remote work
Enable an AI agent to recognise a remote-work arrangement, assess whether it remains workable and authorised, and determine which adjustments require action or approval.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise a remote-work arrangement, assess whether it remains workable and authorised, and determine which adjustments require action or approval.
Remote work is an employment or contracting arrangement in which the worker performs their job from a location other than the employer's premises, typically using digital communications to remain connected to the organisation.
It can be Classify a proposed or observed work pattern and identify missing evidence needed to recognise it as remote work.; Check a proposed remote location or schedule against recorded boundaries and route unresolved conditions to the appropriate authority.; Identify remote execution blockers and propose equipment, access, workspace or coordination adjustments.; Compare planned and observed remote attendance, availability and operating conditions over a defined period.; Prepare an evidence-linked review of arrangement viability using agreed outcomes and reported difficulties.; Propose, record or enact arrangement changes within the agent's delegated authority, preserving approvals and effective dates..
Distinguishing features
Record where covered work occurs relative to designated employer or client premises; flexible hours alone do not establish remote work.
Record the reason for location independence; work at a customer site or in the field should not automatically be treated as remote work when that location is intrinsic to the task.
Record the agreed remote and on-site pattern; a hybrid arrangement contains remote work but does not imply unrestricted location choice.
Record the organisational relationship separately from location; self-employment, freelancing and outsourcing do not by themselves establish a remote-work arrangement.
Distinguish an approved arrangement from an observed episode of working elsewhere, including temporary or emergency episodes.
Scope
+ The people, work responsibilities and organisational relationships covered by the arrangement
+ Permitted remote locations, location restrictions and required on-site attendance
+ Working-time expectations, availability windows and coordination across locations
+ Workspace, equipment, connectivity and information-access conditions needed for remote execution
+ Evidence of arrangement viability, exceptions, approvals and changes
- Employment contracts, compensation and benefits as complete employment models
- Task decomposition, project plans and deliverable content
- Enterprise cybersecurity controls and incident management beyond arrangement-specific dependencies
- Tax, immigration and employment-law determinations owned by jurisdiction-specific models
- Property management and the complete physical design of workplaces
- Clinical health assessments and personal circumstances unrelated to operating the arrangement
Characteristics
- Covered work relationship
- Person or team linked to employer or client, role and covered responsibilities Identifies whose work the arrangement governs and prevents applying it to unrelated work.
- Remote-work pattern
- Fully remote, fixed hybrid, variable hybrid, occasional, temporary, unresolved Distinguishes recurring expectations from isolated episodes.
- Remote share
- Percentage of covered working hours over a stated period; planned or observed Makes the extent of remote work comparable without assuming that all working days have equal duration.
- Permitted location boundary
- Named workspace, approved locality, approved jurisdictions, conditional location choice, unresolved Allows proposed location changes to be checked against the arrangement.
- Required on-site presence
- Linked site, attendance trigger, frequency and notice requirement Exposes obligations that may limit travel or require changing the remote pattern.
- Coordination overlap
- Hours of shared availability per stated workday or week, with time zones and effective dates Shows whether necessary synchronous work can occur.
- Remote operating readiness
- Ready, ready with conditions, impaired, blocked, unassessed Summarises whether required workspace, equipment, connectivity and access conditions are satisfied.
- Arrangement authorisation
- Proposed, approved, conditionally approved, suspended, expired, declined, unknown Separates technical ability to work remotely from permission to do so.
- Review authority
- Linked decision-maker, decision scope and escalation route Identifies who may approve exceptions or change the arrangement.
- Viability assessment
- Supported, supported with concerns, unsupported, insufficient evidence; dated and evidence-linked Supports review without equating online presence with effective work.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 31 questions.
Arrangement identity and coverage Establishes what counts as this remote-work arrangement and which work it covers.
An agent must distinguish a governed working arrangement from location observations, flexible hours and neighbouring forms of work.
Covered people and work
Identifies the participants and responsibilities to which remote working conditions apply.
Remote-work coverage
Records the person or team, employer or client, and responsibilities included in the arrangement, with explicit exclusions.
- Whose work is covered, for which employer or client, and which responsibilities are included? definition
- Which responsibilities require physical presence or fall under a different working arrangement? boundary
Arrangement versus episode
Separates an established remote pattern from a temporary exception or unverified observation.
Pattern and recognition basis
Records the remote pattern, its effective period and the evidence supporting its classification.
- Is this fully remote, hybrid, occasional or temporary work, and over what period does that classification apply? definition
- Which agreement, declaration or attendance evidence supports the classification, and does it describe planned or actual practice? provenance
Location and presence boundaries Describes where remote work may occur and when presence at designated premises is required.
Remote status alone does not establish permission to work from any place or to miss required physical attendance.
