Remote jobs are increasing in popularity and availability as more companies are flexible with telecommuting.
Finding a job that allows you not only to work from home, but work from anywhere, can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. That golden ticket would allow you to cut painful commutes, spend more time with family and travel more freely—often while earning an income instead of needing to take time off.
In fact, wanting to travel is one of the top reasons why people say they work, according to an annual survey from FlexJobs, an online service for telecommuting, flexible schedule, part-time and freelance jobs. In fact, respondents ranked travel above other important factors for working, such as paying off debt or saving for their children’s education. But only 5% of remote jobs can be done from anywhere in the world—so having the opportunity to grow your career while you travel makes the idea of a work-from-anywhere remote job especially appealing.
To help job seekers find these sought-after jobs, FlexJobs has released a new list of the top 20 companies with the most work-from-anywhere-in-the-world remote job listings. A common theme among companies that hire for work-from-anywhere jobs is that they are built this way. Many of the companies on this top 20 list don’t have a physical office or headquarters. They reflect a wide range of sizes and industries, but their operations tend to be mostly or fully remote. Compare this to last year’s top 25 companies with the best work from home or anywhere jobs.
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And not all of these jobs are contract-based. “One of the things people find most surprising about jobs that truly let you work from anywhere is that most of them are employee jobs, rather than freelance jobs,” says Brie Weiler Reynolds, career development manager and coach at FlexJobs. “People tend to assume that jobs with such a high degree of personal autonomy—the ability to work from anywhere around the world—must be freelance jobs, but the reality is that 75% of the work-from-anywhere remote jobs on our site are employee jobs. Many of them offer benefits and other traditional work perks. They just also happen to be extremely flexible remote jobs with the option to work from wherever you’d like.”
When it comes to using work-from-anywhere remote jobs to fulfill your dreams of traveling, it takes a bit more communication and accountability. Employers still need you to be reliable in your role. “For example, if you want to travel across multiple time zones or be located halfway around the world from the rest of your coworkers, you’ll likely still need to clear that arrangement with your manager and come up with a plan to make it work, especially if you’re not working at the same time as your coworkers,” Weiler Reynolds says. “Working from anywhere gives professionals a lot of freedom to travel, but it also comes with a huge amount of responsibility to make sure the arrangement is a productive, effective and collaborative one.”
The 20 companies on the 2020 FlexJobs list represent industries such as computer and IT, education and training, digital media, translation and marketing. And some of the most popular work-from-anywhere job titles include data analyst, editor, product designer, recruiter, SEO strategist, tutor and web developer. But the options are seemingly limitless.
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On the top of the FlexJobs list is GitLab, an open-source platform for code collaboration that helps businesses in the DevOps lifecycle. “Being able to recruit and hire from most countries is a distinct competitive advantage for GitLab, and it fosters geographic and cultural diversity,” says Darren Murph, head of remote at GitLab. “We will judge our impact and legacy on the world by how we influence the proliferation of all-remote companies.”
According to Murph, remote work has the power to reverse rural depopulation, make communities less transitory and spread opportunity to underserved areas—all reasons the company embraces it. “We thrive as a global team by being intentional about informal communication, handbook-first documentation and embracing asynchronous workflows,” says Murph.
Below you’ll find the top 20 companies on the FlexJobs survey, ranked in order from highest to lowest for volume of work-from-anywhere job listings. These companies had the highest volume of job listings from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 that met certain criteria: work-from-anywhere remote jobs without location restrictions; fully remote jobs that don’t require any time in the office; and either full-time or part-time schedules.
1. GitLab: an open-source platform for code collaboration that helps users move from idea to product more quickly
2. Welocalize: a translation service that specializes in e-learning content, product manuals, web content and more
3. Wikimedia Foundation: a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content
4. Toptal: a labor marketplace that connects freelancers with startup organizations and companies in Silicon Valley and beyond
5. Zapier: a web-application automation platform that connects web apps, automating tedious tasks to create more efficient processes
6. Elastic.co: a search company that helps people leverage the power of search to “explore and analyze their data differently”
7. Percona: a computer software company that streamlines open source database efficiencies and provides training, support and consulting services
8. Coalition Technologies: a web design and digital marketing agency that helps clients meet their online business needs
9. Achieve Test Prep: an academic support organization that offers test preparation and consulting services to the college-bound demographic
10. X-Team: an IT company that provides best-in-class, on-demand developers for brands looking to scale their business
11. Ulatus: as the “translation arm” of Crimson Interactive, one of the world’s largest language service providers, this company provides translation services in Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese, Indian, Korean and Portuguese
12. Day Translations: a translation service that aims to break down cultural barriers through tailored translation, localization and interpretation services for individuals and companies
13. Fastly: an internet company with a content delivery network that helps online businesses supply the best experience for their customers
14. Mattermost: a messaging software that improves internal collaboration and brings team communication into one place, making it searchable and accessible anywhere
15. Protocol Labs: a software company that creates systems and tools to address technical web challenges and optimize user experience
16. 5CA: a customer experience tech company that helps clients optimize customer support by leveraging technology to solve problems quickly
17. Modern Tribe: a digital agency and lifestyle company that creates custom products and technical solutions for clients
18. Automattic: a web-development company that considers remote work an essential aspect of its business model
19. Study.com: an online company formerly known as Education Portal that brings tuition-free college to the community
20. Trafilea: a marketing and advertising company specializing in data-driven and disruptive e-commerce strategies that help build customer-centric global brands online
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Amenorhu kwaku is an author, internet marketer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of SuccessValley, a network community for students and aspiring entrepreneurs. He is also the founder of Republik City News and Whoop, a news portal and a business directory.
