Working remotely from a holiday destination

[canouan]

We are thinking of doing next January on a tiny Caribbean island. We will need to work for 3 of 4 weeks. We are aware that it won’t be the same as being on holiday.

But has someone done this? My vision is that we’ll wake up at 6am, have breakfast on the veranda, maybe go for a quick swim in the sea. Work our 9-6 and then have dinner in or at a little shack.

What about the time difference? 9-6 UK time or local time?

Many companies won't allow it and what if wifi is less than reliable.

Your employer likely has a policy on this.

Yes, what’s the time difference. I really strongly considered this in 2022. It never came off.

Check with your employers rules on working from home

Assume you'd have to work 9-6 uk time

Do you intend to tell your employer? I've done long weekends where I could get get back/make up time if there was a problem. What happens if your laptop breaks or you're needed for an in person meeting.

Are you self-employed? In the civil service you'd need to jump through a lot of hoops for this and IME it's a false economy to only half be on holiday.

How remote is your destination? Can you be sure of the continued power and internet access what's your back up plan for power cuts?

We have some colleagues who work on a consultancy basis. They just never mention where they are. No tolerance for the usual 'away from keyboard' that permanent staff get away with.

There can be tax implications for your employer so you’d need to get it signed off by them. Plus the time difference for availability to colleagues, as others have mentioned. Though in my organisation we have colleagues and clients across the world so it can be an advantage to be in a different time zone sometimes.

This might well have tax and visa implications, and many employers won’t allow working from abroad for these reasons.

On the smaller islands the wi-fi is very slow and can drop off for hours (sometimes days) at a time. It's good enough for tourist needs but not for a full work situation. Plus as PP have said your work needs to sign off on it and they may not. The UK is roughly 5 hours ahead of the Caribbean so you'll start working at 3 or 4 am to be in sync - your breakfast on the veranda plan doesn't work!

You need to find out if this is allowed eg insurance (my ex company couldn't let people work from abroad due to their insurance not covering)

9-6 Caribbean time is about 4 hours behind UTC (assuming you are in the UK) so your UK 9-6 would be 5am-2pm in much of the Caribbean

If you are not in the UK is will be different of course.

Does your work allow this? Often it's not allowed due to security and connectivity

Dh works from home full time and has been encouraged by his boss to work out of our house abroad (because his boss does the same sometimes!) He'll work UK time though.
I think it sounds wonderful tbh, but you need to speak to work and see how they feel about it.

Yep it’s fine with the company

I tried to do this. It didn’t work - half the programs I needed weren’t accessible in the Caribbean, even with VPNs. The WiFi wasn’t the best but it was usable for what I needed, to be fair.

I’m presuming you don’t need to work on UK time or you’ll be ruined, but that wasn’t a concern for us. Everyone knew where we were and were happy, but the tools were simply unavailable and there was nothing we could do about it until we left.

A) there is a tax implication so you need your employer to sign this off
B) there is the time difference, I am expected to work UK office hours unless it's a one-off during a business trip outside Europe and I work in one of our branches.
C) Hotel wifis are a no-go for my company. AirBnB a maybe, depending on the set up but you obviously can't test it in advance.

As long as your company is okay with it, and you've done your research around strong WiFi, go for it! I've often done it for a few days, and will be 'working from holiday destination' a good few weeks this summer. Personally I find it still feels like a holiday - gorgeous views, nice lunch breaks, and of course every evening/weekend to do as you please!

If your company is happy, go for it! Sounds amazing.

As @Cookiesandcandies mentioned, there may well be a visa implication here. Certainly if you go on holiday to the EU, you are admitted with a visa waiver on the basis that you will not do any paid work while you are there, and that includes remote working.

Of course the chances of you being caught are probably low, but you might want to be discreet with the neighbours, and you will also probably want to have a story for immigration when you arrive as to what you are going to be doing for most of a month. Certainly you do not want to cheerily say "We're going to be working, soooo much better weather here than the UK!!!!!". Getting deported is no fun at all.

That sounds amazing! I'd go for it, you can check how good the wifi is by reading online reviews of the accommodation.

I've done it, in Europe. It was great! Change of scenery, good weather, and we could do 'holiday' stuff at weekends and evenings.

But there was no time difference and I knew in advance the WiFi was good.

Sounds great but factor in the time difference and check local laws that might require you to have a work permit.

Just check the visa requirements and make sure you have the right paperwork. A few of the islands offer "digital nomad" visas which may be overkill but obviously can't work on a tourist visa even just for a few weeks. Without knowing the island: St Lucia's is called the Live It visa and Barbados is the Welcome Stamp visa. Sounds lovely! We looked into Barbados briefly but the time difference was too much for us.