Wisconsinites working remotely while taking extended trips within U.S. or around the globe
Roy Truno and his fiancée Precious Zamora plan to live together in the United States, in Shorewood to be exact.
But she’s been stuck in the Philippines for the past year, as the U.S. embassy is not issuing visas in many categories because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since Zamora can’t come here, Truno is going to the Philippines. In July he’s buying a one-way ticket to Negros Oriental, his home province. Truno is one of many people taking advantage of being able to work remotely by going on extended trips all over the world.
Truno plans to travel for at least six weeks, maybe longer. But he doesn’t have to worry about finding work. He’ll keep his internet technology job with the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.
Truno will work from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. in the Philippines, which will be normal business hours here in the Central time zone.
“It’s hard, but we’re used to it,” said Truno, who has lived in the U.S. for about 10 years. They started dating two years before he left for the U.S. The last time they saw each other was on a trip to
Japan in February 2020.
“It feels great, to be honest,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing her again.”
More than 55% of employed Americans were working remotely in December, according to Upwork’s “Future of Workforce Pulse Report,” compared to a little more than 20% of the workforce pre-pandemic.
The number of remote workers in the next five years is expected to be nearly double what it was before COVID-19, according to the Upwork study.