(This post was originally written in my blog – but with a little bit of arm-twisting by Shaza, I decided to feature it here as well.)

…remote work is a major employment benefit. More than a 401k, more than a health care plan — the fact I no longer have to save up vacation time to take one or two short trips a year is huge. I don’t have to wait until someone gets married or dies before I can go see my family — I can just go see them, and work while I’m there. If my girlfriends are going to Mexico for a week but we’re slammed in customer support, I don’t have to choose between letting down my pals or letting down my team.

Reading Emily Wilder’s article made me realise how much I had always been in love with the idea of working remote itself.

Somewhat like Emily’s case, I quit my job at a telecommunications giant after 5 years due to the long hours in the office and also for the fact that my father kept falling ill back at my hometown which made me having to return to see him on a 5-hour drive almost every week. I joined Stampede a year after that as a project manager, which enabled me to work from almost anywhere in the world as long as we have a stable internet connection and a computer.

Perhaps the biggest impact was when I decided to come to London this year to further my studies, among other things. I knew I do not want to leave Stampede, yet I do not want to delay any further to come to my dream city. And also because I am greedy, I do not want to choose between any of those two things – so I decide to work and study at the same time, no biggie.

Working remote, like Emily mentioned – also allows you to be flexible with your vacation time. Our team members are known to travel a lot – and while at that, we are always reachable whenever something breaks. None of us had to save up our vacation days in order to see every nook and cranny of the world. Every team member is encouraged to travel as often as we could. Some of us sometimes work our magic in Photoshop or coding in buses and trains. As long as we are able to adjust to the EST hours with the hours of the part of the countries we go to – most of the times, it works.

Also, like Emily, I also “had an amazing time and felt beyond lucky to work for a company that lets and encourages me to work while on the move”. If I were to stay at any other company which requires me to be physically in an office all the time, there is a chance I will not be able to be here in London now. Or somewhere else in the other parts of the world, for that fact.

Does your company allow you to work remotely? (Photo via.)

(P/s: Yes, sometimes I manage projects – which includes doing Skype meetings with clients – from the comfort of my own bed, in my pyjamas. Wait, do we have clients reading this?)