Telecommuting

With the continuous technological advancements, telecommuting is more prevalent in today's workplaces. Telecommuting is the ability to work at home by using a computer or other devices electronically linked to one's place of employment (Jones, 2007). As Alverson notes, this work option began to progress in the 1980s when employees realized the need for more work/life balance and companies recognized the benefits of cost reduction. In 1990 to 1997 alone, the population of teleworkers almost tripled from 4 million and continues to increase as technology continues to improve (1998). However, this work practice is more common in certain job fields such as information technology and sales, for not every job position or person is suitable or wants to work from home. At the employee, company, and social level, telecommuting can potentially offer much benefits and convenience, but at the same time, this work method can have some drawbacks as well. Each party must weigh the costs and benefits and decide whether telecommuting is advantageous and feasible from their standpoint.

Although telecommute generally refers to working from home, there are actually three types of telecommuting applicable in today’s businesses as Alverson presents. First, home-based telecommuting is the option when employees get to work from home majority and possibly travel to the office occasionally. Second, telework center is the alternative when employers setup remote sites away from main office in convenience for their employees based on location demographics. Lastly, a selection mostly applicable to sales is hoteling. This is a choice when employees work from multiple different environments as they travel for business. The three different categories of telecommuting are defined based on location; however, home-based telecommuting is the most common method implemented across different business operations today (1998).

Employees that work at home can observe the flexible work schedules and have...