Permitted remote locations
Captures location permissions and dependencies without attempting to decide jurisdiction-specific obligations.
Location permission envelope
Records approved location boundaries, conditional locations and references to required specialist determinations.
- Which workspaces, localities or jurisdictions are permitted, prohibited or awaiting a decision? boundary
- What approval or specialist determination is required before the worker changes location? action
Remote and on-site pattern
Makes physical attendance commitments and their interaction with remote working explicit.
Presence obligations
Records scheduled and event-triggered attendance, applicable sites, notice expectations and planned versus observed remote share.
- Which days, activities or events require attendance at which premises, and with how much notice? boundary
- What proportion of covered working hours was planned and actually worked remotely during the review period? measurement
Distributed work coordination Captures how participants coordinate when they do not share a workplace.
An agent needs explicit availability and handoff expectations to assess whether physical separation obstructs dependent work.
Availability across time zones
Records shared working windows and limits on expected responsiveness.
Availability agreement
Represents required overlap, response expectations and unavailable periods using explicit time zones and effective dates.
- What shared availability and response windows are agreed, in which time zones, and for which dates? definition
- How much usable overlap remains after schedules, leave and time-zone changes are accounted for? measurement
Handoffs and participation
Describes how remote participants receive context, transfer work and participate in decisions.
Remote coordination path
Records channels and practices for asynchronous handoffs, shared decisions and escalation when a colleague is unavailable.
- Where must handoff context and decisions be recorded so remote participants can act without being physically present? definition
- What should happen when a handoff stalls, a remote participant cannot join, or an urgent issue occurs outside agreed availability? action
Remote execution conditions Captures the practical conditions required to perform covered work from permitted remote locations.
Location permission is insufficient if equipment, connectivity, workspace conditions or permitted information access prevent the work.
Workspace and connectivity
Records task-relevant workspace and technical requirements with proportionate evidence.
Remote workspace readiness
Tracks required equipment, connectivity, accessibility and workspace conditions, including gaps and responsibility for resolving them.
- Which equipment, connection capabilities and workspace conditions does the covered work require? definition
- Which requirements are satisfied, impaired or unassessed, and what dated evidence supports that state? measurement
- Who can resolve each gap, and what fallback allows work to continue if the remote workspace becomes unusable? action
Remote access and confidentiality
Links remote work to applicable device, system-access and information-handling conditions.
Remote information-access boundary
Records which resources may be accessed from the arrangement's devices and locations, with references to controlling policies.
- Which systems, information and conversations may be accessed or handled from each permitted remote setting? boundary
- Which current policy or access decision establishes those conditions? provenance
- Which affected activities must pause or move to an approved setting when access or confidentiality conditions fail? action
Authorisation and viability review Connects permission to operate the arrangement with evidence about whether it continues to work.
An agent must distinguish approval from effectiveness and know when evidence warrants review rather than unilateral change.
Approval and change control
Records decision authority, active conditions and the process for changing or ending the arrangement.
Arrangement decision record
Captures approval state, decision source, effective dates, review triggers and the agent's permitted actions.
- Who authorised the arrangement, under which recorded conditions, and for what effective period? provenance
- Which changes may the agent make, which require approval, and what events trigger review, suspension or expiry? action
Outcomes and working experience
Assesses arrangement viability using agreed work evidence and participants' reported experience.
Remote arrangement viability
Records agreed outcome indicators, coordination difficulties, reported workload or isolation concerns, and uncertainty about whether remote working caused observed changes.
