Overview

As remote work continues to grow in popularity, more companies are adopting flexible policies to accommodate employees’ varying needs. For many people, especially those from other countries working abroad, the ability to work from their home country for a short period is an invaluable benefit. I recently had the opportunity to experience this firsthand, and I’d like to share my experience, how my company’s policy works, and the benefits of this flexibility for foreign employees.

As a Malaysian engineer working for a company based in Japan, I had the chance to return to my home country for a four-week period. Out of these four weeks, I decided to take two weeks time off and work the remaining two weeks remotely. This was made possible by Colorkrew’s flexible approach to remote work, which allowed me to continue contributing to my team while in my home country.

Company Policy on Working From Your Home Country

Our company has a policy allowing employees to work remotely from their home country for up to five days, twice a year. In special cases, such as high travel costs or long distances making it preferable to return home only once a year, exceptions can be made. This flexibility ensures employees can combine the two allowances into one extended period, if approved. The process was quite simple, only requiring a submission of a form stating my intended period for teleworking from my home country and the locations from where I would be working. This was approved by my project leader and HR within a week from submission.

Combining Time Off With Telework: A Win-Win

Even before I took time off to work remotely from Malaysia, our company already had a partial remote policy, requiring employees to come into the office twice a week. This policy has made the transition to fully remote work much smoother, as most meetings are already conducted via teleconferencing tools like Zoom and Teams.

The transition to working from overseas was therefore almost seamless. My colleagues were used to remote collaboration, and the tools we had in place allowed us to continue as if I were still in the office. The time difference between Japan (GMT+9) and Malaysia (GMT+8) was minimal, and meetings often took place in overlapping hours, making coordination easy. It was less challenging in my case, but I also have colleagues from the UK and Brazil and everyone has been willing to adjust meeting times to collaborate effectively.

Conclusion

In my experience, the company’s remote work policy has been a game changer, especially when it comes to working from my home country. The ability to combine personal time with remote work provides a level of flexibility that is highly valued, particularly for foreign employees living away from home. With the infrastructure in place to support remote collaboration, and a team that is supportive of adjusting to different time zones, this kind of flexibility can make all the difference in fostering a positive and productive work-life balance.