Navigating Remote Work As A Woman: People Of Pluria

Remote work has become increasingly popular in recent years, with more and more companies adopting flexible work arrangements. While this offers numerous benefits, it also presents unique challenges for women, who often have caregiving responsibilities and struggle to balance their personal and professional lives.

In this article, we speak with some of the ladies working remotely at Pluria, which prides itself on creating an inclusive and supportive environment for all employees.

People of Pluria — Meeting Our Guests For Today

Cristina Marinescu

Cristina is the Product & Activation Manager at Pluria, and she finds her job role unique because it acts as a bridge between clients, development, and the business team.

“My role is very challenging and rewarding because I work closely with cross-functional teams with the same goal: to help people build a better work-life balance.”

Andreea Băloi

Andreea is leading the People and Community initiative at Pluria. She is excited to work in a relatively new market that expanded in the previous years and challenges Pluria’s efforts to create a great culture for all employees.

“The community we are building is something new, and the uniqueness there comes from the fact that we are not trying to do that around our product or service, but around quality conversations we feel are needed right now in the HR space.“

Adelaida Osuna

Adelaida is a Marketing Intern for Operations in the LATAM region. She is the youngest person on the team and has brought a refreshing and fun perspective.

“I have learned many things, and fortunately, my role lets me explore my ideas, creativity, and the artistic parts of myself that I love but I’m unable to use every day.”

Natalia Acosta

Natalia is the Head of Sales in Colombia, which keeps her in constant contact with different departments, such as Network, Marketing, Customer Success, Financial, or Product.

“I really enjoy my role, and what makes it unique is that every day I meet new people because day after day, I have meetings with potential customers and have the opportunity to share different experiences with them.”

The Unique Challenges Women Face In Remote Work

This section will delve into the unique challenges women face in remote work. We will explore the impact of caregiving responsibilities, maintaining optimal performance, and finding a balance between personal and professional life.

Natalia: “I think my main challenge is maintaining the balance between my professional life and my personal life. Somedays, I forget to care for myself, so maybe it’s 14:00 hours, and I haven’t had my breakfast because time flies, and the day is being super busy. Another day I take 2 hours of lunch and then start to feel guilty because I have a lot of work…

Also, in my case, I love seeing my home super clean, so some days it’s difficult to find time to do things like laundry and cook… for these cases, it’s important to recognize that we can not do everything at the same time and ASK FOR HELP“.

Andreea: “I won’t lie and say that remote work made everything perfect, but it definitely made it a lot easier for me. The biggest shift for women (although it shouldn’t be just women) is balancing family life and work once you have children.

I am finding that whilst I am happy to -outsource- many aspects of our housework or cooking, time spent with my child is something I want to prioritise, and that is very difficult with a full-time job, especially if there is a requirement to be in the office several days a week.

Can we have it all? Yes. Will we feel like we do? Actually, no.

The day continues to have 24 hours, and there is simply no time to do it all; every day, something has to take priority. Sometimes it is your child or family. Sometimes, it is your work, and very rarely, it is you. You learn to accept the feelings of guilt and take things one day at a time“.

So, the main challenges our colleagues face in remote work, according to what women of Pluria have shared, are:

• Balancing personal and professional life, including finding time for self-care, household chores, and family responsibilities
• Prioritising time spent with children and family while also maintaining a full-time job
• Accepting that it is not possible to “have it all” and that something has to take priority each day leads to feelings of guilt

Advancing Professionally In A Remote Work Setting

Here, we will discuss women’s challenges when advancing professionally while working remotely. We will explore how remote work affects networking and professional development opportunities.

Natalia: “WFA (working from anywhere) has allowed me to grow in all the ways we can imagine. I increased my network because there are a lot of webinars, courses, talks, videos, and partnerships every day. So, it is super easy (for me) to develop the social part of networking.

Also, since I work remotely, I am in touch with other sales colleagues in different companies, and often we share different strategies and tactics that work for us.

Since I work remotely, I have been promoted, so professional development opportunities are great for me“.

Andreea: “The remote work trend has opened our horizons for much more.

If before, it was easier to connect and find opportunities and grow if you had face-to-face time with the right people, working remotely has made me realise that it is a small world.

I used to divide my connections into people I knew because we’d met, people I knew only virtually and assumed that my connection with them was less important. Now, I can build a great work relationship, drive the delivery of a project, or build a team with someone I’ve never met if we share the same vision and values. Yes, spending time together matters, but we should not let that stop us from networking and finding the best opportunities.”

