Telecommuting Essay

Search for an adequate employment for a modern specialist is often one of the most difficult tasks of life. Not surprisingly, finally acquiring a seat at the office, we are very afraid of losing it. But, at times, there is no need in that. The current capabilities of the Internet can give you an opportunity not to “cling” for office, but on the contrary, completely get free from it. This is the so-called telework (telecommuting), Home Work. A specialist and a customer may never see each other and communicate only with the help of web technologies. But this does not prevent them to fruitfully cooperate, pay real money and be quite happy with this course of events.
Today everybody knows what telecommuting is. It is equally clear that the information era and emerging new methods give it a chance to reshape the established industrial relations. Thanks to telecommuting, employers have new opportunities to organize their business; experts get better possibilities of finding work through geographic expansion and changes in the concept of “working time” (Guimaraes, 1999). With the development of Internet and communication technologies there has greatly expanded range of professionals who are available to telecommuting, primarily in computer programmers, information specialists, journalists, consultants and all knowledge workers who are able to use personal computers and modern communications. It is worth noting that the development of the Internet greatly increases the need of governmental, industrial and public organizations for such specialists.
Telecommuting is a way of cooperation, when the employer and wage worker (or customer and the performer) being at a distance from each other, take and receive technical task, the results of work and payment by means of modern communication tools (originally – phone, fax, mail, these days – mainly the internet) (Barron, 2007). The concept of telecommuting has been developed by Jack Nilles. In 1972, he suggested that it was not necessary to keep employees in the office because modern communications made it possible to maintain contact between the staff at a distance. To test his theory in practice, he set experiments at the University of Southern California and after reporting the results received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NFS). Authorities expressed interest in developing the idea of telecommuting, seeing in it the solution of transport problems, acute problems in cities. New type of labor could resolve those issues, and at the same time provide jobs for people living in remote rural areas. In 1979, the works of Jack Nilles attracted attention of the Head of the U.S. Committee on Economic Development Frank Skiff. He continued the idea of ​​a scientist and invented a new term «flexiplace» – a flexible workplace (Harpaz, 2002).
With the advent of the Internet, opportunities for communication at a distance have significantly increased and the exchange of information and results of intellectual work has become much easier. Today, the idea of ​​remote work is actively used by freelancers who are looking for customers via the Internet around the world, implement projects and accept payments through electronic payment systems online. Earnings on the sites are a widely spread way of making money: selling links, placing advertising articles, banner or display advertising. Owners of long-established information-packed sites with unique content and good attendance have the best advantages. Also there are common interpretation services (including literary treatment text), content managers, copywriters, re-writers. Many designers are working remotely, while taking orders not only in the field of web design, but also in the development of corporate design, design of products, outdoor advertising, logos (Tayyaran, 2003).
The employee gets the task, usually does it on a personal computer, which may be provided by employer or belong to the employee, depending on the conditions of the contract. The employer usually supports one or more accounts to access the Internet or own private system (BBS) on a dedicated phone line, so that workers can instantly transmit information and email to their controllers (supervisors and colleagues). Details of using remote equipment, reimbursement for equipment provided by the employee, compensation for the costs of the employee (additional phone lines, long-distance charges, etc.), criteria for employee performance evaluations, etc. – are changeable. Employer usually evaluates the effectiveness of the remote worker by network performance, in addition to the quality of produced work (Bйlanger, 2008).
Benefits and advantages.
Telecommuting offers significant benefits for employers, employees, self-employed persons and entrepreneurs, and also promotes local economy. Teleworking can have a wide range of social benefits such as reduction of traffic flow and thus reducing the influence of road transport on the environment. Management Technology Associates (MTA) has conducted several studies to collect and analyze the views on this subject of the experienced teleworkers and managers who have experience of work with them. The following list of benefits and advantages of telecommuting includes only those aspects on which the views of the majority of respondents have coincided (Kurland, 1999).
Please note that these benefits are derived only from successful applications of telecommuting, and that some companies have tried to use telecommuting, but got a negative experience and returned to the usual form of work.
