Employee Perk: Work From Anywhere in a Company-Provided RV

One tech company not only allows its employees to work from anywhere, but lends them the wheels and the office equipment to do it.

Supply chain tech company project44 is offering its employees access to company-provided RVs that are equipped with mobile internet and fold-out desktops. In a partnership with “mobile suite” producer and operator Roameo, project44 team members can select their desired dates, pick up a vehicle and work from anywhere.

“At project44, ‘sharing the wheel’ isn’t just encouraged, it’s one of five core values practiced by our team every day,” Jett McCandless, founder and CEO at project44, said in a press release announcing the partnership. “Whether we’re ‘sharing the wheel’ to solve exciting industry challenges together, or a team member is at the wheel of a Roameo mobile suite headed toward a workplace in nature, the outcome is the same — inspired teams that are equipped to engage in meaningful collaboration that drives customer success from anywhere.”

Upscale ‘Mobile Suites’

The upscale “mobile suites” are RAM ProMaster-based RVs from Roameo, which offers rentals and sales of new and used campervans and conversions. Along with the office equipment, the vehicles used in the project44 partnership feature such amenities as a microwave, air conditioning and heat, and a hot water shower.

The two companies report the response from project44 team members has been immediate and positive. Within 10 minutes of the program being announced internally, the pilot program dates were booked out.

They are not the only ones enjoying time away in an RV. The RV industry has set a new monthly shipment record in each of the last 10 months, according to the RV Industry Association (RVIA). Class B motorhomes, the van campers like those produced by Roameo, have posted significant monthly increases for 16 straight months.

A Surge in RV Sales

“The substantial interest in Class B motorhomes reflects the younger, first-time buyers who are a big part of the surge in RV sales,” RVIA President and CEO Craig Kirby explained in the press release announcing these sales figures.

This interest in RVs and hitting the road also reflects the lifestyle changes brought on by the pandemic. As PYMNTS has reported, consumers have a renewed desire for outdoor domestic travel and are shunning cities’ tourist attractions, mass-market hotels and mass-market airlines.

The pandemic has also caused changes in the ways people work and the places they live. PYMNTS reported in June that the market for vacation homes has caught fire in counties nationwide, as sales of vacation properties have risen 16% since 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors.

During the work-from-home shift on display since the start of the pandemic, city-dwellers with means realized they could log in to work remotely from a vacation home just as easily as they could from their private home.

The project44 offer to let employees “Work in the Wild” with the help of the Roameo RVs brings together all these trends as well as the digital innovations that are driving the connected economy.