The terms “flex” “hybrid” and “remote” represent evolution of knowledge work
By Frederick Pilot
September 24, 2025
These terms describe the evolution of knowledge work beyond the time and space confines of the 8-5 Monday through Friday centralized commuter office (CCO). Common to all of them is the preservation of the CCO serving as the primary “workplace” since these are all relative to the CCO.
The terms portray a tension between the past and the future. In one camp are the CCO preservationists who call for a “return to office” after the social distancing contagion prevention measures of the COVID-19 pandemic early in the decade. In the other are the “flex” and “hybrid” and “remote” advocates.
The RTOers pay homage to the dying kings of set time and place of knowledge work whose obituaries began to be written in 2012 by Dave Rolston in his eBook Four Dead Kings at Work: The Decentralization and Blending of Work in the 21st Century. For them, it’s long live the kings.
The flex/remote/hybrid camp feel no need to pay their respects, particularly since they must do so on their time and their dime. They see knowledge work as increasingly time and location independent, hastened by the adoption of information and communications tech over the past four decades. Namely, portable versus office based tools including computers, personal communication devices, the cloud, and various communication and collaboration platforms running in it.
That trend continues to advance with the build out of fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure and in recent years, the development of generative artificial intelligence. It puts time on the side of the flexers and works against the RTOers as technology continues to develop and facilitate knowledge work.