Telework in Brazil After Covid-19: Work Reorganization and Cost Shifting to Households

Objective: To analyze how teleworking, which intensified in Brazil during COVID-19, reorganized work time and space and shifted responsibilities and costs to the home, in light of its historical and regulatory trajectory. Theoretical Framework: Based on critical approaches to informational capitalism and the networked society, which explain the combination of spatial decentralization of work and centralization of control via ICTs, in addition to literature on labor regulation and cost externalization. Method: Qualitative, exploratory, bibliographic-documentary study, covering the period 2017–2024. Books, articles, reports from organizations (IBGE, ILO, OECD, Eurofound, WHO, IPEA), and legal frameworks (Law No. 13,467/2017; IN No. 65/2020; Law No. 14,442/2022) were analyzed. Results and Discussion: It was identified that telework has origins linked to cost rationalization and, before the pandemic, remained selective and focused on information-related occupations. During the pandemic, it became widespread, maintaining regional and educational asymmetries. Institutional savings were associated with the transfer of expenses (energy, internet, furniture) and the intensification of availability, without standardized compensation or workday limits. Research Implications: Regulation is required to ensure cost reimbursement, the right to disconnect, workday parameters, and adequate material conditions, preventing the home from functioning as a productive extension without equivalent protection. Originality/Value: The study integrates historical, normative, and organizational dimensions to demonstrate that the expansion of telework in Brazil has consolidated cost externalization and subordinate self-management as structuring axes of the model.