10% of remote workers have two jobs?

This guy thinks so.

It’s probably more.

In recent news, President Trump signed an executive order requiring all federal employees to return to in-office work by February 6th (2025), or they’ll be laid off with an 8-month severance package. Some are unhappy with this.

I don’t waste my time arguing the semantics of politics or positioning myself on one side of the fence or the other.

I look at numbers and research the overall climate to make informed decisions. (My next post will be about critical thinking)

If we look at the percentage of remote workers that think they aren’t being paid fairly at work, it’s close to 80%.

The 73% (“not even close”, “almost”) is where I want to shine a light.

What we’re experiencing right now in the job marketplace is a growing resentment of work compensation, and many employees are still working from home.

If you feel like you’re not being compensated fairly, and you work from your own home, and you don’t have someone standing over your shoulder watching what you do… what do you do?

You look for more work.

You make more money.

You take what you feel you ‘deserve’.

Whether or not you agree with the sentiment, this is what’s happening. More workers are understanding that they can:

A) work two remote jobs at the same time

B) use tactics to retain job security at both

C) make more money

It makes sense that so many federal employees are upset about the upcoming in-office requirement (see the FedNews subreddit for many examples), not because they don’t want to commute or enjoy the warmth of their own home.

Many of them are likely just working two jobs or using portions of their days for other business endeavors. Some of them might just not be working, period, because remote work provides that kind of freedom. But if you read between the lines and really understand where a lot of the executive order blowback is coming from…

The simplest answer is most likely to be correct.

Most full-time, remote employees don't work forty hour weeks.

They will tell you that they do, their company likely thinks that they do, but they don't.

I work two remote jobs simultaneously, and have effectively doubled my salary.

Granted, I’m a digital designer in both positions. This comes with some pros and cons:

Pros:

• I don’t have to communicate much with clients/customers/buyers. I design things, and the companies ship them.

• Most projects have at least a few days turnaround time; I have the freedom to decide when I’m going to work on project A, B, or C.

• Both companies I work at have a very lean meeting structure. A.K.A I very rarely have more than two/three meetings between both companies, per week.

Cons:

• Context-switching can be overwhelming

• I oftentimes have to work into the evening (past 5PM)

• It can be stressful when deadlines for project overlap

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: “Does Job 1 or 2 know about the other"“?
A: No. And in my opinion, there’s no reason for them to. At both of my remote jobs, the employee requirements specifically state that work outside of my positions is allowed, as long as that work is non-competitive. Neither of my two jobs compete with the other. I get my work done at both positions. I meet deadlines. I do what I need to do to grow each company. So why should they?

Q: “I have a remote job that requires me to work 40 hours a week. How would it be possible for me to work another at the same time"?”
A: You don’t work forty hours a week. There are going to be a few exceptions, but I doubt that you’re one of them. If you truly worked forty hours a week, and feel like you’re being paid fairly, you wouldn’t have even made it to this portion of the newsletter because nothing I’m writing about is relevant to you. You don’t work forty hours a week. You do spend 40 hours a week working your remote job, but I would wager that 25-50% of that time in front of the computer is spent doing alot of manual work that could be automated, watching YouTube videos, playing with your cat, laying on the couch, spending too much time trying to perfect documents or designs or emails, all for those very specific details to go completely unnoticed. You can work two jobs.

Over the last few years, I’ve become really cognizant of how I’m actually spending my time throughout the day. I’m not OCD. I’m not concerned with hyper-optimizing my time and actions.

I just have very specific goals, and had to come to terms with the fact that distractions and “fun” creates time compression.

Anyone that’s been addicted to video games like World of Warcraft or League of Legends know exactly what I’m talking about.

You get into game, you’re having fun, you’re exploring and fighting enemies… time slips by. The sun’s down. Have you eaten yet? When’s the last time you’ve stood up?

We fill our time throughout the day with distractions and fun, sometimes without realizing what we’re doing, and then wonder where the time went.

Forty hours a week of deep, uninterrupted work is how you work two jobs at once. Over time, as you get a better feel for the companies you’re working for and get a better grasp over what’s exactly required of you, you can reduce that to 30 hours per week. 25 if you’re really great at what you do.

You’re not making enough money at your remote job.

You don’t actually work forty hours a week.

So do something about it while you can.

Talk soon,

JP