In this episode, host Ali Greene chats with Jo Palmer, founder and managing director of Pointer Remote, an Australian-based company that supports rural communities, businesses, and individuals to leverage remote work. They also operate a remote work jobs board, deliver capacity building programs with government and community groups, and is currently building a decentralization tool to encourage people living in metropolitan areas to relocate to rural towns. 

Jo is motivated by social and economic benefits that remote work provides for marginalized parts of the community. She believes that a person’s location, gender, physical ability, or ethnicity should not determine the type of work they do. Also, Jo is passionate about the environmental, social, and fiscal benefits that organizations experience with hiring remotely.  

Discussion points:

• Lessons learned on how remote work transcends industries
• Why it’s important to put processes and systems in place 
• What remote work means and refers to in Australia
• Candidates, communication, and community impact
• How rural communities leverage remote work to grow and attract/retain populations
• Relocation strategies, economic benefits, and embracing new people in town
• Push-and-pull growing pains and responsibilities with connectivity 
• What recruiters should know when hiring down under

Resources: 

Pointer Remote Roles

Jo Palmer on LinkedIn

Jo Palmer on Instagram

Jo Palmer on Twitter

Jo Palmer on YouTube

Distributed Teams by John O’Duinn