Raju Panjwani interviewed Henrik de Gyor about remote work for his show: BOLD CONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS. We talk about some insights about remote work and address some elephants in the room like RTO.
Do you have questions about remote work for your business? Schedule a call
We can all find work opportunities for ourselves if we look today. How do you evaluate any work opportunity?
We all have the opportunity to find meaningful work if we know what we’re looking for and how to evaluate it. When I consider any work opportunity, I use six key criteria to help guide my decision-making:
Remote work has been a priority for me since early 2019, well before the pandemic changed how many people think about work. For roles that don’t require physical handling of objects, being on-site isn’t just unnecessary, it can be counterproductive. As an extrovert, I value connection, but I also value how our time is spent, adaptability, and flexibility even more.
Remote work reduces wasted hours commuting, expands opportunity beyond geography, and supports both global and local relationships through technology. Leading organizations have embraced this shift, realizing that top talent can thrive anywhere. If a company still insists on in-person digital work without a clear need, it may be holding onto outdated assumptions instead of evolving toward the future.
Compensation should reflect both the value and the impact of the work. Remote work doesn’t diminish the quality of services provided; it often enhances them. I’ve seen consistent demand for my expertise, and as a result, my rates have increased, not decreased. When clients recognize the value I bring and how easy it is to work with me, we both win. Fair pay remains a baseline for mutual respect and commitment.
Mutual communication and respect are foundational. If my input isn’t being heard or considered, it limits the impact I can make. I want to work with people who are open, curious, and willing to collaborate. That’s where progress happens. Active listening, thoughtful feedback, and shared understanding are all signs of a healthy work relationship.
I look for opportunities where I can make a real contribution, where my skills and insights lead to positive change. If no one is listening or there’s no space to create value, then it’s not a fit. My goal is never to clock hours; it’s to deliver meaningful outcomes. Being able to make a difference is not just good for the client, it’s motivating and fulfilling for me, too.
Work should align with evolving interests and priorities. As circumstances change, so do our definitions of fulfillment. I regularly ask myself: Am I still energized by this work? Am I learning and growing? Am I aligned with the mission and values? We all deserve to work in ways that are both effective and rewarding. The goal isn’t just to get by. It’s to thrive.
Respect and collaboration matter. I value a culture where people treat each other with professionalism, empathy, and integrity. While challenges and disagreements are part of any job, how we engage with one another defines the quality of the work environment. When expectations are clear and conversations are respectful, we build trust, and that leads to better outcomes for everyone.
When any of these six factors starts to break down, it’s worth pausing to reevaluate. We all have different standards for what makes work meaningful, and those standards evolve over time.
What matters most to you when evaluating any work opportunity?
What are your non-negotiables?
Since early 2020, there has been a significant growth in remote workers. Many were forced to do so, whether they were ready or not. Some adapted well while others are still adapting or resisting. Some workers are considering working in a hybrid (some time in the office and some time remote), which makes little sense since you do not accomplish anything more in an office away from home.
Have a dedicated workspace where you can focus on work.
If you really look at how you spend your time, measure your productivity, and have meaningful/impactful communication, you will have more online than in person. And I say that as an Extravert.
If you really become self-aware of your time in an office, you will be less productive, less communicative with valued impact, and more wasteful commuting, walking around to places that have decreasing value for every step you take in an office. The empty office is a waste of time and money. Stop defending the commercial real estate spend that is a sunk cost and dump it already.
I was called by several Fortune 50 companies that had the illusion that my time should suddenly be 20% to 50% cheaper now that everyone can work remotely based on their projected “cost of living”. Allow me to correct them publicly as I did over the phone before I declined their bid for me to work for them. This goes for every employer or contract, though.
My work does not change in scope or difficulty regardless of where I am physically located to do the work. Neither do the rates I charge.
Let us very publicly burst the bubble that employers pay anything close to “the cost of living” where they are located. Some day, Human Resources professionals will stop using ‘cost of living’ as an excuse when they have not researched this themselves in their locality today, nor updated regularly based on where their employees are located. Let us stop this fiction since we live in reality.
Each role has a budget set aside for it. What is the budget for this position? Know ahead of time what you should be paid for this role.
By the way, distributed companies (those that have little to no offices with thousands of workers), offer the same pay scale to everyone, based on their title and role, regardless of their location worldwide because it is the employees’ choice where they live and work. Not the employers. If it is not a choice, employers will have fewer applicants, fewer experienced professionals, and fewer employees in the near future, even when they really need them.
Why does it matter where the company is located? It is understood that many companies will have pay grades and pay scales that slide up and down. I am not advocating for the unionization of workers, especially if you have negotiation skills and work experience to back it up.
What can employers do better to adapt to remote workers?
Here are some ways to set expectations publicly.
Many fear public speaking. Some people embrace that fear and use this opportunity to share their message to benefit more people.
Now that public speaking and conferences are mostly virtual, these public speaking events are more accessible to everyone who is interested in listening to the topic at hand from anywhere worldwide online.
Often public speaking events are recorded for on-demand viewing by audiences which are preferred nowadays. Recorded events can get more views and a larger audience over time than any in-person audience. Something speaking events are private and more exclusive so they can charge money for live access. Private events often get less of an audience unless the recordings are released publicly at a later date such as TED Talks.
As a public speaker, you can find many of my upcoming virtual speaking engagements (updated often), topics I often speak about and some previous speaking engagement (in-person or virtual) here: henrikdegyor.com/speaking/
Are you looking for a virtual speaker for an upcoming speaking engagement?
Disclosure: Links to other sites may be affiliate links that generate us a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Someone asked me recently how do I deal with writer’s block and what is the opposite of it.
Hypergraphia is the opposite of writer’s block.
As a writer, you probably don’t want writer’s block nor hypergraphia. Something in between works well.
Some writers claim there is no such thing as writer’s block, just as much as no one suffers from speaker’s block (let us assume this is not public speaking which many people are afraid of).
There is a lot of reasons why writers find it hard to write sometimes. Author Steven Pressfield wrote about these challenges, excuses, remedies, and struggles in The War of Art. Note this is not by Sun Tzu who wrote The Art of War, but that is a good read as well.
Besides focus, the structure is often one of those missing elements that may be a common blocker in the writing process. The structure can be used as building blocks for your project and help guide you to what still needs work. Without a structure, it is like creating a building with no plans and no timeline which would not work out well for any existing budget nor sanity. That structure may include an outline that becomes a table of contents. That structure can be fluid (like water) as contents expand and flexible (like bamboo) as it grows more mature and hopefully clear to what it’s for and who’s it for. You can use a mindmap to link ideas together. You can use timelines with multiple swimlanes to figure out time frames for events with each character. These tools will help you fill gaps in your book project.
Don’t waste your time. Schedule your writing time daily. Make your book project a daily habit for as little as 30 minutes a day when you have available time, energy, and ideas flowing.
Take that massive book project which is likely a big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) and break that structure down into finite timely achievable goals (FTAGs). Each goal is a series of doable steps.
Perfect is not an achievable goal, so move on from the myth of perfect and just ship it.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
For help with your own book project, schedule consulting time online with Henrik de Gyor today
Henrik de Gyor 