Travails and treasures of telecommuting

Travelling to a workplace is not the most pleasant experience, in the current Sri Lankan scenario. When the number of vehicles on the road is on the rise and the roads remain the same, the obvious realty is increasing congestion. Can we work from home without going to an office? A rising global trend offers interesting insights on this.

Telecommuting

Telecommuting or telework is considered as working outside the conventional workplace and communicating with it by way of telecommunications or computer-based technology.

It constitutes an early form of 'virtual' work, which has inspired research disciplines ranging from transportation and urban planning to ethics, law, sociology and organisational studies.

Global scene

Among several forms of 'work-at-home', I would use the term 'telecommuting' to refer to work carried out at home during regular office hours by employees of organisations.

Many employees around the world have replaced their commute to work with electronic links to their workplace. Telecommuting to work is on an upward trend. A recent survey in PC World magazine indicates that approximately 23% of all employees regularly do their work from some place other than the office.

Although this is an innovative way to complete work, there are significant risks experienced by the organisation and the employee who is engaged in telecommuting.

Contributing factors

When a telecommuting experience is unsuccessful there may be a tendency to conclude that the situation was not conducive to telecommuting.

This type of conclusion would tell only a part of the story. An important issue pertains to the suitability of a person for a telecommuting experience. Thus, it is the confluence of a number of individual and organisational issues that will contribute to the suitability of the telecommuting experience for individual and organisation.

Certain factors in the past few decades have led towards the reliance on and adoption of telecommunication in the workplace. Many factors contribute to the background, implementation and advantages of companies executing telecommunication.

One such factor contributing to telecommunication is the recent financial crisis America faced. Organisations can save money by reducing the amount of work space and other work environment enhancers in its offices.

Organisations may also implement telecommunication to retain 'geographical freedom' in the ever-changing work environment.

Some companies do not have a static geographical base. Instead they rely solely on telecommunication, and mostly engage in internet-based business.

Organisations can maintain an employee pool worldwide with employees in many time zones, and each person can work at hours convenient to them. Younger generations are more inclined to telecommute due to their familiarity with technology and their desire for autonomy in the workplace.

Organisations which encourage telecommuting have more potential to succeed in the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack or epidemic.

Individual benefits

Organisations which support telecommuting for their employees offer the employees' fiscal savings on the individual employee's work-related costs, such as work clothing, transportation, lunch, child care, and other various costs associated with working outside of the home.

Stress related to travel to and from work can be nearly eliminated with the use of telecommuting thus producing a happier, more efficient worker. Telecommuting also offers employees greater opportunity to balance work and personal life.

With flexible schedules and mobile technology, employees are no longer tied down to one specific location during the work day to accomplish their responsibilities. The increased scheduling flexibility gives the employee the opportunity to provide more care to their family. An absolute necessity for single parents taking care of their children.

Employees also save time by eliminating the commute to and from work. These hours can be used for personal pursuits or as additional hours in the work week, thus creating more efficiency and job satisfaction among employees. With increased trust towards employees, companies can expect to gain a return of trust towards the company from telecommuting employees. Sri Lankan workplaces also have attempted to make telecommuting the way of life for its employees. Yet, overall it is in its infancy.

The writer is the Acting Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Management. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Management and Entrepreneurship, Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, USA.