Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-01-27)

S T R A T E G I E S

38

Edited by

Dimitra Kessenides and

David Rocks ILLUSTRATION

BY

PATRIK

MOLLWING

BloombergBusinessweek January 27, 2020

● Work misery loves

company. For lonely

freelancers, online

work clubs could help

Hisdailyroutinewastransformed,hesays:

Soon,hiswork-at-homedaysbeganpromptlyat

8 a.m.byturningonhislaptopcameraandsaying

hellotoa “buddy”he’dbeenrandomlyassigned.

Thecamerakeepsrollingfor50-minuteshiftswhile

thebuddieswork.“Initiallyit soundsweird,but

it’sgreat,”Schneidersays.“Itkeepsmehonest,

in terms of waking up and being there.” He’s been

struck by how friendly and helpful his buddies

have been, he says; he’s encountered “no one

crazy or outlandish.”

Welcome to the latest evolution in the saga of

remote work. First came the rise of freelancers, and

the simultaneous overpopulation of coffee shops.

Then came the early-Aughts hackerspaces, which

transformed into late-Aughts coworking spaces

A year and a half ago, Alex Schneider was strug-

gling with two gigs. The 30-year-old has a startup

that makes $29 cardboard standing desks called

Ghostands, and also a remote job as a senior

assurance accountant at HoganTaylor LLP. One

day he came across a Reddit post that mentioned

a productivity site called Focusmate. Intrigued,

Schneider logged on and gave it a spin.

PEER

PRESSURE