Wie formen digitale Nomaden die zukünftige Arbeitsweise neu?

40 million people, 60 countries, countless possibilities... The rapidly growing group of digital nomads is redefining the meaning of "work" in a brand - new way. According to the latest statistics, there are already over 17 million digital nomads in the United States, and it is estimated that the global number of digital nomads will reach 60 million by 2030. They break the boundaries of traditional workplaces and work while traveling around the world with laptops and the Internet.

However, this seemingly free way of working actually hides an interesting paradox, which we call the "mobile worker paradox": Digital nomads crave the sense of freedom brought by mobility, but to maintain this freedom, they must stay in a highly efficient working state, and efficient work often requires a stable working environment. It's like playing a seesaw game: on one end is the desire for free movement, and on the other end is the need for a stable working environment.

The research team recruited digital nomads as samples through online forums and social media and conducted a total of 73 in - depth interviews with 67 of them, revealing how they skillfully balance these seemingly contradictory needs. The living and working places of these interviewees also vary. For example, 32 of the interviewees are backpackers who live in traditional residences such as houses, apartments or hostels during their travels. 17 are "RVers", 6 are "camper - van dwellers", and 3 live on boats. The interviewees' occupations are also diverse, including freelancers and entrepreneurs, who are involved in various industries such as engineering, digital marketing, social media management, computer programming and social work.

The Contradictory World of Digital Nomads

Imagine this scenario: You're working in a café by the beach in Bali today, and next week you might move to a co - working space in Tokyo. A few weeks later, you could be in an apartment in Barcelona. This is the daily life of a digital nomad.

"Completely out of the comfort zone", "stepping into the real unknown", one interviewee, Lizzie, described her feeling of starting to work in a new place. This "placelessness" has a two - sided impact: on the one hand, it brings an exciting sense of freedom, and on the other hand, it poses a potential threat to work efficiency.

For example, a digital nomad named Becky once encountered such an embarrassing situation: before a crucial work video conference, a sudden rainstorm caused the network to go down. Finally, she had to stand outside the hotel in the heavy rain with an umbrella to attend the meeting because that was the only place with a mobile phone signal. This little episode vividly shows the uncertainties in the work of digital nomads.

Another interviewee, Christina, shared her initial experience of having no work boundaries: "I would work on weekends, even if I didn't want to and shouldn't. I would work 12 hours and do these things because... I didn't want to lose my job. I had absolutely no boundaries between work and life.

Two Art Forms of Balance: Cycling and Integration

The research found that digital nomads mainly deal with this contradiction in two ways: one is the "cycling model", and the other is the "integration model".

Cycling Model: Swinging between Movement and Stillness

Some digital nomads work in a pendulum - like way. They will stay in one place for a while to build familiarity and a work rhythm. When they feel too settled, they set off for the next destination to experience the freshness again.

This type of digital nomads often have a strong sense of wanderlust. As one interviewee, Andy, described: "It's

like an addiction... You develop a tolerance for all the good things... We can't stay in the desert for a whole season and start longing to go somewhere else."

This type of workers maintain their excitement and creativity by constantly changing their workplaces. One interviewee named Tommy traveled from Maine in the United States to Mexico, then to California and Florida, and now lives on a boat so that he can change ports at any time.

Integration Model: Making Home Mobile

Other digital nomads choose a more balanced way. They strive to integrate a sense of stability into their mobile lives, creating a feeling of a "mobile home".

For example, some people carry specific items with them to create a sense of familiarity. Rachel shared: "We travel with three unnecessary but important comfort items: a shawl that means a lot to me... I use it for yoga and meditation; a Google Home smart home device, which we use to play the sound of rain or music; the third is a homesickness candle from Tennessee. It's really nice to be able to light the candle in an Airbnb and have these little non - essential but comforting items."

Some other digital nomads choose RVs or boats as their mobile homes. As Nicole described: "In the RV, we have a feeling of 'home'. It's a safe space, and you know it belongs to you... Even in different cities, we can always return to our own space. Even the smell is the same.

Implications for Redefining the Way of Working

The personal experiences of digital nomads are not only individual stories of innovative work styles but also provide relevant implications for the future transformation of the overall work mode.

Traditional concepts usually hold that a stable office environment is the cornerstone of efficient work. However, the practices of digital nomads show completely different possibilities. As the experience of interviewee Robbie shows, he found that Starbucks can be the perfect mobile office: "I can find Starbucks all over the world. I'm familiar with its layout and know how it operates. This allows me to get a familiar and efficient working environment without renting an additional office space." This experience tells us that work efficiency depends less on the physical place itself and more on how we create a suitable working atmosphere.

