Remote jobs let older adults ‘work from roam’

JEAN DIBBLE, 61 Jean Dibble works from her home office in Spokane, Washington. She also enjoys drawing and painting from a room that she has turned into her art studio. Angie Smith

TRANSLATOR AND ENGLISH AS A SECOND ​LANGUAGE (ESL) TEACHER HOME BASE: Spokane, Washington Dibble lived in China, working as an ESL teacher before the pandemic. But she happened to be

visiting her mother in Yakima, Washington, when the world shut down. And so her job became remote. As the world reopened, it dawned on her that she could travel while working: “It’s not

like I planned this, but COVID gave it to me.” Dibble started by staying in Mexico a few times, then explored Washington state via Airbnb rentals before settling in Spokane: “Because of time

zones with China, I would work weird hours, mostly at night. So I would get up, go out and explore, walk and go look at things and meet friends. I’d make sure I was home by 4 p.m. to get my

ducks in a row.”  Dibble added another remote job doing English-to-Spanish translation work for a magazine, for which she sets her own schedule. This flexibility has allowed her to visit

her mother, go camping in Washington’s Hoh Rain Forest — with a pit stop in civilization to work via Wi-Fi — and see a new baby in her extended family.  “Back in the day, I’d count my

vacation days and be waiting, waiting, waiting to do something for me,” she says. “But now I can do that whenever I want. I feel like I can do this work into the sunset. I’m not counting

down my days until retirement.”  BALANCING WORK AND TRAVEL: ​THE EMERGING RULES OF THE ROAD *Regular check-ins are key. Plan times — daily, weekly or monthly — to touch base with bosses

and coworkers to ensure that work is on track. “I have to make all of my daily calls, no matter where in the world I am,” Larson says. Be sure to track and share your progress on projects

to demonstrate your work ethic and overcome any perceptions that you’re not engaged. With such check-ins, Larson notes, most people often won’t notice that you’re in another location STAY

CONNECTED. “Surround yourself with technology, even if you don’t wind up using it,” Miller says. “We get to a place and immediately log on to the internet on all devices, so we’re ready to

go.” MAKE WORK A PRIORITY.  “Change locations on the weekends,” rather than during the week, Larson says. “Make it easy for your employer to allow you to travel by having few disruptions.

Work is the goose that laid the golden egg. Don’t kill the goose.” CREATE A SCHEDULE. Choose the times you will and won’t work. “If you’re going to be at work mentally the entire time on a

trip, what’s the point?” Miller says. “You really do have to say, ‘At this hour, I am going to shut off and enjoy being away from my home and enjoy travel.’ ” TRUST YOURSELF. “Don’t hold

back because you don’t feel like a technology expert,” Dibble says. “At first, I didn’t even know how to set up a Zoom meeting. But you figure it out. If you don’t know all the answers,

don’t let that stop you.”