Today’s technology has quickly evolved to make new ways of conducting business possible. Telecommuting, a global trend of working off-site, is paving the way for companies to gain access to talents around the world without a physical office. Workers, on the other hand, benefit from it by being able to have better control in their work-life balance and better job performance. Most of us have been used to the traditional cubicle workplace but this is now being replaced with the flexibility of doing work where efficiency and productivity is at its best, it could be at home, outdoors, on the road or while travelling.
Telecommuting or Telework is fast gaining ground as a viable working alternative for most companies. Today in the US alone, there is an estimated 50 million plus workers, who work from home- a big leap from an estimated figure or 2.5 million back in 2008. Analysts expect that IT decision-makers from public and private companies will increase telecommuting jobs by 65% and 33%, respectively, in the next 3 years.
A telecommuting program’s success is largely driven by the management philosophy of managing by objectives, rather than managing by observing. Such management style is results driven and is not based on close supervision of employees.
Telecommuting brings lots of benefits for the employer and employee as well as the community.
For the community, it can bring down traffic congestion, reduce our carbon footprint as well as reduce traffic related accidents.
Workers are able to save on fuel and other cost of going to and from work, and more importantly, they are able improve their work-life balance drastically, spend less time on the road which can mean more time for personal commitments.
Employers, on the other hand, reap the rewards of higher employee retention rates. There are some companies that use this as a tool to attract and keep the best people. There is also a noticeable increase in the talent they can hire, including housewives, caregivers, young people and people with physical handicap. Companies also benefit from lesser absenteeism and increased productivity. Since telecommuters work in a quiet environment, there are fewer distractions. Telecommuters have a mindset of what gets done gets rewarded and they know that they are judged by their productivity and not merely on how busy they seem to be. More importantly, companies have realized huge savings from infrastructure to administrative costs due to telecommuting.
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