# Is remote work the future of work?
Remote work isn't a new concept. In fact, as we pointed out in earlier sections, the origins of remote work go back to the post WWII era. Large hybrid teams or work from home options have been mainstream for a long time. To push the boundaries, in recent years, companies like GitLab, InVision, ScrapingHub etc. have taken the lead in building 100% distributed teams of about 1,000 employees.
# Can remote work become the default?
The pertinent question, however, is whether the remote work movement is large enough to make it a default for future.
To answer this question, let's look at the factors that make remote work, work:
1. Access to global talent
If you are the founder or founding member of an early-stage startup, you would know how difficult it is to attract talent. Even startups like Superhuman (which has attracted a huge amount of attention in the recent times) find it challenging to onboard great employees.
Naturally, the choice then shifts to the global workforce where you can work with anyone from anywhere in the world and find the best person for the job, not just settle for someone less qualified.
I think that more companies will embrace remote work as the benefits become more apparent, organizational competency improves and the competition for talented people intensifies.
- Alondo Brewington, Maker, Podcaster, Digital Nomad
2. Improved retention
Employee retention is a significant challenge for companies as the average time spent by an individual drops every year. With remote, the great thing is you will never have employees leave your team due to change in personal circumstances (e.g. unable to travel to office or shifting back to hometown).
Few companies can offer salaries that can make someone move to a different city or country. Even fewer can do so for an expert in the field. Everyone reaches a point where the quality of life is more important than money, no matter how high the salary.
By disallowing remote work, companies are spending more and more money to tip the scale in their favor when hiring talent. Remote jobs can help provide high-quality employees that would either not be available or be too expensive to relocate.
- Francesco Agnoletto, Remote JS developer (Italy, Spain)
3. Higher productivity
Remote completely eliminates the need for commute and in effect, frees up a lot of time and energy for work. Apart from this, remote workers get a lot of flexibility in choosing their work schedule, which helps them align for maximum productivity.
Honestly, I needed a big change. If you live in Atlanta or anywhere in the United States, you know that in major cities, traffic can be a huge problem. In Atlanta, my commute was almost over an hour each way to my job in midtown. I loved what I did, but the treacherous commute was a drain.
- Chanell Turner, Freelance writer & remote work evangelist
# Addressing problems with remote and way forward
Remote then looks like a lucrative option for companies. And it works both ways. As the number of fully distributed or remote-first companies increases, candidates naturally are more inclined towards a remote role.
But the picture isn't just all rosy. There are pertinent problems around managing a remote team, setting processes, battling isolation, maintaining your own and your coworkers' well-being among others, that are a reality for remote work.
However, the good thing is that given the awareness of these problems, people are actively creating a knowledge base, sharing learnings on how to best tackle such problems - example, this guide 👻or GitLab's 3,000 page manual.
So, yes! We believe remote will surely become the default mode of work in future. A huge chunk of indicators signal the movement of companies embracing remote work on a wide scale. So it is time, you should prepare yourself to embrace remote 🙌
