During the quarantine and lockdowns of 2020 due to COVID, up to 65% of American workers got a small taste of what working from home was like. With the ability to enjoy a better work-life balance, increase their productivity, and spend time with family, many workers made a mental choice to never return to the office. Fast-forward almost 18 months later and the sentiment hasn’t changed. In the midst of the Great Resignation, workers are looking for ways to prevent burnout and stress that made their onsite jobs unbearable, and this led to yet another trend: the search for low stress remote jobs.
Whether realistic or not, American expectations of what a job is and what it should be continue to push a rift between employers and employees. But that doesn’t mean that a low stress remote job is unrealistic. In the quest for a better quality of work and life, you only need to search in the right place.
What Do Low Stress Remote Jobs Have in Common?
Contrary to popular belief, wages and compensation no longer top the list of job requirements for remote workers. Although salary is still important, workers value jobs that combine great working conditions with a livable wage based on a person’s expertise. Yet rather than talking about what makes a low-stress job, a more accurate approach is identifying what makes a high-stress job. Most high-stress jobs have these common characteristics:
- Micromanagement or lack of autonomy
- Constant hard deadlines
- Interacting with the public
- Poor or unclear expectations and transparency
- Mistrust in management or direct superiors
- Lack of feedback or praise
- Tolerance of socially unacceptable behavior
- Never being “off the clock”
- Lack of advancement opportunities
- Toxic work environment
If you experience one or more of these in your job, you may feel your stress levels consistently rise, which can lead to apathy and burnout, which in turn, leads to poor job performance.
The Decision to Find a Low Stress Remote Job
Even with the knowledge of what creates a high stress job, the decision to leave a position in search of a low stress job is vexing. From a mental and emotional standpoint, losing camaraderie with coworkers or a job that you love (outside of stress) can feel like a zero-sum situation.
However, you may want to take some inspiration from the 34 million workers that have left their jobs since the start of April 2021. Instead of going to work in an environment that makes their job unenjoyable, these individuals took a leap of faith. If you want to look inwardly, think about what aspects you have that make you a strong candidate for a low stress remote job. Some ideas might include:
- Self-starter
- Strong work ethic
- Ability and knowledge of how remote jobs work
- Strong communication skills
- Experience and expertise
By focusing on your strong points, you can develop the confidence that brighter horizons lie ahead. Belief in yourself and your abilities isn’t innate; you may have to work on them. But by focusing on yourself, building skills in the meantime, and moonlighting to offset any loss in income, you should be able to weather the storm until you find the ideal low stress remote job.
The Best Low Stress Remote Jobs
Now that you’re aware of what causes a high-stress job and how to build confidence for the unknown facets of your short-term hiatus from work, you can focus your energy on low stress remote jobs that you’re qualified for. If you need a bit of inspiration, check out this list of some of the best low stress remote jobs, what they entail, and whether you’re an ideal fit.
Note: All job growth rates and median salaries are taken from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
1. Remote Web Developer
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: According to U.S. News & World Report, a remote web developer experiences the lowest stress of any job in the country. The reasons behind the low stress of the position include flexible hours, the ability to work from anywhere with an internet connection, and the opportunity to work as an employee, independent contractor, or freelancer.
Job Growth Rate: 13%
Annual Median Salary: $77,200
Education Level: Four-year degree in computer science or a computer-related field or equivalent experience
Job Description: Web developers design and maintain websites for their employer or client(s). With knowledge of web design, CSS, and programming languages, they can take the vision of a client and turn it into a website that drives curiosity, conversions, and revenues.
2. Remote Tutor
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: The educational field isn’t typically synonymous with low stress. Many teachers are stretched to their limits mentally, physically, and economically throughout the year. However, tutoring isn’t the same. With the ability to set your own hours (typically), teach who you want and what you want, and only take on a workload you’re comfortable with, tutoring is another great low stress remote job.
Job Growth Rate: N/A
Annual Median Salary: $40,590
Education Level: Mostly four-year degree, but high school diploma or two-year degree for tutoring young children or high school students
Job Description: A tutor is a secondary education professional that provides instruction beyond what a student learns in the classroom. While they can help their students complete classroom work or study for a test, they may also provide study guides, practice exams, and other supplementary tools that help students excel in the classroom or on standardized testing.
