Telecommuting vs Remote work information - work from home

Telecommuting vs Remote work information - work from home

Telecommuting vs Remote work information - work from home 

Is there a difference between telecommuting vs remote work or are the two terms the same concept with different names?

work from home

According to Jobberman Nigeria's recent workplace productivity report, "Millennials & The Digital Marketplace: How to Keep Millenials Productive in the Workplace," 25% of respondents confirmed the fact that they work from home.

Meanwhile, current trends in the workplace have shown that remote working and telecommuting are concepts that have grown exponentially and been embraced in Nigeria and the rest of the world.

What is remote work?: Remote work is a non-traditional workplace concept, which allows you as an employee to work outside of your employer's office environment. The theory is based on the concept that employees do not need to micromanage or work from a specific location in order to successfully perform assigned tasks.

What is Telecommuting?: Telecommuting is a work situation where an employee works offsite. Usually from home, an agreed location or cafe but also communicates with other employees via telephone, chat, e-mail and other Internet-related means of communication.

The difference between telecommuting vs remote work 

Regardless of how similar remote work and telecommuting may seem, there are some clear differences. Here's a quick look at three things that differentiate them:

Restrictions: Remote work allows you to work from anywhere in the world without restrictions or being required by your employer to come into the office for FaceTime but with telecommuting, you have to work on certain days. It is necessary to come to the office and it may also be necessary to be at a certain place for purposes such as taxation.

Location: Telecommuting colleagues may be in one place but for remote work, there may be no colleagues and where you have them, they will be located all over the world.

Team Building: Team building and meeting activities are essential for telecommuters while remote workers are globally displaced to regularly conduct such activities.

Final Words on Telecommuting vs remote work

In most cases the two concepts are used interchangeably but most of their inherent characteristics show that they are distinct. Recent findings in the Nigerian Millennial Survey show that 65% of millennials prefer to work from the workplace, 9% from the library, 1% from a coffee shop and 25% from home.

However, while global numbers may vary, trends suggest that adoption of the concept of telecommuting vs remote work will continue to grow in the Nigerian and pan-African markets.