The labor landscape continues to grow its vocabulary as businesses continuously grow and find new ways to operate. In the beginning remote work setup is limited to describing an arrangement that allows employees to work remotely–outside of the office. In recent years, remote work has expanded its technical definition and even developed other work models or arrangements.
Companies can now choose from several work setups like hybrid, remote-first, in-person, and telecommuting. With the many arrangements available for selection, some terminologies are a little confusing.
Two work setups that have resemblances and may be mistaken as the same are Telework and Remote Work. Understand the differences between the two arrangements and determine the better model for your business and employees.
What Is Telework?
According to Indeed, teleworking or telecommuting is a setup where employees work outside the office while communicating with their colleagues through telephone, or email. The prefix “tele-” means “from a distance.” So the technical definition of teleworking is “working from a distance.”
Telecommuting involves employees fulfilling their responsibilities from an alternate location other than a traditional office, such as a home office or a coffee shop. Teleworkers may also work in company buildings outside the main office, such as in another branch. The management often requires teleworkers to work and go online during designated hours.
On a regular schedule or occasionally, teleworkers are asked to come to the office to attend meetings or work closely with the team on a project.
What Is Remote Work?
Remote work is a working style that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. Such locations could include an employee’s home, a co-working or other shared space, a private office, or any other location. It is based on the concept that work does not need to be done in a specific place to be executed successfully.
Fully remote workers do not necessarily have to reside near their physical offices because they communicate with the team commonly through the Internet. In some cases, companies are fully remote and do not have an office to report to at all, allowing employees to live in other locations.
Difference Between Telework and Remote Work
While telework and remote work setups both allow employees to accomplish their jobs and responsibilities outside of a physical office, the two arrangements still have differences. Employers should have a clear understanding of the distinctions to decide which of the two setups is best for their business and employees.
Location
Telecommuting setup allows employees to work outside of the office but they are expected to live in a similar area or timezone of the employer. When an office branch is available in the area, some companies allow teleworkers to come in person and perform tasks there.
On the other hand, with remote working, employees perform tasks anywhere as long as they can secure access to stable internet connectivity. The Remote work model provides more flexibility for employees when it comes to location.
Communication
The telecommuting model promotes synchronous communication. According to a work-anywhere company, telework employees should be online during typical business hours and log online for virtual meetings. To handle telecommuting efficiently, telework employees are preferred to live in the same time zone as their employers.
Meanwhile, the remote working arrangement encourages asynchronous communication. Since remote working typically has global employees involved, fully remote companies allow workers to perform tasks at varied hours. Typically, workers from a remote location are not expected to regularly attend meetings outside of their timezone, or instantly answer messages. Working remotely operates efficiently for businesses whose employees are dispersed geographically.
Flexibility
When it comes to flexibility, telecommuting allows employees to accomplish their duties from an offsite location. However, sometimes, employers require workers to attend in-person meetings and events.
Remote working, on the other hand, has increased flexibility and does not oblige employees to come to the office even for meetings. A fully remote worker can perform work off-site even from different time zones. Given the work arrangement, a person working remotely can eliminate daily travel and attend meetings and events through video conferencing.
Telework vs remote Work
The three key points–location, communication, and flexibility, differentiate the two work arrangements.
Besides the subtle differences, the business models also have some similarities. An online report discussed how both remote work and telework enable employees to work outside of the traditional office space.
Given the key difference between remote work and telework, employers can evaluate and identify a better arrangement for their businesses.
Business Benefits Of Hiring Remote Workers
Since the pandemic happened, people have been given more flexibility to work remotely and accomplish tasks outside of a formal and official workplace.
Employees surely benefit from remote work, especially with the elimination of daily travel. Workers can perform their jobs at home, in a coffee shop, a coworking space, or any other location they prefer. The freedom to work anywhere relatively reduces street and improves the mental health of employees.
Business owners also have their fair share of benefits with the different models of remote work arrangements. Primarily, remote work setup favors companies because they save money on rent. Moreover, companies can also eliminate or lower their costs of electricity, cleaning services, office supplies, and government-mandated benefits.
Employers can connect with outsourcing companies who can connect them with skilled individuals living in another country. For example, Filipino remote workers have been present in the labor landscape for quite some time now. Western companies can now hire qualified Filipino employees at a more reasonable rate compared to hiring from more expensive regions. According to a report, home-based outsourcing in the Philippines can save a company up to 75% of the wages that Western employers normally pay a local talent. Businesses can save on resources normally spent on tax compliance, health insurance, and social security because remote employees commonly work as independent contractors.
Another benefit of hiring work-from-home employees is increased employee engagement. Employee engagement is the emotional and professional connection employees feel toward their organization, colleagues, and work, according to Tech Target.
High engagement leads to increased job satisfaction, performance, and employee retention. Moreover, remote employees with improved engagement also reflect a positive overall work experience. According to Forbes, one study found that happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees. When it comes to salespeople, happiness has an even greater impact, raising sales by 37%.
Connect With A Legit Outsourcing Company
Are you interested in hiring a fully remote worker or a fully remote team? Contact Remote Raven now and plan a meeting with the best talent acquisition specialists.
Remote Raven can help you look for qualified individuals in the Philippines and select the best candidate for the position.Schedule an appointment with Remote Raven and we will discuss how to create job listings and post a job ad on accredited websites in the Philippines.
The outsourcing agency has Filipino Recruitment Specialists with connections to skilled candidates. We can provide you with a list of competent applicants and perform background checks before you start hiring. Remote Raven handles all processes involved in the onboarding area of a business. As a business owner, your best solution to avoid being overwhelmed with the direct hiring process is delegating responsibility to a trustworthy agency.
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