In today's increasingly popular hybrid work environment, the experiences of digital nomads are particularly worth learning from. Many digital nomads have found the secret to maintaining efficiency in a highly flexible work style. For example, interviewee Brittany has established strict time boundaries: "I must turn off the computer at 5 pm. Such boundaries are crucial for maintaining a good working state." This implies for enterprise management that when implementing flexible work policies, companies should help employees establish clear work boundaries and routines.

As the work style of digital nomads becomes more and more popular, enterprise talent management also faces new challenges. The research found that successful digital nomads often have excellent self - management and environmental adaptation abilities. This means that enterprises need to pay more attention to cultivating these soft skills during recruitment and training. At the same time, the traditional performance evaluation system based on working hours and office attendance also needs to be reformed and shifted to a more result - oriented evaluation method.

The practices of digital nomads also subvert our traditional perception of team collaboration. Even if team members are scattered around the world, efficient collaboration can still be achieved. The key lies in establishing appropriate communication mechanisms and team cultures. Some digital nomad teams hold regular virtual meetings and make full use of asynchronous communication tools. These experiences provide useful references for enterprises to manage decentralized teams.

It is particularly worth noting that digital nomads have a unique interpretation of work - life balance. Through the combination of "workplace creation" and "non - work exploration", they have found a way to organically integrate work and life. This also inspires enterprise managers that instead of trying to strictly separate work and life for employees, they should provide employees with more autonomy so that everyone can find a suitable balance point for themselves.

The Diversification of Future Work Styles

Today, the work style of digital nomads is gradually changing from a niche phenomenon to a mainstream trend. According to statistics, in the United States alone, the number of digital nomads has increased by 133% in the past four years. What drives this trend is not only the progress of remote work technology but also a fundamental change in people's perception of work styles. Especially the younger generation, who attach more and more importance to the freedom and flexibility of work and no longer regard a fixed office as a necessity.

In the future, work styles are likely to be more diverse than ever. We have already seen that more and more enterprises are starting to try the "hybrid work model", allowing employees to flexibly choose their workplaces and working hours. We expect that this trend will deepen further in the future. The concept of the workplace will become more blurred and flexible. The fixed office may be transformed into a center for occasional team gatherings and cultural exchanges, rather than the main place for daily work.

To adapt to this change, the appearance of cities is also quietly changing. More and more cities around the world are creating a "digital - nomad - friendly" environment. From high - speed network coverage, to shared workspaces all over the city, to convenient short - term accommodation options, the infrastructure supporting the digital nomad lifestyle is being improved. Moreover, some countries have also introduced special digital nomad visas, indicating that this work style has been recognized at the institutional level.

Technological development will further promote this trend. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are expected to create a more immersive remote collaboration experience. Artificial intelligence tools may significantly improve the efficiency of remote work. With the popularization of 5G networks and satellite connections, the geographical scope of workplaces will be further expanded, truly realizing the ideal of "working anytime, anywhere".

The work style of digital nomads tells us that work is no longer just a place or a salary but a choice of lifestyle. Their work style reveals the development direction of future work. They have successfully found a balance between mobility and stability. With the development of technology and the change of people's work concepts, we are likely to see more innovative work styles emerge.

This emerging work model is reshaping our perception of the workplace, working hours, and even the definition of work. It challenges traditional management concepts, prompting enterprises to rethink how to motivate employees, evaluate performance, and cultivate team cohesion. At the same time, it also provides individuals with more choices, allowing everyone to design their work and life according to their own needs and values.

At the same time, we should also recognize that the work style of digital nomads is not suitable for everyone. It requires individuals to have a high degree of self - discipline, adaptability, and self - management skills. For enterprises, supporting this work style requires profound changes in technological infrastructure, management processes, and corporate culture. Enterprises need to rethink how to manage decentralized teams, how to evaluate the performance of remote work, and how to maintain corporate culture. Social systems also need to keep pace with the times and make corresponding adjustments in taxation, social security, education and training, etc. Especially for the legal and policy issues brought by cross - border work, governments of various countries need to work together to find solutions.

Looking to the future, we are likely to see more diverse work models coexisting. The rise of digital nomads is not only a change in work style but also an embodiment of a lifestyle philosophy. It reflects people's pursuit of freedom, experience, and personal growth. In this rapidly changing world, perhaps each of us needs to learn some wisdom from digital nomads: stay open and adaptable, be brave enough to try new things, find stability in change, and create value in mobility.

The future world of work will be a vast arena full of various possibilities. Those who can navigate this arena with ease will be individuals and organizations that can embrace change while staying true to their core. Between movement and stillness, and between change and constancy, each of us is writing a new chapter in our work and life. MI·Trend

Source of Rewriting:

M.K.Prengler, A.C.Klotz and C.Murphy. Place Iteration and Integration: How Digital Nomads Navigate the Mobile Worker Paradox[J]. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2025, 70(2):328–366.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Fudan Business Knowledge" (ID: BKfudan). Author: "Management Vision". Republished by 36Kr with authorization.