The Ultimate Remote Work Glossary
Since the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people around the world now work remotely for some or all of the time. This movement has been possible thanks to advances in technology and mass wireless Internet connectivity, and also the knowledge that working remotely can improve the worker's speed, and therefore a company’s overall productivity.
Remote work isn’t just about performing your job from home. We are lucky that there are many ways and technologies to perform tasks and collaborate when working in different physical locations than your co-workers. As new innovative technological solutions continue to evolve and develop, the world of remote work will continue to grow, change and diversify. This glossary reflects some of the key terms that you need to know when working remotely or working from home.
A
Analytics
Analytics is the information and data that results from systemic analysis of the workplace and its operations.
App monitor (application monitoring)
Application monitoring is a process that ensures that a software app processes and performs in the expected and desired manner.
Asynchronous communication
Asynchronous communication is the art of communicating and moving projects forward without the need for additional stakeholders or co-workers to be available at the same time. Read more on Mustered blog Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication Styles: Leverage Them for Your Working-From-Home Team
Attendance
Attendance is the action or state of going regularly to or being present in a work environment or situation.
Automation
Automation is a term for technology applications where human input is minimized. In a worker productivity setting, automation is often referred to as a way to increase productivity and get more done.
B
Best practices
Best practices are a set of guidelines, ethics, or ideas that represent the most efficient or prudent course of action in a given business situation.
Browser tracking (website monitoring)
Browser tracking or website monitoring ensures your website uptime, performance, and functionality are as expected.
Burnout
Burnout while working from home is a state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress from work.
Business Analytics
Business analytics is the process by which businesses use statistical methods and technologies for analyzing historical data in order to gain new insight and improve strategic decision-making.
Business intelligence (BI)
Business intelligence or BI for short comprises strategies and technologies used by companies for the data analysis of business operations and information. BI provides historical, current, and predictive views of business operations.
C
Collaboration tools
Collaboration tools help people to collaborate in both asynchronous and synchronous. The purpose of a collaboration tool is to support a group of two or more individuals to accomplish a common goal or objective.
Company values
Company values are the principles, beliefs, and philosophies that guide the organization's operations and company culture.
Compensation
Compensation is payment, typically money, given to an employee as a recompense for work performed.
Compliance
Compliance is the act or process of complying with a desire, demand, proposal, or regimen or coercion.
Contract worker
A contract worker, also known as an independent contractor or employee, often is an individual who enters into a contractual agreement with a business in order to provide a service in exchange for a fee. Most contract workers often work remotely without a fixed office location.
Core tasks
Core tasks are the work activities employees must complete in order for a business or organization to operate successfully.
Core work
Core work activities are the tasks employees must complete to meet their business KPI or to operate the business. core work activities are also vital tasks on a daily basis are considered core workers in a business.
Company culture
Company culture is defined by a set of shared values, objectives, attitudes, expectations, and practices that guide the employees' actions and attitudes within an organization
D
Deep work
Deep work is the ability to focus without any distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It’s a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time.
Digital nomads
Digital nomads are people who run their own company or work for a company that uses internet tools to communicate and earn a living and conduct their life in a nomadic manner. Such workers often work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles.
Distributed company
A distributed company is whose team members predominantly do not work in an office environment, but instead work from other locations remotely, using telecommunication.
Distributed workforce
A distributed workforce is what a company has when one or more of its employees are working in different physical locations.
E
Employee benefits
Employee benefits are defined as indirect, non-cash, or cash compensation paid to an employee above and beyond regular salary or wages.
Employee empowerment
Employee empowerment is defined as the ways in which companies or organizations provide their employees with a certain degree of autonomy and control in their day-to-day activities. Employee empowerment is based on the concepts of job enlargement and job enrichment.
Employee engagement
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.
Employee engagement technologies (EXTech)
EXTech is a diverse collection of employee-focused platforms designed to improve employee engagement and company culture.
Expenses
An expense is the cost of operations that a company incurs to generate revenue
F
Flex day
A flex day is when an employee takes the day usually for personal reasons. Flex days are also known as mental health days which often is taking time out to relax. The goal is not to get out of work; it's to heal your mind so you can return feeling more relaxed, positive, and ready for a productive day.
Flex hours
Flex hours or flex-time is flexible hours schedule that allows workers to alter workday start and finish times.
Flex schedule
The definition of flex schedule is a work schedule that allows employees to work during a period convenient to them or where they feel they can maximize their productivity
Forensic analytics
Forensic analytics of time is the process of collecting and analyzing data to help determine when and what occurred during a period.
