I secretly moved to Africa and didn't tell my boss. I never got caught — but it wasn't easy.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a 31-year-old sleep researcher for a neurology clinic who secretly worked her remote job from Africa without her boss ever finding out. She asked not to be named to protect herself, but her employment has been confirmed by Insider. The following has has been edited for length and clarity.
At that time, I was the only remote employee who worked for this company. Working at home wasn't a luxury a lot of other people had the option to do, and I felt grateful. It was the only way I could take care of my son and not lose this dream job.That's when things got interesting. My husband works for the government, and I didn't know how long we'd have to be there for.
I was six hours ahead of the Virginia sleep lab when I was in Tunisia. That worked out in my favor, because I'd wake up, tend to my newborn, get the house ready, and start my workday at 10 a.m. my time, right as the lab was opening and the patients were waking up. But I couldn't share any of these details with my coworkers or my boss. When they asked details about my weekend, or new things in my life, I kept my answers generic and short, which was normal. We didn't talk often about our personal lives at work.
I also used a VPN . It makes my phone think I'm in the US, which allows me to use apps or programs that might not be available in the country that I'm living in, like Zoom or Facebook. This would have been a challenge regardless of where I worked remotely, but at times, It made me wish that I was back working in the lab and not from home, many miles away. I was able to take on big projects, like helping the lab get accredited, which involved submitting a lot of paperwork. I was able to do this all without having to leave my house in Tunisia. My biggest fear during the entire year was that one day, my boss would find out, and I'd lose this job.
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