- What do agreed work outcomes, coordination evidence and participant reports indicate about the arrangement during the review period? measurement
- Which observations plausibly concern the remote arrangement, and which cannot be separated from role, workload or organisational changes? boundary
- What adjustment or time-limited trial is justified, who must approve it, and how will its effect be reviewed? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- fully remote / work-from-anywhere
- hybrid / partial remote
- work from home (WFH)
- telecommuting / telework
- distributed / remote-first organisation
- nomadic / digital-nomad work
- occasional / ad-hoc remote
- offshore or nearshore remote
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q628099 - item 'remote work' (also labelled telecommuting / telework)
- ILO / ICSE-18 related concept - home-based work / telework as a place-of-work arrangement, not an ICSE status-in-employment code - ILO treats location of work separately from employment status
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- ILO Convention C177 Home Work Convention, 1996 (International Labour Organization) - covers homeworkers, overlapping but not identical to remote knowledge work
- EU Framework Agreement on Telework, 2002 (ETUC, UNICE/UEAPME, CEEP) - voluntary social-partner agreement defining telework in the EU
- Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions (European Union) - information duties that can include place of work
- Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance (European Union) - flexible working including remote arrangements in member states
- OSH Framework Directive 89/391/EEC (European Union) - employer duty of care extends to the remote workplace
- US Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as administered by the Department of Labor - wage-and-hour rules still apply to remote non-exempt employees
- National telework / right-to-request-flexible-work statutes (e.g. Netherlands Wet flexibel werken; UK Employment Rights Act flexible-working provisions; Portugal and Spain post-2020 telework laws)
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Knowledge-sector employees working from a home office, coworking space, or while travelling, connected by video, chat, and document systems
- Public-sector telework programmes that designate eligible job series and required in-office days
- Employers using remote work as a recruitment and retention tool, or as a cost measure reducing office footprint
- Cross-border remote work (digital nomads, 'work from anywhere' policies) that triggers tax, social-security, and immigration questions
- Call-centre, IT-support, and back-office functions delivered from workers' homes rather than a company site
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- share of workers who telework at least occasionally - roughly 10-40 of employed persons in high-income economies after 2020, much lower in many middle-income economies - percent of employed persons
- usual days worked away from the employer's premises per week - 0-5; hybrid commonly 2-3 remote days - days per week
- commute time avoided - typically 0.5-2 hours per remote day in large cities - hours per day
- employer office space per remote-eligible worker - often reduced from ~10-20 toward desk-sharing ratios below 1 desk per person - square metres per worker, or desks per worker
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Isolation, overwork, and blurred work-life boundaries, including unpaid overtime and always-on messaging
- Ergonomic injury and inadequate home workstations (poor seating, lighting, display height)
- Psychosocial risk: reduced informal learning, weaker supervision fairness, and career-progression bias against remote staff
- Information-security and data-protection exposure on domestic networks and shared housing
- Misclassification and wage-and-hour non-compliance when remote work hides hours or piece-rate pressure
- Cross-border tax, permanent-establishment, visa, and social-security failures when the worker's location is not the contracted one
- Unequal access: jobs, broadband, housing, and care responsibilities that make remote work unavailable or unsafe for some workers
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- United States: 'remote work' and 'work from home' dominate HR language; 'telework' remains the federal-government term (Telework Enhancement Act)
- European Union / UK: 'telework' is the legal and statistical term; several member states enacted specific telework laws after 2020
- ILO and much of the Global South: 'home work' historically meant industrial outwork and platform-mediated home production, not white-collar remote jobs
- Japan and parts of East Asia: 'telework' (テレワーク) was promoted as a labour-policy tool, with slower private-sector uptake than in North America/Northern Europe
- Digital-nomad visa regimes (Estonia, Portugal, Spain, several Caribbean and Latin American states) treat location-independent remote work as a migration category
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- home work / industrial homework - Home work is production of goods or services under an employment or contracting relationship in the worker's home, often piece-rate and historically industrial; remote work in the current knowledge-economy sense is typically ICT-mediated office or professional work. A worker sewing garments at home is a homeworker; a software engineer on a company laptop is in remote work.
- hybrid work - Hybrid work is a schedule that mixes employer-premises days with remote days; fully remote work has no regular requirement to attend a designated workplace.
- flexible working time - Flexitime changes when work is done; remote work changes where it is done. A person can have one without the other.
- field work / mobile work - Field or mobile workers (sales, maintenance, care, transport) perform tasks at client or public sites as the job's substance; remote workers perform a job that could be done at the employer's premises but is done elsewhere.
- platform / gig work - Platform work is defined by intermediation and often piece tasks; it may be remote (online freelance) or on-location (ride-hail, delivery). Remote work is defined by place, not by the platform relationship.
- distributed team / remote-first company - Those terms describe organisational design (no headquarters-centric default). An individual can work remotely inside an office-centric firm; a remote-first firm may still require occasional co-location.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of remote work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- Working from home: From invisibility to decent work - ILO definition of home-based and remote work, and the distinction from telework.
- Productivity gains from teleworking in the post COVID-19 era - OECD treatment of telework/remote work as a workplace arrangement and post-2020 practice.
- Telework in the EU: Regulatory frameworks and recent updates - EU legal and practical varieties of telework versus hybrid and fully remote work.
- Telework - Occupational-safety framing of telework, hazards, and neighbour concepts.
What the second pass must settle
- Does the registry intend remote work to include independent home-based work, mobile field work and work at client premises, or should those cases link to neighbouring models?
- Which existing Vercy models already own employment arrangements, hybrid work, workplace conditions and distributed teams, and where should this model reference them?
- What minimum evidence and location precision are sufficient to establish permission and operating readiness without collecting unnecessary information about a person's home or movements?
- Which jurisdiction-specific determinations must be referenced for cross-border arrangements, and who is responsible for keeping those determinations current?
- Which review indicators can meaningfully assess remote-work viability across different roles, and what evidence is needed before attributing an outcome to the arrangement?