Glossary · Managing remote work

Distributed team

A distributed team is a team whose members work from different locations, often across cities, countries, and time zones, with no single shared office. The team relies on written communication, shared tools, and clear ownership to stay coordinated. Many small businesses become distributed when they add their first offshore hire.

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What it means in practice

Distributed teams work when information lives in writing: a shared task board, documented processes, and decisions recorded where everyone can find them. Teams that rely on hallway conversations struggle once even one person is remote.

Time zones are the other design choice. A team can overlap fully, with everyone on the same hours, or hand work across time zones in a follow-the-sun pattern. With Rekruuto, your hire in the Philippines works your hours, so you get full overlap.

Read our managing remote teams articles for practical routines.

  • Remote employee

    A remote employee is a person on a company's payroll who works from home or another location instead of an office.

  • Asynchronous communication

    Asynchronous communication is any exchange where people do not need to be available at the same moment, such as email, recorded videos, shared documents, and task comments.

  • Follow-the-sun

    Follow-the-sun is a working model where tasks pass between teams in different time zones at the end of each workday, so work continues around the clock.

  • Time-zone overlap

    Time-zone overlap is the number of working hours two people or teams share live on the same day.

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