Homeworkers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who perform work tasks from their residences rather than a traditional office environment
2. People engaged in employment while situated at their own houses, often utilizing technology to communicate and collaborate
3. Workers who complete their job responsibilities remotely, typically from their homes, instead of commuting to a physical workplace

Etymology: "Homeworker" is a plain compound of "home" and "worker," and the plural simply adds "-s." The pairing is old: "homeworker" is recorded in English from the late 1800s, when it described people who did piecework or manufacturing in their own dwellings rather than in a factory. Those workers, often women sewing garments or assembling goods for a few pence per item, were the original sense, and the word meant nothing about remote office jobs. The modern meaning, people doing ordinary professional work from home, grew out of that older sense during the late twentieth century, when telecommuting became practical with computers and networks. The plural "homeworkers" is now used in both senses, so context usually tells you whether the reference is to a sewer in a terraced house or a software engineer on a laptop.