G
Gig economy
A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations hire independent workers for short-term commitments.
Granular time
Granular time refers to the incremental time blocks an employee performs their work or is tracked by their manager.
Global workforce
Global workforce refers to the international labor pool of workers, including those employed by multinational companies and connected through a global system of networking and production. Today's remote workforce allows international companies to set up a global workforce.
H
Hashtag
A hashtag is a word or one-word phrase preceded by a hash/number sign (#), and is used on social media websites and applications.
Heat map
A heat map (or heatmap) is a data visualization technique that shows the magnitude of a phenomenon as color in two dimensions. For example, heat maps can be used for tracking website visits, or screen monitoring for remote workers.
Hot desk
A hot desk is a desk assigned to a worker when required or on a rotating system, rather than belonging to a specific employee.
HRIS
HRIS stands for human resources information system. It's related to human resources management systems (HRMS) and human capital management (HCM).
Human data
Human data is often non-numerical and qualitative, usually group feedback, survey responses, social media posts, online comments, handwritten letters, and phone calls.
Hybrid office
A hybrid office is a type of work environment where the employee performs their job in a combination of office and remote or home environments.
Hybrid work
Hybrid work is a style that allows employees to combine working from different locations: home, remotely, or in the office.
Hybrid workplace/model
The hybrid workplace is a business model combining remote work with office work. The term is often interchangeable with the term hybrid office. View our previous blog article The Hybrid Work Model – Why You Need to Adopt One Now
J
Job tracking
Job tracking helps project managers and teams to complete client requests and projects
K
Key performance indicator (KPI)
KPI stands for key performance indicators, which demonstrate how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives and goals.
M
Mobile Device Management
Mobile Device Management (MDM) enables IT admins to securely monitor and manage mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and even IoT devices.
Mental health
Mental health is a state of well-being in which the person realizes his or her own capabilities, can deal with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to the community
Metrics
Metrics are units of quantitative assessment and measurement, usually used for assessing and tracking work performance or production.
N
Non-work activity
Non-work activities are tasks not involved/engaged in or deriving from an employee’s job.
O
Onboarding
Onboarding is a management jargon that refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors in order to become effective employees.
Onsite
The term onsite means at a particular place. Similarly 'offsite' means at a particular location that is not the one you are at. In remote work it can often mean meeting at the desired location to work with co-workers.
On-sites
On-sites are any employee working on-site at a physical office or workspace.
Optimize [Optimization]
Optimization is the act of making the most effective use of a situation or resource, including an employee's time.
Output
Output is the amount of work, products, and/or services produced and delivered by an employee.
Overheard
Overhead refers to the ongoing, regular costs to operate a business, but excludes the direct costs associated with creating a product or service.
P
Pay
The money paid to an employee for regular work.
Personal Day
Personal days are a form of employee benefit that employers offer in addition to sick days, PTO, and vacation days. For example, employees typically will use personal days for doctor's visits, child illness, family emergencies, etc.
Planning
Workforce/workplace planning is the process by which a company analyzes the current workforce/workplace to determine the steps it must take to prepare for future staffing needs.
Policy
The policy is a system of principles to help guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol.
Productivity
Productivity is the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.
Project management
Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope, time, budget. To learn more about project management visit Mustered's project management blog: Top 10 Best Project Management Tools for Remote Teams
Project planning
Project planning is a discipline for stating how to complete a project within a certain timeframe, usually with defined stages, and with designated resources. One view of project planning divides the activity into Setting objectives (these should be measurable) ... Planning the schedule. Making supporting plans.
Project tracking
Project tracking monitors the progress of the project, comparing it to the project plan.
The definition of project tracking is a project management method used to track the progress of tasks in a project. By tracking your project, you can compare actual to planned progress, and identify issues that may prevent the project from staying on schedule and within budget. Project managers use project management software to automate and organize project tracking.
R
Remote culture
Remote culture is a shared set of values, objectives, attitudes, expectations and practices that connect and bond employees in a remote setting.
Remote management
Remote management includes tracking your team's progress with respect to tasks, defining tasks for each team member, solving any issues your team members have, and answering team members' queries.
Remote work stipend
A remote work stipend, or remote work allowance, is a sum of money given to employees for them to use to access perks while working remotely. Example of remote work stipend is the purchase of office equipment, a coworking pass, coffee, and anything else that makes their remote work locations comfortable, productive, or successful.
