Flexibility in when to work and where to work. What are the benefits of remote work?

The United States is among the top countries for remote working according to a Harvard Business Review study of around 39,000 employees in 2023. All across the world, there is a spike in both people’s desire to be able to work from home and actual work from home levels. 

Defining the flexibility of remote work 

Remote work covers a variety of terms such as work from home, virtual job, remote job, home-based job, and telecommuting. They all mean that work is not done inside a brick-and-mortar building or office. 

Remote jobs fall into three kinds based on the location of workers. 

• Remote jobs that can be done wherever you are in the United States 
• International jobs that are based outside of the US
• City or state-based work which require the worker to be present in a specific city or state in the US

Remote work offers levels of remote work flexibility. 

• Fully remote work allows workers to work from home 100% of the time, and there is no need to be physically present at the office at any time. 
• Hybrid remote work happens when workers are required to work in the office physically some days of the week, depending on company policy. But other days of the week, workers can do their job remotely. 
• Optional remote work gives workers the choice to work home-based,  go to the office, or a combination of both.

Remote work is divided into types based on work schedule flexibility. 

• Working during company business hours. Workers follow the work schedule set by the company. It could be the usual 9 am to 5 pm, or a different work shift defined by company policy. 

• Working during important hours and working flexibly for the remaining hours. Some companies require their workers to work at key hours during a shift. It is usually a range of 2-4 hours where everybody in the team, regardless of their location, would be working at the same time. For the remaining hours of the shift, workers are free to decide to finish their work at any time of the day. 

As we can see, remote work has evolved, giving workers options on when, where and how they choose to work. 

You might have heard of the increasing push from big companies to have workers return to the office after the official end of the Covid-19 health emergency was declared, and the resistance of workers to respond to the call to work from the office again. 

Why do more people like working from home? 

Survey after survey have shown that employees now value something more than they did before the pandemic happened. Flexibility! Some respondents surveyed even said that they are ready to quit their job if their option to work from home was removed.

Others say they are willing to take pay cuts as long as they are allowed to be home-based workers. 

Workers who work from home say they experience more happiness in life, than when they were office-based. A Forbes study even found that remote workers were 20% happier than those who did not have the option to work from home. When they are happy with their work situation, they also tend to be happier with their life overall. Thus, some psychologists support the idea that when employees are happier, they are more likely to be productive at work. This would bring more positive results to the companies they work for. Work from home promotes more chances for work-life balance. 

With the options that remote work offers, the flexibility in terms of worker location, work flexibility and schedule, remote work offers are highly in-demand. It seems that remote work is here to stay. 

If you are looking for health care and mental health work anywhere in the US, explore hundreds of high-quality job listings here!