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Working remotely, with added secondment

6 October 2021

So, you work for a company that lets you work remotely? Big deal. For the last year and a half, everyone with a desk-based job has been working remotely. Still, working remotely from your destination of choice (assuming you can make the time zones work) should still carry some weight. But let’s face it, the claim that “my boss let me work remotely way before you’d even heard of COVID-19” isn’t so exciting. The obvious next step then, is to go one better. Not only can you work remotely, but you can work remotely and do a secondment, with only a months’ notice, no less. At this point it’s starting to feel more flexible than a lockdown with only a yoga mat for a friend.

In July I was lucky enough to be offered a short-term contract at the United Nations Forestry and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). My job is to work with national FAO teams based in Asia and to support them in delivering their Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) program. The aim of CBIT is to enable non-Annex I countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements as defined in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement. My work for FAO is based in Asia, so to make the most of the time difference I work my mornings for FAO and my afternoons for Aether. Lunchtime, I would argue, makes for just as good buffer as for working alternate days. Plus working both jobs throughout the week limits the dreaded email pileup. It’s been a few months, and so far, so good. It is a great opportunity for me to gain new experience and to partially emerge out of my long-established consultancy world.

I am by no means the first person at Aether to do a secondment. Like remote working, this is not a new trend, and it’s a job flexibility that we all value. It allows me to pursue my interests and experience different work approaches, and brings added value to Aether.

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