What Is Remote Work?

Remote working is a big trend at the moment and while it’s been possible to work outside of the traditional office space for a long while, until recently, employers have strenuously resisted the idea.

But now? The remote job is a real thing and more and more people are working from other locations but what exactly is remote work? And why would people want to do it?

Remote Work: Meaning

Remote work is simply a working style that allows you, the remote worker, to work remotely from pretty much any location you choose and you don’t need to attend the company’s physical office space to do your work.

Many companies have cut down the amount of offices that they use and now use remote employees in remote teams to drive their business forward.

And, of course, the coronavirus, Covid-19, led to a lot of remote employees being created as businesses sought to shed in-office employees in favor of those who work from home or even in co-working spaces.

We have a really handy remote work glossary too if you encounter terminology relating to remote jobs that you haven’t heard before.

How Do Remote Workers Do Their Work?

In most cases, people who work remotely, do their remote work in the same way that the non-remote employee would.

They get on the Internet and they work. They may have the freedom to set their own schedule too but that’s not essential to get remote work done.

Some people work from home when they work remotely and others do their remote work in substitutes for a company’s office such as a coworking space.

This can allow the fully remote individual to better match their lifestyle to their work routine. After all, why get into an office at 9 a.m. if you’re barely functional until lunchtime?

Why not start later and finish later? Then the entire team benefits from your increased productivity.

Why Would You Want A Remote Job?

OK, why would employees work on a remote team if they had the option to do so? Isn’t it better to run our professional lives from a regular office?

Basic Benefits To The Worker

There are some great benefits to workers who set their own work hours and places of work.

These include:

• Better work-life balance
  In theory, your hours spent on work should lead to better personal lives. However, recent studies show that some remote workers are working harder than ever before.
  
• Better Health and Wellness
  There is no doubt, however, that the freedom to choose your work environment tends to lead to greater levels of health and wellness as well as reduced stress and it leads to higher morale too.
  
• Boosts Your Passion For Work
  Many people find their workplace culture to be toxic and a drag on their enthusiasm for their work. They’re tired of office politics and while they enjoy activities like team building most of the time, they find it easier to work from a coffee shop than their desk at work. Being free to set your own methods of work can really bring back your love of a job.

Basic Benefits To The Employer

Of course, without the employer’s say so, most people are not going to be able to get out of the office but there are strong benefits to businesses too.

• Greater Levels Of Productivity
  One of the reasons that employees may not see greater work to life balance when working remotely is that they tend to work harder when they are out of sight of the boss. In recent studies around two-thirds of managers say that they see performance boosts when people work in the way that they want to.
  
• Cost-Cutting
  If you don’t need as much office space, you don’t have to pay for it. In fact, savings in “on costs” can be as great as $22,000 per employee, that’s a big reason that employers are OK when staff works remotely.
  
• Employee Engagement
  People spend much less time on job boards when they’re happy and setting their own work routines tends to make people happy.

Of course, employers will need to deploy cutting-edge the remote work management tools to get the most out of their remote workers.

Final Thoughts On Working Remotely

As you can see remote work makes sense and it’s quite easy to understand why employees and employers like it.

We could also wax lyrical about the environmental benefits of not commuting and working from home where you are responsible for the power bills. No wonder so many full-time jobs are going remote.

If you want to start working remotely then you might appreciate our recent piece on remote working statistics and the HBR Guide to remote working.

They both offer lots of useful information on remote work and remote jobs that can help you get what you want.