Remote Work: Definition, Types, & How To Start

Remote work significantly differs from traditional work settings in a number of key ways:

Location:

The most noticeable difference is the location. In traditional work settings, employees commute to a designated office or workspace, whereas remote workers can perform their duties from any location that supports their work, such as their home, a co-working space, or even a coffee shop.

Flexibility:

Remote work often comes with greater flexibility. Employees can set their own schedules (within the constraints of their tasks and meetings), allowing for better work-life balance. This is a stark contrast to traditional 9-to-5 office jobs, where the working hours are typically fixed.

Commuting:

Remote work eliminates the need for commuting, which can save workers a significant amount of time and money. Traditional office work, on the other hand, usually involves daily commuting.

Collaboration and Communication:

In traditional settings, communication and collaboration happen in-person. With remote work, this all happens digitally using various tools for video conferencing, messaging, project management, and more. This requires a different skill set and level of comfort with technology.

Company Culture:

Traditional office environments offer in-person opportunities for team building and camaraderie, which can shape a company’s culture. Remote work requires a more intentional approach to building a cohesive culture, and it can be challenging to recreate the same sense of community online.

Talent Pool:

For employers, traditional work settings limit hiring to people living in or willing to relocate to a certain geographical area. In contrast, remote work allows businesses to recruit talent from anywhere in the world.

Office Expenses:

Traditional work settings incur costs for office space, utilities, and often for on-site perks like coffee and snacks. With remote work, these expenses are significantly reduced or even eliminated, although new types of expenses (like providing home office equipment or software subscriptions) can arise.

Hybrid remote work is a flexible work arrangement that allows employees to split their time between working remotely and working in a traditional office environment.

In a hybrid work model, employees might come into the office for certain days of the week, or for specific tasks or meetings, while working from home or another location for the rest of the time. For example, an employee might work from home on Mondays and Fridays, but work in the office Tuesday through Thursday.

The exact arrangement can vary widely depending on the organization and the role. Some companies may require employees to be in the office a certain number of days per week, while others might give employees the flexibility to decide when to come in.

The hybrid model aims to combine the best of both worlds: the flexibility and autonomy of remote work with the structure, collaboration, and social interaction of an office environment. This model has gained popularity as companies look for ways to adapt to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, while still maintaining some of the benefits of in-person work.

It’s important to note that the success of a hybrid model depends on careful planning and management. Companies need to establish clear policies and provide the necessary tools and technologies to support both in-office and remote work effectively. They also need to be mindful of maintaining inclusivity and equality between remote and in-office employees.

Telework and remote work are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but they can mean slightly different things depending on the context.

Remote Work:

As previously mentioned, remote work refers to a flexible work model where employees perform their professional duties outside of a traditional office setting.

They can work from home, a coworking space, a coffee shop, or anywhere else that allows them to complete their tasks. The key idea behind remote work is that work does not need to be done in a specific place to be executed successfully.

Telework:

Telework, or telecommuting, traditionally referred to a work arrangement in which employees, instead of traveling to the office, used telecommunications technology to work from home or a nearby satellite office.

Initially, the term was associated more with employees working from home several days a week but still having a significant in-office component to their job.

The main difference lies in the degree of flexibility. Telework often implies a setup where there is still a central office space that employees are tethered to, even if they’re not physically there every day. On the other hand, remote work could be fully untethered from a central office, allowing employees to work from any location.

However, as work practices continue to evolve, these definitions have become more fluid. Many people and organizations now use the terms telework and remote work interchangeably to refer to any work that is performed outside of a traditional office environment.