Digital Nomads: Opportunities and Challenges for the Future of Work in the Post-Covid Society

Digital nomadism has emerged as a new way of working and lifestyle in the 21st century (Hanonen, 2021). Individuals practicing digital nomadism form “a category of mobile professionals, who perform their work remotely from anywhere in the world, utilizing digital technologies” (Makimoto, 2013, p.40). Digital nomads are blending traveling with location independent work and flexible working hours. Besides being an expression of the future of work, this growing phenomenon has considerable socio-economic implications in the post-pandemic era. The aim of this paper is to provide recommendations to policy makers at national and EU level for adapted and relevant regulations, guidelines and implementation activities regarding the opportunities and challenges of digital nomadism as a rapidly accelerating phenomenon in the EU. Specifically, this paper takes a multi-stakeholder, multidisciplinary and science-based perspective. The implications would include the development of dedicated EU-based strategies and policies for digital nomadism that may provide a global example for implementation.
To do so, we provide an overview of the literature to contextualize and synthesize the phenomenon of digital nomadism. We discuss the concept and characterize digital nomads phenomenon. Also, we present developments of digital nomadism regarding new working spaces and forms of organizing and highlight topics policymakers should consider in future research and innovation programmes for scientifically-based contributions and solutions. After this review, we describe and report a qualitative study that highlights the individual narratives behind three critical digital nomad personas (digital nomad, employer and local government official) and compares how organizational, technological, legal and social challenges and opportunities play out differently for these personas.