Remote work has presented myriad opportunities for rural and regional communities to grow and regenerate. With the support of an Irish social enterprise, communities across Ireland have been using remote employment as a tool to create social, economic and environmental impact locally.
Where employment is truly remote, it enables employees to work, live and participate locally, no matter where they are. In October, Grow Remote launched a new guide for local communities on creating sustainable social impact through remote employment.
The Grow Remote Community Playbook (now available via growremote.ie/changemakers/ ) is the result of four years of listening and learning from remote workers who have taken action to improve their local communities. Many of these employees work with leading remote-first companies - such as Flipdish and Shopify - and some of Ireland’s most well-known employers - eBay, Vodafone, ESB and Liberty Insurance.
The Community Playbook explains how Grow Remote has evolved since its founding in 2018 and outlines a brand-new community model - the Changemakers programme.
In 2018, remote workers in Ireland came together to solve local challenges around the dilapidation of rural towns and villages. This led to local meetups, a Whatsapp group, the creation of a movement by the name of Grow Remote, the establishment of local chapters. Eventually, Ireland’s first remote work conference followed in Tralee in September 2018.
Four years on, Grow Remote chapters now exist in over 220 communities worldwide.
This rapid evolution, in part brought on by a global pandemic, has provoked yet another innovation from Grow Remote in order to support those who wish to transform their communities by unlocking the power of remote employment.
The Changemakers programme empowers individuals to bring lasting social change to their villages, towns and cities across Ireland beyond. It is accompanied by the announcement of the Community Fund and the launch of the Local Leader Training programme, a free six-module course available via elearning designed to support individuals who wish to set up their own local Grow Remote ‘chapters’.
Through the Community Fund, these chapters will have access to €1,000 over the course of 2023 to achieve one of three social goals; create local employment, repopulate a local area, or foster social connection among local remote workers.
The Grow Remote Changemakers programme provides three levels of engagement for achieving Grow Remote’s social mission of making remote employment visible and accessible. From October 2022, changemakers are invited to get involved in Grow Remote as either Remote Advocates, Experts or Chapter Leads.
Remote Advocates are individuals who wish to fly the flag for remote work in their own unique way, using their individual talent and giving as much or as little time as they see fit. This impact may take the form of a simple conversation with a friend, a series of school talks, or a one-off jobs fair for remote workers.
Chapter Leads are individuals with a deep investment in their local area and a drive to make sustainable grassroots change through remote employment. Grow Remote offers funding (up to €1,000 per chapter ), one-to-one support and the opportunity to change their locality for good.
Experts are people with an established expertise in the remote ecosystem or the future of work who wish to contribute their time towards Grow Remote’s mission. This may involve representing Grow Remote at an international conference, all expenses paid.
There are infinite ways of contributing to the Grow Remote community, depending on expertise or availability, and it is full of creative changemakers who have made an impact in their local communities.
Kat Slater, chapter lead in Louisburgh (Mayo ), helped a local job seeker secure a remote job with Automattic.
John Brett in Carlow designed and created the first-of-its-kind Remote Jobs Board free of charge, allowing Grow Remote to publicly advertise hundreds of remote jobs every month.
Colum O’Connell, chapter lead on Valentia Island (Kerry ), helps locals get remote jobs and move back to Valentia and continues to attract new families to the island through remote employment.
As chapter lead in Westport (Mayo ), Bernard Joyce built Ireland’s largest offline community of remote workers by leading regular social events pre-Covid.
Through a Grow Remote chapter event in Skibbereen (Cork ), remote advocate Tríona O’Sullivan helped a local job seeker find remote employment with Shopify.
Dónal Kearney, Community Manager at Grow Remote explains:
“We understand that not every person who wants to create social impact locally has the time, energy and resources to lead their local chapter. Until now, individuals had no way of contributing to Grow Remote’s mission outside of the chapter model. Now they do. We already have 2840+ changemakers in 210+ locations worldwide and we hope this announcement will further spread the social impact of remote employment by attracting Remote Advocates from all over the world.”
Tracy Keogh, Co-Founder of Grow Remote, commented about the organisation’s commitment to its social mission:
“Through our community work, we learned that lasting grassroots change requires strategic stakeholder engagement and it takes a commitment both from chapter leads - and from the Grow Remote team - to make this happen. Our chapter model needs to be more robust than it was in 2018, so we’re changing it and making €1,000 per chapter available via our new Chapter Fund.”
The Local Leader Training is now open for anyone interested in becoming a chapter lead and accessing the Community Fund. Apply now at growremote.ie/local-leader-training/
