Thinking of taking your company remote? Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?
In their book Remote, Fried and Hansson present their vision for the future of work: one where a person’s physical location isn’t a factor. They lay out the many benefits of remote work—but there are some drawbacks as well.
Let’s explore the pros and cons of remote work.
Pro: You Can Hire Talented People No Matter Where They Live
The first pro in our list of the pros and cons of remote work is the expanded talent pool. When your team works remotely, geography no longer limits your hiring options. This dramatically expands your talent pool. Fried and Hansson explain that organizations with remote workforces can recruit the best candidates for open positions regardless of where they live, increasing their chances of finding perfect matches even for specialized roles. If you restrict yourself to hiring people who can work in your physical office, you’re limiting access to skilled professionals who might be ideal for your team but can’t relocate to your city.
Con: Global Talent: Unevenly Distributed, Unevenly Compensated
While Fried and Hansson focus on how remote work lets you hire anyone regardless of location, this advantage is even more significant than they suggest. The global distribution of skilled workers is uneven and often doesn’t match where companies need them most. Consider that countries in the Global South contribute 76% of all high-skilled labor to the world economy, despite receiving only 21% of global income. This mismatch creates business challenges when specialized talent is concentrated in specific regions.
Different countries have developed unique specializations that reflect their history, geography, and economic priorities. Germany dominates the automotive and machinery industries, Taiwan leads in electronics manufacturing, Switzerland excels in pharmaceuticals, and Israel has become a powerhouse in information technology. When your business needs specific expertise, remote work removes the geographical barriers that otherwise make accessing this talent difficult—and gives you access to specialized skills that might be scarce or prohibitively expensive in your local market.
This raises ethical considerations about global wage disparities. Workers in the Global South earn 87% to 95% less than those in wealthy countries for equally skilled work. For example, engineers in China might earn a fraction of what their American counterparts make, which is why Apple and other tech companies have significant engineering operations there. Therefore, remote work can either perpetuate inequalities or help address them.
Pro: Your Team Can Be More Productive
Research cited by Fried and Hansson shows that remote workers often accomplish more than their office-bound colleagues. Without the distractions of a busy office, people can focus more deeply on important tasks. Plus, remote work lets each person align their schedule with their natural productivity rhythms instead of forcing everyone into the same 9-to-5 mold. By giving your team the flexibility to work during their personal peak hours, you’ll likely see better results across the board.
(Shortform note: Your chronotype—whether you’re naturally a morning or evening person—affects more than just when you feel most alert. Research shows that working during your “biological prime time” (morning for early birds, evening for night owls) helps your brain process information faster, remember more, and solve problems more efficiently. This isn’t just a feeling: Researchers measured real differences in brain activity, particularly in the chemicals that control attention and focus. This science squares with Fried and Hansson’s point about flexible scheduling: Remote work doesn’t just eliminate office distractions—it lets you work when your brain is naturally at its best, optimizing an advantage that’s literally built into your biology.)
Pro: You’ll Save Money on Office Space
Going remote reduces or eliminates the need for expensive office space and all its associated costs—utilities, furniture, maintenance, and more. These savings can be substantial, especially if your organization is based in a location with high commercial real estate prices. Fried and Hansson suggest redirecting these funds to other priorities or enhancing employee compensation, which can help you attract and retain top talent in your industry.
(Shortform note: The glamorous Sterling Cooper office on Mad Men—with its Italian bar carts, $3,000+ Herman Miller chairs, and Madison Avenue location—illustrates how much companies can save by going remote. In the 1960s, offices were designed to project power and status through their architecture and decor, with executive offices strategically positioned to reinforce the firm’s social hierarchy and underscore white male power. This aesthetic may now feel like an expensive relic of another era. By cutting status-signaling office spaces, companies can redirect substantial funds toward better talent compensation, competitive pricing, or growth investments—a shift in priorities that even Sterling Cooper’s old guard might grudgingly admire.)
Pro: Your Team Will Enjoy Better Work-Life Balance
Fried and Hansson note that without stressful daily commutes, your team regains hours each day for personal priorities. This improved work-life balance leads to higher job satisfaction, reduced stress, and greater overall well-being. Remote work also helps people better integrate their professional responsibilities with their personal lives—whether that means being present for family, maintaining their health, or participating in their local community.
(Shortform note: Remote work saves more than just commuting time: It can shift power from employers to workers. While countries like Denmark treat family time each evening as sacred and Spanish workers leave early on summer Fridays, Americans work longer hours with diminishing returns in what Peter Fleming, a professor of business and society at City, University of London, calls “24/7 capitalism.” The problem isn’t individual; it’s structural. By collectively demanding flexibility, remote workers can push back against a system that has eroded work-life boundaries for decades to reclaim hours of their lives, potentially transforming the relationship between work and everything else that matters.)
Pro: You’ll Reduce Your Environmental Impact
The authors say that remote work contributes to environmental sustainability by cutting carbon emissions from daily commutes and office building operations. With fewer people traveling to central locations each day, traffic congestion decreases and your organization’s carbon footprint shrinks. This aligns with society’s growing environmental consciousness and makes your operations greener without requiring special initiatives.
Con: The Hidden Environmental Cost of Remote Work
Remote work can reduce emissions, as Fried and Hansson suggest, but this depends heavily on workers’ lifestyle choices. Fully remote workers can have a 54% lower carbon footprint than onsite workers, and those working from home two to four days weekly achieve an 11-29% reduction. But those who work remotely just one day per week only reduce their footprint by 2%.
The carbon math gets even more complex when accounting for home energy use—which increased by 20% on weekdays during Covid-19 lockdowns. There’s also an environmental impact if workers move to larger suburban homes (which use three times more energy than city apartments), purchase cars, or fly more frequently. In this scenario, hybrid work can leave both homes and offices operating at full capacity.
6. You’ll Foster Greater Autonomy and Engagement
Perhaps most significantly, remote work shifts the focus from monitoring where people are to evaluating what they accomplish. This results-oriented approach gives your team more control over how they structure their work, increasing their engagement and sense of ownership. Fried and Hansson explain that this trust-based model typically yields higher-quality work and greater job satisfaction, creating a positive cycle of autonomy and achievement.
(Shortform note: In an office-based world, status is literally built into the architecture—corner offices for executives, smaller cubicles for workers, and gatekeeping desks for administrative assistants. But in a video conference, everyone appears in identical digital rectangles, where younger or more introverted workers often find it easier to engage and contribute ideas. The shift to remote work and employee autonomy also has implications beyond just the workplace: Remote work allows people to live in more diverse communities rather than clustering in coastal enclaves, and it supports civic participation by eliminating commuting stress, which correlates with lower voting rates.)
