Words matter. It’s easy to slip into a habit of using incorrect words. However, over time, repeated use of incorrect words can give an impression of bias to those you speak with. It can even create bias in yourself. Intentionally choosing to use the correct words can help you communicate without bias and help you avoid creating bias in yourself.
The following words describe very different scenarios and are not interchangeable: “distributed teams,” “hybrid teams,” “virtual teams,” “virtual employee,” “remote work,” “remote employee,” “work from home,” and “work from anywhere,” “telework” and “telecommute”.
Distributed Team: This clearly and correctly describes a group of humans on a team who work together while being physically apart. If you are within immediate arms-reach of every person on your team, then your team is physically co-located. Otherwise, you are part of a distributed team. Because everyone on the physically distributed team is “remote” from someone else, everyone on the team shares equal responsibility to communicate clearly and coordinate their work with others. The term focuses is on how the humans coordinate working with each other. The term does not reference the physical location of humans, so remains accurate even when individuals work from a building with the company logo on top, from their home, a coworking space or another temporary location.
Remote: I usually hear this said by a human in a building with a company logo on it, referring to a coworker who is not at the same location. The “remote” coworker might be working in another office elsewhere with same company logo on it. Or at home. Or at a coworking space. The location of the other coworker doesn’t matter—all that matters is that they are somewhere else. The bias here is that the human speaking believes only the other human is remote. Technically, this is physically impossible. Both are “remote” from each other.
The bias signaled here is that the person thinks of themself as a “real” first-class human in the center-of-their-universe, doing important work, while they think of others as “remote” second-class human physically located elsewhere, doing less important work. This bias will influence new project assignments, bonuses and promotions. During layoffs, this bias can influence decision-makers to keep “real” humans and layoff “remote” humans.
Another bias signaled here is that the “remote” human carries all the responsibility for communicating clearly with the rest of the team—a bias that is incorrect and operationally harmful to the team. If any member of the team is not able to reach out and tap the shoulder of each and every other human on the team, then everyone is remote from someone—and everyone shares equal responsibility for communicating clearly across the entire distributed team.
Hybrid: This term has recently become popular, as employers and employees figure out different post-pandemic work arrangements. This is usually understood to be some compromise between all-in-the-office and all-at-home arrangements. So far, I’ve heard this term used to describe the following very different scenarios:
- The team coordinate schedules to all work from the one office location some days per week and all work from home some days. This ensures coworkers meet in person periodically, and this creates a busy office environment for those days, which can be appealing. However, this creates uncomfortable questions about the equity impact for those who cannot commute on those specific days. This requires maintaining a full size preexisting office to handle “peak days”, and creates uncomfortable optics about paying for an expensive office that is intentionally 100% empty on other days.
- The team each decide their individual schedules to each work from the one office location some days per week and each work from home some days. This flexibility better handles equity around individual life scheduling issues, but can create scenarios where coworkers who come in on different days never meet each other. This creates an office environment which is never fully empty, but never very full either–often described as what it was like working on the weekend. By avoiding “peak days”, this does allow for reduction in existing office space.
- The team consistently work from a range of different locations. Some at the one office location, some at other office locations, some at home. To me, this is not “hybrid”. This is a “distributed team”.
To avoid this confusion, I recommend avoiding this term for now. If you do use the term “hybrid”, be intentional and explicit about which scenario you intend. Also, keep in mind that others using the same term may be describing a different scenario.
Virtual: Similar to “remote” above, I usually hear this said by a human in a building with a company logo on it, referring to a coworker who is not at the same location. The coworker might be working in another office elsewhere with same company logo on it. Or at home. Or at a coworking space. The location of the other coworker doesn’t matter—all that matters is that they are somewhere else.
This term can signal a first-class / second-class mindset—thinking of themself as a real, more-important human, while they consider the other as a virtual(not-real), less-important human. Because of this mindset, these “virtual” humans are usually only assigned more mundane tasks, which obviously limit their career progression, promotion prospects and of course, retention. During layoffs, this bias can influence decision-makers to keep “real” humans and layoff “virtual” humans.
Telework: This term, and related term “telecommute,” originated in the 1970s[1] when people working outside the office had to use a telephone landline to “phone in” their work. Computer connection speeds were so slow and technology so expensive that video calls and transferring large files were usually impractical. Communications between coworkers were limited to audio-only phone calls / conference calls, emails with small attachments and slow character-based terminal connections.
Because of the physical size of computers and the need for a physical landline telephone, this was usually only done from a fixed home location with plenty of advance time needed for complicated setup and configuration.
Because of the limited communications between coworkers, this work arrangement was usually reserved for focused, short duration, solo work, or for more routine, mundane work—not prolonged collaborative work in a distributed team. Coordinating complicated work with others usually required returning to their desks in the one office location. Because of these technical restrictions, “teleworkers” usually only worked on more routine solo tasks, which obviously limited their career progression and promotion prospects. This impacted retention of teleworkers and discouraged employees from enrolling in a “telework” policy, even if offered.
In recent decades, technology has improved, so use of landline telephones and desktop computers are declining. Now that portable laptops, smartphones, high-speed internet and Wi-Fi are the norm, this term feels increasingly obsolete.
Work From Home (WFH): This “working from home” made sense when describing someone working from their fixed residential location outside of a dedicated physical corporate office location. Like “telework,” the use of a desktop computer and a physical landline telephone connection limited work to a predictable fixed location—typically their home. In recent decades, technology has improved. Now that portable laptops, smartphones, high-speed internet and Wi-Fi are the norm, this term feels increasingly obsolete.
Of course, some people do actually work online from their actual home, so sometimes this can feel accurate. However, it can become a habit, causing people to say “Working from Home” to describe someone working from a coworking space or a hotel conference venue—or when describing coworkers who travel the majority of the time. I’ve also heard the terms “road warrior” and “on the road” used to describe coworkers flying in planes or working from airport lounges. The related term “Work From Anywhere” is gaining popularity, and at least feel less inaccurate if there is a need to describe someone’s non-permanent physical work location.
Focusing on describing the physical location of coworkers, instead of how humans coordinate teamwork, concerns me. Describing the physical location incorrectly bothers me, so I avoid the term “work from home” unless it is somehow relevant to the discussion to know that the human is literally working in their place of residence.
Being intentionally precise and consistent about the words you use helps reduce bias and fosters a healthy culture in your distributed team.
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
”Inigo Montoya” in the movie “The Princess Bride”
(Originally published in “Distributed Teams“; updated and modified for length 29nov2023)
You must be logged in to post a comment.