Job Description: A tutor is a secondary education professional that provides instruction beyond what a student learns in the classroom. While they can help their students complete classroom work or study for a test, they may also provide study guides, practice exams, and other supplementary tools that help students excel in the classroom or on standardized testing.
3. Remote Data Scientist
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: Data scientist is a notably low stress job because of the autonomy and lack of deadlines in most cases. As a data scientist, you’re usually given a task and a longer time frame than other positions to complete said task. Furthermore, data science is a repetitive job, which allows you to get into a groove of productivity.
Job Growth Rate: N/A
Annual Median Salary: $98,230
Education Level: Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field
Job Description: Data scientists allow businesses and organizations to find solutions to those hard-to-answer questions through data. By analyzing, interpreting, and processing data, data scientists create real-world solutions based simply on numbers, percentages, and factual evidence.
4. Remote Technical Writer
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: Like data scientists, technical writers may have deadlines, but they’re often far longer than necessary to complete the task. Autonomy is also a huge part of being a technical writer, providing the ability to work when you want and as long as you want.
Job Growth Rate: 12%
Annual Median Salary: $74,650
Education Level: Bachelor’s degree
Job Description: Unlike content writers or authors, technical writers use their knowledge and writing prowess to boil down complex topics into easy-to-read, digestible information. They work in a variety of industries to create how-to guides, sales manuals, instruction manuals, and other supporting documents that allow people to understand topics they aren’t necessarily familiar with.
5. Remote Dietitian or Nutritionist
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: Dietitians and nutritionists are at the top of the low stress remote jobs list because you’re basically acting as a consultant. Unlike other healthcare positions, you work one-on-one with clients to improve their diet and overall health. As a result, you can choose your own hours while also seeing your client improve their overall well-being.
Job Growth Rate: 11%
Annual Median Salary: $63,090
Education Level: Four-year degree in nutrition or a health-related field
Job Description: A dietitian or nutritionist is a healthcare professional that enables people to live healthier lives by instructing clients on what and how much to eat. By transforming a person’s diet and nutritional intake, dietitians and nutritionists can build a better tomorrow for their clients through eating habits and a healthier overall lifestyle.
6. Remote Statistician
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: The key to low stress for a statistician is the ability to work flexible hours. In most cases, you may work a normal 40-hour workweek without any additional tasks in your own free time.
Job Growth Rate: 33%
Annual Median Salary: $93,290
Education Level: Master’s degree in statistics or mathematics; entry-level jobs may only require a bachelor’s degree
Job Description: Similar to data scientists, statisticians use data and figures to compute solutions to real-world problems within a company or organization. As a valuable position in a wide range of industries, they analyze and interpret the data given to them to provide answers to operational inefficiencies, marketing downfalls, or other shortcomings that are reducing a business’s bottom line.
7. Remote Editor
What Makes It a Low Stress Remote Job: Editing is a low stress remote job, even though you may work on deadlines. But if you’re a self-starter and organized, you can often work your own hours. In most cases, you also don’t have to answer to a superior; what you say or do to a writer’s work is entirely up to you.
Job Growth Rate: 5%
Annual Median Salary: $63,400
Education Level: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience/portfolio
Job Description: An editor takes a written piece of work and modifies it for punctuation, syntax, grammar, and overall structure. In short, they make the writer better by appealing to the reader. Some editors may also work in UX/UI for websites, turning a webpage into a more aesthetically pleasing work instead of just words on a page.
The Low Stress Solution
While no one single solution exists to reduce stress in the workplace, using all the resources you can put you in a better position for happiness in both work and your personal life. So if you’ve never held a remote job or you’ve become enamored with the idea of working remotely, let Virtual Vocations help.
As a premier name in the remote work world, Virtual Vocations provides all the resources you need to find a great remote job that gels with your goals, personal desires, and work-life balance. Sign up with Virtual Vocations today to see how we can help you find the perfect low stress remote job!
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