During the past years, different forms of flexible working have been used with options for employees about working time, work location, and working patterns. Technological advancements facilitate employers and employees to seek new opportunities and explore flexible forms of work, particularly during the pandemic. Remote work, meaning that all work can be done remotely, is the most used flexible work form.

For many companies worldwide, flexible working, particularly remote work is now becoming the new norm having advantages for employers and employees. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remote work is important because it can improve SMEs’ ability to compete in a global marketplace by providing access to different human resources and reducing the overhead costs associated with physical office spaces. But many SMEs are hesitant to adopt remote work i.e. due to missing a strategy for remote communication, creating remote-only roles.

In this presentation, some challenges in connection with remote work are presented.
First, the role of virtual technology in empowering SMEs to adopt remote work is briefly described. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools manage routine tasks, schedule meetings through virtual platforms, and provide customer support via intelligent chatbots.

In connection with virtual technology, additionally, with other challenges referring to remote work which becomes more prevalent, organizations and policymakers must consider the potential cyber risks and implement appropriate measures and corresponding training to protect against cyber threats which increased. Some measures are in this paper presented.

A third challenge is the increased role of competence frameworks within remote work particularly to determine which skills, competencies, and behaviors of employees correspond to job requirements and to the virtual technology they work with and to achieve these. In this context, the digital competence of employees and employers plays an important role in remote work. DigComp framework should be used as a basis for competence descriptions in general terms and is technically neutral.

The author would like to discuss such challenges with European SMEs and consultants and develop some proposals to support these challenges.

Keywords: Flexible working, remote work, remote technology, SMEs, vyber risks, competence framework, training.