Remote worker
A remote worker or remote employee is someone who is employed by a company but works outside of a traditional office environment. This could mean working from a local coworking space, from home, at a coffee shop, or in a city across the world.
Remote-first company/employer
A remote-first company is one where working remotely is the primary, default option for employees.
Results
Results are the consequences, effects, or outcomes of completed work and tasks.
S
SaaS
"SaaS stands for software as a service. SaaS tools are applications that are accessible over the internet. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management."
Salary
A salary is a fixed, regular payment, typically paid on a monthly or biweekly basis but often presented as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee.
Scheduling
Workplace scheduling is the process of building schedules for team members to meet the current and future demands in a workplace.
Screen capture
Screen capture is an image of a computer desktop that can be saved as a graphics file.
Screen scraping
Screen scraping is the automated, strategic use of a website that impersonates a web browser to extract data or perform actions that users would usually perform manually on the website.
Self-service analytics
Self-service analytics is an approach to advanced analytics that allows business users to analyze data, without having a background in statistics or technology.
Shared workspaces
Shared workspaces are workstations rented by remote workers, freelancers, and consultants, as well as anyone else who may not have a central office.
Staff
Staff is all the people employed by a company or organization.
Structured work
Structured work is defined by involving clear, specific tasks that are expected to be done in a certain order, at a certain time. The work is well-documented and scheduled.
Success
Success is the accomplishment of a work goal or purpose with a positive outcome.
T
Tag
a tag is a keyword or term assigned to a piece of information This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again.
Talent
Talent is a general term that represents every employee's aptitude at their job and how that contributes to the organization's success.
Task management
The term task management is defined as the process of handling the entire life-cycle of a task, from planning, tracking, and execution. Some examples of task management are setting deadlines, prioritizing tasks, and assigning tasks to the correct person(s) or group. Task management ensures projects stay on track and get completed on time.
Task tracking
Task tracking identifies and monitors task progress and deadlines.
Task tracking
Task tracker is a record of all the time you spend on each work task. Task tracking is often used with tasking tracker software to help automate the process.
Team
A team is a group of employees who collaborate on related tasks toward a common work goal.
Templates
Templates are pre-formatted documents, intended to speed up the creation of commonly used document types such as letters, note-taking, email, or productIVITY development. Templates are also used as guidelines for creating documents in a specific format.
Three-Two (3/2) work schedule
The 3-2-2 or 3/2 hybrid work schedule is a balance between traditional and remote work, where employees work for three days in the office, two days remote, and two days off.
Timecard
A time card is a format to document and track the amount of time an employee spends at their job.
Time trackers
Time trackers are online platforms that track the hours for billing, operations, and payroll. They usually can also automate billing and invoicing.
Time tracking
Time tracking refers to how organizations record the working hours of hourly employees and ensure those employees have compensated accurately for their time. Time tracking can be done manually or using computer software to record time. Using time tracking software can be used to improve productivity and goal settings
V
Vacation
A vacation is an extended period of relaxation, leisure, and/or recreation.
Virtual business
A virtual business is any business that conducts all or most of its business via the internet.
W
Wellness metrics
Wellness metrics are units of qualitative and quantitative assessment and measurement of workplace wellness-related data.
WFX / WFA / Work from Anywhere
WFX is an extension of the WFH acronym that refers to a person's ability to work anywhere instead of just at home. WFA is the acronym for Work from Anywhere.
Work from home
Work from home is an employment situation where the employee works from home instead of a traditional office setting - working from home has significantly increased since the pandemic.
Work from home stipend
The definition of work from home stipend can be used interchangeably with the definitions of remote work stipend. Often work from home stiped is employee allowance to help improve the quality of the work from home employee. For example, the purchase of office equipment, internet bill, gym membership, etc.
Workforce analytics
Workforce analytics measure the behaviors of employees and use them to improve productivity and performance.
Workforce intelligence
Workforce intelligence uses artificial intelligence-powered software on employees’ computers to collect and analyze information on employee work patterns.
Workforce wellness
Workforce wellness is any activity, policy, program, or organizational practice that supports health behavior specifically amongst the team and employees.
Work-life balance
Work-life balance is the prioritization of personal and professional activities and how work impacts life at home.
Workplace analytics
Workplace analytics help businesses utilize data from different cloud-based platforms such as Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams to track work and collaboration patterns that impact productivity, workflow, and effectiveness.
Workplace wellness
Workplace wellness is any activity, policy, program, or organizational practice that supports health behavior in the workplace.
Workspaces
Workspaces are areas used or required for one's work like an office, home, or facility.