Telecommuting: The Issues

by Team 4 - CSMN 601 - Section 9040 - May 8th, 1999

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Introduction

The face of the workplace is changing in many ways. The economic and social realities of the latter days of the century are affecting the ways in which businesses of all kinds organize themselves in order to accomplish their tasks. Certainly, the massive investments in, and the new possibilities created by advances in information and communication technologies in recent years, have had an astonishing effect.

One area of the changing face of the workplace brought about by changes in information technology is the new possibility of performing work from almost any location. The term telecommuting is commonly used to represent "alternative work environments, but specifically, telecommuting is defined as 'working at home during business hours one or more days a week, using a combination of computing and communications technology to stay productive and connected to the office and clients'" (Craumer & Marshall, 1997). In this paper, we will briefly explore the past and current context for telecommuting and the factors that have made this a real option for both businesses and employees. We will then explore in more detail three areas. 1) How working from home brings new challenges for the manager, who must learn new ways of dealing with employees who are physically distant. 2) How telecommuting also brings challenges to workers, who must learn new ways to divide work and leisure, and how to deal with feelings of isolations. 3) Despite these difficulties, the economic impact of telecommuting is a great benefit to all parties involved. Success will lie with those companies that are best prepared to capitalize on this growing trend.

Current Context

The term telecommuting is not a new one. The term has been used for over twenty-five years (Kurland, 1998). However, it is since the late 1980s that telecommuting has been popularized (McCune, 1998). Pliskin (1998) notes that the information technology common in the early days of telecommuting (the late 1970s), a terminal connected to a mainframe computer, was an ideal environment for telecommuting to flourish. All that was needed was a phone line to substitute for the cable in the office that connected the terminal to the mainframe. These first telcommuters tended to be persons whose jobs were highly defined (or as Fritz, M.B., Hyeun- suk, R., & Narasimhan, S. (1998) term it, high "task predictability"), such as data entry clerks.

Ironically, some of the advances in information technology that has made telecommuting more desirable and possible has also increased the difficulty of telecommuting. Pliskin (1998) notes that as computing has moved from a mainframe-terminal connection to networked computers, the lack of broadband connections to most homes needed to duplicate the office environment has been an impediment to telecommuting.

Despite this and other problems with telecommuting today, it continues to be a growing trend. Estimates by FIND/SVP, a New York market research firm, put the number of telecommuters at more than 11 million today, and predicts that there will be 14 million by the year end -- a figure that is conservative by some estimates ("Telecommuting Often," 1999). More and more resources are available on telecommuting, and while some research is being done, much more is needed (Fritz, M.B., Hyeun-suk, R., & Narasimhan, S. (1998)).

What is driving the growth in telecommuting? While there are many factors, and each will be different depending on the needs and characteristics of the organization, several themes seem to be common.

One significant factor seems to be the need for additional flexibility. The in tight labor market of the late 1990's, employees are able to dictate the terms of their employment. Flexible hours and work locations in order to accommodate personal needs has become a more common concession in order to gain employees ("Problem: When," 1997)

Another factor has been the rise in the number of "knowledge workers." These employees bring with them specialized skills and knowledge that makes them the most important "capital" that a business has. These skills are more important than the physical location of the employee (McCune, 1998).

Economic considerations also are driving the growth in telecommuting. Many companies have realized significant savings by introducing some form of telecommuting (Apgar, 1998). In today's business environment, where margins are often thin and cutting expenses is necessary in order to remain profitable, such cost-reductions can be a significant competitive advantage.

Clearly all of this growth is also fueled by the huge strides in recent years in information technology. Many of the tools of modern business, such as e-mail, cellular phones, voicemail, and the internet have relieved the need for business to rely on a physical presence as was necessary before these innovations.

We believe that the convergence of these factors makes telecommuting one important factor for business success. The economic impact to companies is significant. While the potential for cost savings is large, there is also a large investment necessary in order to support telecommuting. However, in order to successfully implement telecommuting, more than economics come into play. Managers must learn how to manage in new ways when persons are not physically present. An interesting case study by Maruca & Egan (1998) highlights the ways in which management may not be prepared to cope with this new way of managing. The final area is preparing the employee for the realities of the telecommuting environment. Difficulty in differentiating between work and leisure times, feelings of isolation, and lack of adequate support (technological and otherwise) must be addressed if telecommuting is to succeed.

Because we believe that each of these areas is important to the success of telecommuting in any given environment, we will explore these three areas individually.