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What is Remote Work or Remote Working?

Remote Work (or Remote Working) is a HR term used to describe a situation in which an employee works mainly from home and communicates with the company by email and telephone (according to the remote work definition provided by the Cambridge Dictionary). In the current times, we could change ‘by email and telephone’ for ‘various media’ as online project management platforms, instant messaging systems and video conferences have become and inextricable part of communication means required for efficient remote working.

What are Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Work? 8 Benefits and 8 Challenges of Remote Work

Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Work are numerous. There are continuous studies carried out to investigate whether ‘Remote Work from home’ model is actually beneficial to the company and its employees. Below is the list of the biggest benefits and challenges for remote workers suggested by Remote Work Research:

Remote Work Benefits:

1/ Increase in Productivity (teleworkers are said to be 35-40% more productive than their office counterparts).
2/ Better Work-Life Balance (thanks to less time spent commuting).
3/ Improved Employees’ Well-Being (no lunch rush, no long hours in the office).
4/ Access to a Wider Pool of Applicants (from distant geographical locations, those who wouldn’t be able to commute to the office).
5/ Rise in the employee’s autonomy (higher independence feeling followed by higher engagement in a project).
6/ Increase in Profitability (less office space required, lower costs of hiring part-time telecommuters).
7/ Increased Employee Retention (an average of 12% turnover reduction after a remote work agreement offers) 8/ Positive Impact on the Environment (for example by reduced travels).

Remote Work Challenges:

1/ Poor Time Management (loosing track of time, loosing time-related routine).
2/ Remote Work Loneliness (feeling trapped at home, lack of contact with the team and other people outside the house).
3/ Technology Issues (connection and equipment problems).
4/ Team Communication (insufficient or poorly managed team communication).
5/ Distractions (threat of a decrease in productivity due to distractions available at home).
6/ Decreased Well-Being (due to bad health habits, working too much, losing work-life balance…).
7/Difficulties with Unplugging After Work (loosing barriers between work/office and home/free time).
8/Time zones differences.

What are Remote Work Rules and Remote Work Etiquette?

Working from home requires establishing clear rules and following remote work etiquette by both remote workers and their company.

Remote Work Rules for Companies may include:

1/ Determining how employees will work remotely.
2/ Providing the right tools for successful and secure work.
3/ Establishing clear rules about working from home.
4/ Planning time for collaboration and socializing.
5/ Clearly outlining the legal right that remote workers have.

You can read more on establishing a remote work policy for your firm here.

Remote Work Rules for a Teleworker could be establish as follows:

1/Creating a dedicated workspace.
2/ Setting a schedule and sticking to it.
3/ Paying attention to adequate and frequent communication with your Team.
4/ Changing scenery from time to time.
5/ Separating your professional and personal lives.

Visit The New Rules For Remote Work: Pandemic Edition in Harvard Business Review here and here to see how you can adjust your Remote Work Rules to the times of the COVID-19 crisis.

What are Remote Work Trends?

Remote Work Trend is highly upward slopping as Remote Work Opportunities have been significantly increasing over past few years. Full-time and part-time remote jobs are offered by more and more companies. A vast number of telework job offers is available to freelance job seekers such as remote graphic designers, remote writers and virtual assistants. Overall, remote work experience is as highly valued by employers as on-site work.