Rise of remote working a "game changer" for rural Australians

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The Rural Women of the Year 2019 said the pandemic had allowed businesses to realise that remote working actually works.

"I feel like I've been pushing uphill for the last few years saying 'this works, people are productive, they do get the job done and they don't lounge around in trackie pants all day,'" Ms Palmer said.

"I think organisations from small businesses through to corporates have now realised that this works in some capacity.

"This has meant the rural crowd who we have been trying to pitch to businesses to employ, they have a seat at the table now."

Pointer Remote connects people looking for remote work, with businesses looking to employ them.

Ms Palmer is an advocate of location being no barrier to create an impact and said COVID-19 was absolute proof that you can live anywhere and have a meaningful career.

"It doesn't have to be jobs which were traditionally done remotely, it can be six or seven figure executive roles," she said.

Ms Palmer also believes more remote work opportunities for rural people could impact entire communities.

"If you put those wages into a town, the trickle down effect is huge," she said.

As well as connecting remote workers with employers, Pointer Remote run 'Remote Ready' workshops with local government or community organisations.

Ms Palmer said they had seen huge growth in that part of the business this year.

"The councils are realising they can train up the people who already live there."

One such council is Hay.

Hay Shire Council project manager for economic development Alison McLean said when COVID-19 hit they realised there was an opportunity for people living in the shire to follow a career.

"Now that's an option, we don't have to see that steady stream of people move away from Hay," Ms McLean said.

"What we saw during COVID was that next generation of 25- to 35-year-olds, actually came back to Hay.

Ms McLean said when they did their first Remote Ready workshop it was interesting to see just how many people had already been working remotely.

"There were so many people in the room who said 'I've been doing this for a while but I didn't realise everyone else was,'" she said.

"People are doing amazing remote work, but the course meant we could give them the skills, capacity and network to do it really well."

Ms McLean said remote work can ironically be isolating and it was important to form a local network.

"You might have someone in the room say I'm bookkeeping but I'm at capacity, and another participant say 'well I'm just starting out so maybe I can help you.'

"When you have that ability to work remotely for an organisation but come together locally there's a lot of opportunity there," she said.