To remote or not to remote

I am not sure if it is just me, but I see more and more jobs labeled remote, that are only remote within a specific country (mostly the United States).

This term used to mean worldwide, at least I have interpreted it that way.

Don't you think there should be a worldwide label instead of remote?

Comments

[Adrian B.G.]

Not really, worldwide could also mean a virtual team, which is split worldwide but they work at their offices, not remote.

Adding timezone and geopolitical constraints are ok I guess, the difference between countries is sometimes too big of a hustle :/

[Silvestar Bistrović]

What about remote worldwide then?

[Adrian B.G.]

I guess simple remote is remote wordwide, unless an if is applied :)), the jobs websites/catalogs will have to add more tags eventually, as the market grows.

[Thomas H Jones II]

In my experience, direct-employment "remote" positions have generally had an implied range. At minimum it implied "within the same national taxing jurisdiction" but frequently meant "close enough to hop a train or commuter-jet to make regular meetings".

For self-employed contractors operating on a "B2B" basis, the definition could be a bit looser, but still usually tied to similar contexts as the directly-employed (mostly because of the "ability to attend regular meetings" thing).

[Silvestar Bistrović]

You're right.

But when I see "100% remote" label, I don't want to read the whole job description and then realize that the candidate should be from America time zones at the end of the job post.

I guess this is the way it is and we cannot do anything about it.

[Klemen Slavič]

I'd recommend first checking where the company is situated. Chances are, they'd like to find someone in a timezone overlapping significantly with where they're based.

I've worked from San Francisco and worked with teams in Slovenia and UK. The 8-9 hour time difference meant they would have to stay in the office well after 5PM and I'd get into the office at 8AM just to get a slot available to talk face-to-face, and even then feel like you're always rushing through.

Email and written communication only goes so far in a collaborative context, especially in a fast-moving company where communication is key, and a lot of companies don't bother documenting everything in writing in a neatly organised wiki.

I currently work remotely for a UK company, and have coworkers spread across Europe, and we're looking for a +/- 2 hour difference in timezones for a new hire (ideally, but not exclusively).