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New spatial and
temporal flexibility
Spatially-flexible forms of work
Telecommuting/alternating tele-
commuting
– working from home
either completely or alternating be-
tween home and office.
Remote work
– mobile workers
spend much of their time on the
road, either with customers or at
different office locations. They are
dependent on traffic conditions and
the reliability of transport.
Virtual teamwork
– knowledge
work, in particular, is now being
done across locations with chang-
ing teams who need to work to-
gether across long distances whilst
avoiding the effort and costs need-
ed to physically travel. The focus
here is on results-oriented work and
virtual networking.
Crowdworking – an example of
flexible work
Crowdworking is an extremely flex-
ible form of work where people are
recruited via a virtual network on a
needs basis. In most cases, these
are self-employed people who
compete globally. Payment is per
project and is made only after the
Modern ICT makes it possible for production processes
to have new spatial-temporal structures and leads to new
forms of work that are not only dynamic and complex but
also demand a high level of flexibility from workers.
Spatial flexibility
Whether in logistics, technical services or customer
support, more and more work activities can be spatially
distributed thanks to powerful information and commu-
nication technologies. Massive interconnectivity and
advancements in communication make it possible to
overcome large distances while guaranteeing a high lev-
el of communication quality and cooperation. Spatial-
ly-flexible forms of work include telecommuting, remote
work and virtual teamwork whereby team members can
work together on a project across different locations and
even different time zones. A fundamental prerequisite
for the success of spatially-flexible work is reliable ac-
cess to the Internet, networks, servers and data. Other
forms of work-related mobility can be divided between
residential mobility (relocation, expatriation) and circu-
lar mobility (daily long-distance commuting, weekend
commuting, seasonal work). ICT is not necessarily need-
ed for these types of mobile work.
Temporal flexibility
Work that is flexible in term of working hours includes
working-time accounts, fixed work schedules that work-
New Forms of Work
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