So, this is how remote work has helped our colleagues unlock new opportunities:

• Remote work provides more opportunities for professional growth, including increased networking and access to webinars, courses, talks, and partnerships
• Working remotely allows for connections with colleagues from different companies, leading to sharing strategies and tactics
• Remote work has led to professional advancement for some individuals
• Remote work has broadened the possibilities for networking and finding opportunities, allowing for work relationships to be built with people who have not been met in person

Work-Life Balance in Remote Work

Work-life balance refers to the ability to manage both work and personal life to allow individuals to meet their responsibilities and pursue their interests outside of work.

For women in particular, work-life balance is crucial as they often carry disproportionate home activities and caregiving responsibilities, which can impact their ability to succeed professionally and enjoy their personal lives.

Cristina: “Remote work and flexibility help me achieve a better work-life balance because I can manage my work schedule based on personal appointments & responsibilities. My overall well-being has improved, as I am less stressed, and I feel more productive & confident in pursuing my career opportunities while having a happy personal life.” 

Andreea: “I am finally in charge of my own time, doing things my way and being able to decide most of the commitments I am part of. Even now, I am writing these answers from my phone, watching my baby nap outside on a beautiful spring day. This is the kind of freedom I did not imagine ten years ago and take for granted now. I also see a lot of possibilities in the future because my work is no longer significant to just a handful of people working close to me.

Remote work has levelled the field so that we all get the same (or no) FaceTime, and our work’s impact is more relevant than our immediate network.“

Adelaida: “I feel very comfortable working remotely, and apart from the obvious benefits that this job type brings such as flexibility, work from anywhere, time management, and no schedule.

I think it’s very valuable to have time for myself and know that if I don’t feel okay physically or emotionally, I can share time with myself to go through it because my job allows me to do so. For me, femininity is based on connection with oneself, and I find myself in these situations where I want to be alone, in my space, and doing my stuff.

For me, this is essential to balance my work and personal life, apart from the fact that I work with a marvelous team that supports me when I don’t feel up to anything.“

So, the main benefits highlighted by our colleagues are:

Remote work and flexibility help achieve a better work-life balance by allowing people to manage their work schedule based on personal appointments and responsibilities. This results in improved overall well-being, less stress, increased productivity, and the ability to pursue career opportunities while having a happy personal life.

Remote work provides the freedom to do things one’s way and control personal time. This kind of freedom has created more opportunities for people to have a significant impact through their work.

Working remotely provides valuable time for oneself, essential to balance work and personal life. Having a supportive team is also important in such situations.

Pluria’s Support for Women in Remote Work

In this section, we will explore how Pluria supports women who work remotely. The interviewee will share her experiences and examples of how Pluria has helped her in her career.

Natalia: “In Pluria, one of the founders is a super Woman I love so much, and 60% of the team oversees women. So we work in a place where our voices are heard and our ideas are valuable. I feel safe, supported, valued, and of course, Loved.

In our Colombia-based team, we have two super powerful women that are moms of babies between 1 and 2 years. Everybody understands and helps when is necessary.

This positively impacts us because we learn that we don’t have any limits every day, and Pluria is allowing us to practice our different roles as leaders, mothers, entrepreneurs, students, etc.”

Andreea: “One of the things I learned to appreciate in my work life is working with the right people. I resonated so well with Andrei and Gabriela, the co-founders of Pluria, that I wanted to join their efforts in making work from anywhere possible and building a great company to work for.

One of my dreams that always seemed impossible before the pandemic was to work completely remotely, from anywhere around the world, without guilt or expectation you have to make up for it somehow.
Within Pluria, I felt supported from day one as a woman juggling multiple roles when we started talking about this opportunity. Still, the most important thing is being able to design my role exactly as I see fit. That kind of freedom and responsibility help you grow to the next level in your personal and professional growth.”  

Adelaida: “I feel that Pluria is very supportive of me. I’m finishing my degree in business and government and public affairs, and the team is very respectful regarding my study sessions, lessons, transportation time, and more. They are also very patient as they understand that the job is not the only thing I have going on. Every team member is closer to being my friend than my coworker. I feel very safe, comfortable, and free working here.

This has impacted my career in several ways; first, I got to learn and experience many things that have enriched my knowledge. Secondly, I know as a worker what things I’m entitled to, which my limits are, and the importance of having a great environment in the workplace“.

Pluria is a company that values diversity and supports its female employees by allowing them to take on multiple roles and offering flexibility when needed. Natalia and Adelaida share how the company’s supportive culture positively impacts their personal and professional growth.

Andreea shares her experience of being able to work remotely and how it has opened up opportunities for her to build connections and work with people from different parts of the world. She also talks about how Pluria’s founders have created a work environment that fosters personal and professional growth by offering employees the freedom and responsibility to design their roles as they see fit.

Remote work offers numerous benefits but presents unique challenges for women.

By speaking with some of the women behind Pluria, we have explored some of these challenges and discussed strategies for addressing them. With a commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive environment, companies can enable all employees to thrive in a remote work environment.