Remote Work and Telemigrants: The New Face of Offshoring and Its Effects on Industrial Relations

The development of digital technologies is moving work beyond institutional and physical boundaries, leading to the replacement of traditional work models with new and flexible work models compatible with technological innovations. The term telemigrant, introduced by Richard Baldwin in his 2019 article "The Globotics Upheaval: Globalisation, Robotics and the Future of Work", together with the terms offshoring and remote work, forms a new typology that describes non-traditional forms of work. Telemigrants are individuals who work remotely for an employer in another country while physically residing in one country. This study examines and discusses the concept of telemigrant in conjunction with remote work and offshore configurations, analysing the impact of these developments on industrial relations. A systematic literature review was conducted using sources on remote work and offshoring to understand the emergence of the telemigration trend and explore the underlying reasons behind this new work model. Based on the specified inclusion criteria, 15 articles were analysed. The findings from the systematic literature review show that digitalisation and globalisation are gradually transforming the traditional labour market. Remote work allows employees to perform their tasks through digital tools without physically attending a workplace, while offshoring enables employers to access labour in low-cost countries. As traditional business models give way to new forms of work such as telemigration, it has been found that this shift presents both significant challenges and opportunities for industrial relations. The protection of workers’ rights and the development of new organisational models suited to digitalisation processes are becoming increasingly important topics in the industrial relation literature.