I was thinking OP could give everyone their own VM to use as a workstation so they could access the files on the server easily, and/or run programs based on their work. When their coworkers leave, OP can easily destroy the VM and the resources would be automatically reallocated (depending on the servers configuration). With a physical device, the storage on that device is only allocated to that device and can’t be shared when it’s not in use
Me, personally? I have multiple VMs for different contexts: my teaching job (super clean, video sharing tools, presentation tools), gaming, media server (has scripts to download stuff off of YouTube), server management (just a regular Debian install), and a fuck around box (I just use it to try new OSs like Fedora, or try breaking OSs like deleting the system32 folder on windows)
I don’t know much bout any of those places, but I’d think you’d want to lean towards living in a location that matches your skillset, so you can find work more easily. If you’re an accountant, you’d probably want to live near a financial district. If you’re a farmer, you’d probably want to live near a farm. If you have a fully remote job, still find a place in/near a hub for that type of work.