Telecommuting

Telecommuting, also called telework, teleworking, working from home, mobile work, remote work, and flexible workplace, is a work arrangement in which employees do not commute or travel (e.g. by bus or car) to a central place of work, such as an office building, warehouse, or store. Teleworkers in the 21st century often use mobile telecommunications technology such as Wi-Fi-equipped laptop or tablet computers and smartphones to work from coffee shops; others may use a desktop computer and a landline phone at their home. According to a Reuters poll, approximately 'one in five workers around the globe, particularly employees in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, telecommute frequently and nearly 10 percent work from home every day.' In the 2000s, annual leave or vacation in some organizations was seen as absence from the workplace rather than ceasing work, and some office employees used telework to continue to check work e-mails while on vacation. In the 1990s, telecommuting became the subject of pop culture attention. In 1995, the motto that 'work is something you do, not something you travel to' was coined. Variations of this motto include: 'Work is something we DO, not a place that we GO' and 'Work is what we do, not where we are.' Telecommuting has been adopted by a range of businesses, governments and not-for-profit organizations. Organizations may use telecommuting to reduce costs (telecommuting employees do not require an office or cubicle, a space which has to be rented or purchased, provided with lighting and climate control, etc.). Some organizations adopt telecommuting to improve workers' quality of life, as teleworking typically reduces commuting time and time stuck in traffic jams. As well, teleworking may make it easier for workers to balance their work responsibilities with family roles (e.g., caring for children or elderly parents). Some organizations adopt teleworking for environmental reasons, as telework can reduce congestion and air pollution, as it can reduce the number of cars on the roads. Although the concepts of 'telecommuting' and 'telework' are closely related, there is a difference between the two. All types of technology-assisted work conducted outside a centrally located work space (including work undertaken in the home, outside calls, etc.) are regarded as telework. Telecommuters often maintain a traditional office and usually work from an alternative work site from 1 to 3 days a week. Telecommuting refers more specifically to work undertaken at a location that reduces commuting time. These locations can be inside the home or at some other remote workplace, which is facilitated through a broadband connection, computer or phone lines, or any other electronic media used to interact and communicate. As a broader concept than telecommuting, telework has four dimensions in its definitional framework: work location, that can be anywhere outside a centralized organizational work place; usage of ICTs (information and communication technologies) as technical support for telework; time distribution, referring to the amount of time replaced in the traditional workplace; and the diversity of employment relationships between employer and employee, ranging from contract work to traditional full-time employment. A person who telecommutes is known as a 'telecommuter', 'teleworker', and sometimes as a 'home-sourced', or 'work-at-home' employee. A telecommuter is also called a 'telecommuting specialist', as a designation and in a professional context. Many telecommuters work from home, while others, sometimes called 'nomad workers' work at coffee shops or other locations. The terms 'telecommuting' and 'telework' were coined by Jack Nilles in 1973. As of 2012, estimates suggest that over fifty million U.S. workers (about 40% of the working population) could work from home at least part of the time, but in 2008 only 2.5 million employees, excluding the self-employed, considered their home to be their primary place of business. The number of employees reported to have worked from their home 'on their primary job' in 2010 has been reported as 9.4 million (6.6% of the workforce), though, this number might include the self-employed. As of 2017, roughly 3.7 million employees—2.8% of the workforce—work from home at least half the time, Global Analytics Workplace reports. Very few companies employ large numbers of home-based full-time staff. The call center industry is one notable exception: several U.S. call centers employ thousands of home-based workers. For many employees, the option to work from home is available as an employee benefit but most participants only do so a fraction of the time. Top paid among work-from-home sectors are home-based physicians and radiologists in which it is suspected that they earn near the $1,975 median weekly income of physicians, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it a six-figure job. Studies show that at-home workers are willing to earn up to 30% less and experience heightened productivity. In 2009, the United States Office of Personnel Management reported that approximately 103,000 federal employees were teleworking. However, fewer than 14,000 were teleworking three or more days per week. In January 2012, Reuters, drawing from an Ipsos/Reuters poll, predicted that telecommuting was 'a trend that has grown and one which looks like it will continue with 34% of connected workers saying they would be very likely to telecommute on a full-time basis if they could.' On December 9, 2010, the U.S. Federal Government passed the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 in order to improve Continuity of Operations and ensure essential Federal functions are maintained during emergencies; to promote management effectiveness when telework is used to achieve reductions in organizational and transit costs and environmental impacts; and to enhance the work-life balance of workers. For example, telework allows employees to better manage their work and family obligations and thus helps retain a more resilient Federal workforce better able to meet agency goals. Study results from the 2013 Regus Global Economic Indicator were published in September 2013 and showed that 48% of business managers worldwide work remotely for at least half their working week. The study engaged over 26,000 business managers across 90 countries, with 55% of respondents stating that the effective management of remote workers is an attainable goal. Following the release of the results, Regus CEO Mark Dixon stated: 'The business people we speak with tell us that trust and freedom play a key role in remote management, and once these are in place the benefits are clear for all to see: greater productivity, improved staff retention and lower operating costs.' A living list of fully distributed companies can be found here. Forrester Research’s US Telecommuting Forecast reporting that 34 million Americans work from home and the number is expected to reach a staggering 63 million – or 43% of the U.S. workforce – by 2016. Cisco reports that the company has generated an estimated annual savings of $277 million in productivity by allowing employees to telecommute and telework. And Intuit reports that by 2020, more than 40% of the American workforce, or 60 million people, will be freelancers, contractors and temp workers. In the UK between 2007 and 2012, the number of employees who usually work from home increased by 13% - an increase of almost half a million people, taking the total to over 4 million employees out of a UK workforce of 30 million.