At the GALA Global San Diego 2022 Conference, held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Pablo Vazquez and I, Gustavo Lucardi, presented under the Knowledge Fest format: “Work from Anywhere: Opportunities and Challenges in the Localization Industry.”

We introduced our companies, Trusted Translations and Locale Solutions, and how we had started the process of researching this topic, focusing on the opportunities offered by remote work and what we had learned from the academic world that could be applied to the language industry. We also shared the exercises that we are doing at our companies as well as led a bit of brainstorming to arrive at some conclusions together.

WFA Opportunities and Challenges 

We told the story of what we had learned through the implementation and the active consultations with colleagues and experts in the field of remote work. Those topics included:

• From Work from Home (WFH) to Work from Anywhere (WFA).
• Fully Remote vs Hybrid Work: benefits and challenges.
• What sets the localization industry apart from other industries that makes it more conducive to WFA success.
• Exploring the benefits of remote work for both companies and individuals.
• Going full remote work: innovative strategies to thrive in this new business climate.
• What are the advantages of working with companies that embrace the WFA Revolution.

Collective Learning about Work from Anywhere

During the second half of the session, we proposed some topics for discussion at the tables of the GALA Global Knowledge Fest with the aim of arriving at conclusions together with the entire audience.

We learned from the audience about a number of challenges and opportunities that the Remote Work Revolution was creating in the language industry. We came to the shared and collective conclusion that all the solutions and all the approaches are valid, and that the WFA Revolution is a process that is just getting started.

The translation industry’s conduciveness for WFA was clear from the get-go since it is an industry that was born in a fragmented, international, multicultural way, and one that started the remote-work experience much earlier than other industries. Also, its heavy reliance on technology and digital communication made the transition much easier.

The industry has been a digital native for most part of its history, thus making the transition natural. Among the challenges, multicultural issues, time zones, work accountability, and connectivity limitations came up as the main issues facing the conversion to WFA.

If you want to know more about The Globalization and Localization Association Conference held in San Diego on April 24-27, 2022, please visit the blog post: GALA San Diego 2022.