to travel to. So I hope you'll join for our chapter launch event in October; information below.

Our upcoming events

Reminder that these are only the events already planned, and they are subject to change. We often post new events less than a week ahead of time, so be sure to follow us on Meetup to stay up on them as they're posted.

• Tuesday, September 20 (2pm-5pm) - Co-working at Moge Tee in Raleigh (Event listing)​
• Thursday, September 22 (9am-noon) - Co-working at Wake Forest Coffee Company - our first event in Wake Forest! (Event listing)
• Tuesday, September 27 (2pm-5:30pm) Co-working at Brecotea in Cary (Event listing coming soon)
• Wednesday, October 19 (7pm-9pm) - Special Event - Digital nomad happy hour with The Nomadic Network (TNN) at Raleigh Brewing Company. If you're a travel junkie who likes to combine remote work with traipsing around the world, or are considering it, come meet fellow travel enthusiasts and become part of of TNN's international network of digital nomads and more casual frequent travelers. (Event listing)
• TBD - Events at Mad Hatter, Honeysuckle, Frontier RTP, and more. Stay tuned on Meetup.

Other events of interest

Not affiliated with us in any way, but you might be interested in:

• Wednesday, September 21 (8am-5pm) - Free co-working day at Blush Cowork in Cary (Event listing)
• Friday, September 23 (9am-4pm) - $5 Fourth Friday Coworking & Happy Hour at Wright Village in Raleigh (Event listing)
• Thursday, October 6 (11:30am-1pm) - On the menu: Emotional Intelligence for leaders - free seminar with free lunch at Frontier RTP's co-working space (Event listing)
• Wednesday, October 12 (8:30am-5pm) - Free co-working day at Spaces Magnum Street in Durham (Event listing)
• Wednesday, October 26 (9am-5pm) - Free co-working day at Raleigh Founded in Raleigh (Event listing)

Venue spotlight: Caffè Driade

If you want to just escape to the forest and feel detached from civilization, this is probably as close as you're going to get in the Triangle while still getting food and drinks served to you with a WiFi connection – and autumn is the ideal time to check it out. Order at the charming little bungalow just off Chapel Hill's famous Franklin Street then head out the back down multiple terraced patios that allow you to step deeper and deeper into nature. (Check out their website)

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September remote work reads

Featured: Remote Workers Are Wasting More Than an Hour a Day on Productivity Theater, New Report Finds - Inc

• ​The future of remote work, according to 6 experts - Vox
• ​4 reasons remote work will survive a recession, according to Stanford economist Nick Bloom - Business Insider
• ​The Fed is fighting inflation. So is remote work - CNBC
• ​Remote work is probably hurting your body and brain—but there are simple ways to fight it - Fortune
• ​Don’t Feel Guilty About Working on Vacation — or About Vacationing at Work - New York Times
• ​The Office is Dying. It's Time to Rethink How We Work - New York Times
• ​Why Downtown Won’t Die - Bloomberg
• ​A new work anxiety: Will I be penalized for working from home? - NPR
• ​The remote work revolution is already reshaping America - Washington Post
• ​The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score - New York Times

Thanks for making it to the end. If you enjoyed this newsletter, send this link to a friend so they can sign up too. And if you have any other questions or suggestions, write to us at durhamremote1@gmail.com. Happy working!

-Eric

Note: We have no relationship – financial or otherwise – with any of the establishments mentioned in this newsletter. All recommendations are our genuine, unpaid opinions!