HACKER Q&A
📣 itsmefaz

What is the difference b/w WFH, Permanent WFH, Remote Work, Flexible?


With the latest trend/hype/evolution in development across the tech culture, what is the difference between all these terms that are floating around.

This is in reference to Shopify, Square, Twitter, Facebook's recent announcement.

Thanks

  👤 blaser-waffle Accepted Answer ✓
Terminology, mostly.

WFH just means you're at home. Usually there is a policy about it, e.g. "only 1 day a week" or "3 days a month" or "with Mgmt approval" etc.

Flexible is just a WFH policy that's a lot more open. I'm 100% remote but my coworkers are local and are obligated to go into the office at least once a week, sometimes more for big meetings or sensitive discussions.

Permanent work from home & remote are more or less the same thing. There may be a contextual difference, depending on if there are expectations that you're near an office, or if you can just piss-off to Estonia or Indonesia or wherever. I'm remote, but with a clear expectation that I stay in country, mostly for security and access reasons.

OTOH, I knew a Swedish dev who rented a VW Van and packed in spare batteries, a mattress, and good satellite internet, and then worked remotely driving across Australia -- that's about as remote as it comes.