Jack Nilles also coined the term “telework.” He defined this as:Īny form of substitution of information technologies for work-related travel moving the work to the workers instead of moving the workers to work. Today, telecommuting is falling from common usage in favor of the more generally applied remote work term.

However, it maintains a specific reference to the alternative location reducing commute time. Now it often refers to workers who maintain a traditional office schedule and work part-time from an alternative worksite. Since then, telecommuting has remained a dominant term, although the meaning has evolved somewhat. The impetus for this idea was the economy and other issues of the 1970s characterized by air pollution, gas shortages, and gridlock. Located closer to employee homes, these offices would reduce the need to travel long distances to the company’s main office. However, in its original usage, Nilles referred to workers reporting to satellite offices. In this context, telecommuting was an innovative new way to reduce reliance on car travel. His research was published in his 1976 book, “The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff: Options for Tomorrow.”

Ahead of his time, he was the first to explore the possibility of using technology to work away from the main office.

Nilles was a former NASA communications system engineer and director of interdisciplinary research at the University of Southern California. “Telecommuting” is a term first coined in the early 1970s by Jack Nilles.

Remotely synonym