Benefits for employers:
Cost saving. Main article is saving costs of premises, office costs and staff. Companies, which use telecommuting, achieve a significant reduction in the use of the office. In some circumstances, the costs of recruitment can also be reduced if they are associated with high turnover. If a company adopts a common strategy of “flexible working”, all costs associated with the placement and movement of staff can be practically eliminated.
Increase of productivity. It was reported that the productivity increases up to 40%. Probably range from 10% to 40% is more realistic for most large-scale programs of telecommuting. One reason for increased productivity is the lack of conventional office noise and interruptions, as well as time lost to travel.
Improved motivation and improved customer service. In successful programs on the application of telecommuting, employees note a greater confidence on the part of employers, which is a consequence of the more independent identity and status of employees. Customer service can be extended beyond the normal working hours or working week without overtime or need to work in private time (Thompson, 2009).
Retention of skills. Employees, who in normal circumstances would have to leave work, now can save it, for example, when the family moves to another city. Employees who take vocation because of childcare or for other reasons, may continue to work on a temporary basis, or full-time and remain being involved in the performance of the firm, keeping the skills and qualifications.
Flexibility of an organization. In cases of restructuring and reorganization, people can continue working without serious problems for them personally. People are working in distributed groups that can be created and disbanded as required by the need for changes in the company. Groups, consisting of the most suitable for certain purposes performers can be created without respect to their geographical location, time zones and with minimal need for additional movement.
Flexible staffing and resilience. For activities with variable activity (with alternating ups and downs), telecommuting can quickly increase or decrease staff, depending on the required level of activity. Also, organizations with well-used telecommuting programs are more resilient in the face of external challenges, such as strikes by transport workers, acts of terrorism, natural and weather disasters (Lococo, 2003).
Benefits for individuals:
Reducing time and cost of transporting. This is the most obvious advantage and primary motivation for many teleworkers. According to the survey, most teleworkers use at least part of this time for additional work that contradicts the picture of “a relaxed lifestyle,” drawn in the media.
Improved opportunities for work and reduced problems for family life. Opportunities for work are not limited to jobs on the navigable distance. Effective telecommuting and flexible work program reduces the need to move to “career”.
Better balance between family and work. Even if a teleworker spends a lot of time to be effective, he stays with the family and can more easily participate in household duties, such as babysitting, shopping, etc. With the usual method of working, people spend this time on the road to work and back (Sturgeon, 1996).
Flexible schedule. Each individual has a personal day “rhythm.” Some people are most active in the morning, others – in the evening. Normal working hours makes everybody work at the same time, while the flexible scheme of telecommuting may mean individual freedom to begin and finish working in accordance with the best conditions for productive work. (It should be noted, that there are cases when teleworkers need to work in specific hours, for example, during hours of clients’ activity) (Peters, 2004).
Social and economic benefits:
Reducing traffic problems. In the areas of most intense movement, it is noticed even a small reduction in road traffic (for example, even when only 10% of people drop out of traffic on the weekends). The study “Substitute of Transportation is Telecommunications” performed for the British Ministry of Transport confirms that even in the days when teleworkers are forced to use vehicles, they tend to avoid highways during peak periods.
Reducing overall travel and related pollution of environment. The same study also confirms that teleworkers provide a significant reduction in total road traffic. In California and some other states, there are legal and financial programs to promote telecommuting as part of a campaign against environmental pollution (Barber, 2005).
Better opportunities for work and employment. Potentially, telecommuting can enable people in areas with high unemployment to access the opportunities for work that arise anywhere in the world. In order to use it, there are two possibilities: first – the individual must be qualified and have well-developed personal skills of work in electronic networks that enable them to catch the attention of employers, the second – local community must take certain steps to create detailed profile in the information space network, in order to generate the possibility of “teleworking” for its residents. The development of necessary personal skills is aimed by the program MTA “Personal skills”. Mechanisms for creating a substantial “presence” of local communities are published in MTA report “Telework and Teletrade: The Local and Regional Response” (Fay, 2011).
Access to employment for people with disabilities. Telework can also give the opportunity to work, learn and communicate to people who have specific problems (eg, restrictions on health, not allowing them to move or to have a normal working day, single parents who do not have the opportunity to leave a child, people who care for elderly or sick relatives). Special measures may be needed to make these opportunities implemented. MTA supports the program “Network Access”, which should guarantee equal access to network economic opportunities for people with disabilities.
