"Onboarding worked out well and I get paid every month. It's supposed to work and it works."

Johannes' remote work story

After spending some time in London as part of the Entrepreneur First programme, Johannes was drawn to look for job openings in London. In January 2020, he moved from Germany to London to join Sphere App.

After a family-orientated Christmas he realised that he preferred the small town living that Bavaria offered.

"At some point, I was thinking to myself that there's no point being in an empty big city. I might as well move back to Germany."

After some time, he realised he preferred the small town living that Bavaria offered. So he set about asking Sphere whether it would be possible for him to stay in Germany permanently.

Connecting Sphere with Omnipresent

As luck would have it, Johannes had met Matthew Wilson (Omnipresent's co-founder) when he was part of the Entrepreneur First programme. When the question as to how Johannes could be employed in Germany came up, he put the Sphere team in touch with Matt which eventually lead to Johannes being employed by Omnipresent on behalf of Sphere.

"Luckily I didn't need to be involved - it was pretty much  Sphere's Ops team figuring it out with Omnipresent's Ops team. That's pretty much how I became a remote worker."

Since being onboarded, Johannes has had a pleasant experience with Omnipresent and the set-up just works.

"The good thing is, Omnipresent have been very responsive. There was a hiccup with the German health insurance, but they were able to resolve that quickly."

Johannes' choice of lifestyle and work

Remote working has provided Johannes with the flexibility to live the life that he feels is most natural and preferred to him.

• Creating the optimum working conditions - he's used to working late into the night and enjoying his music through his speakers while he programmes.
• Convenience of small town living - everything from amenities to the forest are a few minutes walk away - something that was not possible in London.
• Spending time with family - he shares his time between his mother and father's homes and has a remote work set-up in each.

Adjusting to remote work

This was Johannes' first experience of remote working as a full time employee. He found that while working from home was very natural to him, there were some adjustments that he had to make:

• Being more intentional with his time - he sometimes found that too many meetings were being put in and has since dedicated Wednesdays to completing meetings
• Recognising what works better face-to-face - he found that some things are just better when you're in an office together, such as banter or socials.
• Some in person time is needed - while Johannes is a fully remote employee, he's considering going into the office once every second month for example. What is needed for a team to create that feeling of "belonging together" is something that is currently being discussed by the business.

Advice for anyone considering remote work

"If you're going to go remote, pick a place in the countryside. It's much nicer."