Teleworking and remote working - what's the difference?

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a significant spread of remote working or teleworking. What is the difference between these two forms of work?

Remote working vs. teleworking

The outbreak of coronavirus epidemic has made the so-called “work from home” more common. About 90% of employees and 71%of employers believe that this form of providing work will enjoy growing popularity even after the pandemic. Nowadays, employers who want to commission work from home can choose between two forms of work provision – remote working and teleworking.

Remote working has been regulated by law very recently, under the so-called anti-crisis shield. Teleworking, however, has been present in the provisions of the Labour Code for a long time.

The main differences between remote working and teleworking:

	Remote working	Teleworking
Legal basis	Act on special arrangements for the prevention, counteraction and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them (a regulation under the Labour Code is planned)	Labour Code (Chapter IIb)
Implementation method	employer’s order, consent of an employee is not necessary and the order to work remotely does not require changes to the contract	in the contract, agreement or regulations, the consent of an employee is required
Period of time	for a fixed period of time	for an indefinite period of time
Place of work	outside the place of permanent work	outside the company
Means to provide work	employer should provide employees with the necessary equipment, but it is also possible for an employee to use his or her own equipment but respecting the protection of confidential information and other legally protected secrets; furthermore, remote working does not have to be provided via electronic means of communication	means of electronic communication; employer should provide employees with the equipment necessary to perform work – it is possible to use the employee’s equipment for teleworking, but only if the employee receives an appropriate financial equivalent
Rules of implementation	recording of task performance may be specified in the content of the remote work order; an employee should have the conditions (technical conditions and skills) to work remotely; terms and conditions of employment and job descriptions remain unchanged	regularity of work; employee uses his/her own equipment, he/she is entitled to a financial equivalent; the scope of responsibilities does not change as the work form changes; an employee working in this way may not be treated less favourably than other employees; a scope of task performance records may be specified under the contract of employment, the agreement with an employee or under the regulations;
Method of cancellation	when the provisions of the Act regulating remote work expire (they expire on 27 September 2020) or according to the will of the parties	if teleworking is undertaken during the period of employment, cancellation at the request of one of the parties to the contract within 3 months from the date of commencing work in this form, and in other cases, the procedure of agreement between the parties or amending termination shall apply

To conclude, an employer who wants to commission work from home may choose between teleworking and remote working. However, it should be remembered that teleworking must be implemented with the consent of an employee. Such consent is not required for the introduction of remote working (an employee who refuses to work remotely may be punished with a disciplinary penalty). Another important difference is the duration – remote work can be ordered for a fixed period of time and teleworking for an indefinite period of time.

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Teleworking and remote working – what’s the difference?

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a significant spread of remote working or teleworking. What is the difference between these two forms of work?

Remote working vs. teleworking

The main differences between remote working and teleworking:

See also

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