Some statistics
Teleworking is the invention of developed countries of Europe and North America: USA and Canada. Today in the U.S., 5.8% of the population, in other words, 17 million people are working remotely. It is interesting, that their income exceeds the salaries of ordinary, average company employees: $ 50,000 per year versus $ 30,000 (Jeffrey, 2008).
Recently Frank Wolf introduced a legislative proposal to reduce the tax on those public and private U.S. enterprises, which use telecommuting and equip remote work places in the homes of their remote workers. It is proposed to reduce taxes of the organization for $ 500 for each such working place, if it is used not less than 75 days a year. Another initiative is related to EPA – Environmental Protection Agency. Every American industrial enterprise, polluting environment, has so-called “pollution credits”. If they can not meet the requirements of EPA, they shall either reduce production or buy an additional “credit for pollution.” But even benign indirectly pollute the environment due to travel of their employees to work. Now, any businessman from Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, introducing the telecommuting at a company can expect to receive real money by selling “pollution credits”. Five large cities for the pilot project are chosen because of the fact that the problem of environmental pollution from the exhausts of personal vehicles is particularly acute there. According to the head of EPA Christie Whitman, reducing harmful emissions by reducing travels of teleworkers will be more than 2,5 thousand tons for every 100 000 teleworkers (Fay, 2011). Businessmen who are implementing telecommuting in the company can expect to recover the costs of technological equipment (computers, servers, telephones, modems) and consulting services. Registered for participation in the new program businessmen from Virginia can get up to $ 35,000 in reimbursement costs for the organization of telecommuting. The program of the state administration aims at increasing the attractiveness of telecommuting for employers. Fund of the program is $ 3 million. It is designed for small and medium-sized businesses. In the United States, not to develop telecommuting programs at a company means backwardness and disloyalty in the efforts of the government (Offstein, 2010).
Fields of activity
Almost any work on the computer can be done by the teleworker – from copy writing to the work of an artist and programmer. But telecommuting by default assumes high level of professionalism, no one would remotely train the employee, it’s too expensive. Telework is widely used in the provision of mediation. Here, at first glance, the employer does not require any special skills, and sometimes even no information, except for personal data from the applicant. Payment for these services is made on the basis of actual deals, orders, sales, etc. It can be a percentage of sales or a fixed sum for each deal (Ory, 2004).
With the rapid development of communication technologies and the Internet, the number of professionals for whom telecommuting is of considerable interest has been growing steadily. In telecommuting, such specialties are used: managers, administrators, supervisors, accountants, engineers, computer programmers, architects, lawyers, analysts, business and technical researchers, journalists, commercial artists and graphic designers, data entry personnel and other personnel in word processing (and many others) (Kowalski, 2005).
Flexible Work
An example of flexible work related to the telecommuting is the idea of “hot desks”. Instead of personal working place for each employee, employers create few common working places that are used by different employees when they are in office. Every workplace has a standard “office system” (computer and phone). Because a large number of working places in traditional offices are occupied by no more than 20% of the working day, saving on office costs can be substantial. One of IBM offices in the State of New York has a 80-20 rule, under which 800 employees use only 200 workplaces (Tayyaran, 2007).
IBM and Digital have already taken this philosophy by the pressure of aggressive competition in the computer industry, because of their policy of using new and advanced methods of management, the need to focus on productivity in the industry (the characteristics of products in this industry are improving every year by 20% – 30% in price / performance ratio) (Khalifa, 2008).
Currently, the term “telecommuting” is familiar to everyone, who values ​​freedom and financial independence. Indeed, the so-called telecommuting provides a unique opportunity to work without visits to the office. Moreover, being engaged in telecommuting, people can harmoniously combine family life and professional activities. In developed countries, the benefits of telecommuting are well known: about 20 million Americans and 4 million Europeans are working through a network permanently or for several days a week. Benefit from such employment relationship is reciprocal. The employee saves time on the road to the workplace and can choose peak activity hours for work; it is not a secret that many people might not fit into the schedule of office work. The employer saves on workplace and gets more effective employee. Telework is a new kind of work that is becoming increasingly popular in our time and has tremendous growth potential and demand.