Telecommuting, the practice of working at home with the aid of computers, modems, and fax machines linked to the office, is becoming more prevalent in the modern business environment for a number of reasons. Environmental standards and car-pool requirements are being imposed on many businesses across the country. Economic factors are causing many employers to consider alternatives to an office facility-based staff. There is also an increasing number of parents who wish to remain at home to care for young children while maintaining their positions at work.

The key to a successful home-based office is to structure it so that customers and business associates sense no difference in work performed in the home and work done in a regular office. Unlike those who run their businesses exclusively from home, the telecommuter must have access to all information and resources required at both locations, and these arrangements must be cost-effective.

For those organizations that balance individual and corporate interests, this new frontier of the alternative workplace offers a profound opportunity to benefit both the employee and the company (Fisher, 1998). Yet a successful telecommuting program requires the combination of a motivated manager, a motivated employee, and a well-defined task.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TELECOMMUTING

According to the "Pacific Bell Network Telecommuting Guide," the several different types of telecommuting are:

1. Working at home: This is the most popular method, one in which the employee designates workspace at home to conduct business functions.
2. Satellite offices: These are remote office locations, usually placed within a large concentration of employee residences, that allow employees at a single company to share common office space and reduce the time and expense of the commute to and from the main office facility.
3. Neighborhood work centers: Such a center provides workspace for employees of different companies in one location. Each company housing employees at these locations is usually responsible for the administrative and technical requirements of its employees.
4. Virtual office mobile workers: This is the newest form of telecommuting, whereby the telecommuter's office may be an airport, a hotel, or a car. These mobile telecommuters are constantly on the road and use technology to link to the office. ("Pacific Bell Network," 1998).

NUMBER OF TELECOMMUTERS IS GROWING

Today's knowledge workers are ideal candidates for splitting time between a central office and a home office. According to IDC/Link, a research firm in Framingham, Massachusetts, 11 million Americans are telecommuters working at home. In 1997 the advocacy group Telecommuter American counted 11 million at-home corporate workers (Johnson, 1998). Anne Fisher reported

that the ranks of at-home workers are growing 15 percent a year and that about 7 percent of U.S. white-collar employees now say they telecommute at least part of the time (Fisher, 1998). Although the telecommuter ranks are growing, only a third of the more than 1800 companies William M. Mercer recently surveyed offer employees the option of telecommuting ("Making Stay-at-Homes," 1998).

William G. Deming, a bureau economist, speculated that the increase in corporate telecommuting programs may explain much of the increase in the number of telecommuters. Business Week stated that one hint that this may be true is that there was not a corresponding increase in unpaid work done at home; indeed, the number of wage and salary workers who do work at home for which they are not paid decreased from 12.2 million to 1.1 million ("Home Sweet Officer," 1998).

Some of the "telecommuting-friendly" employers include Aetna, with 2 percent; Arthur Andersen, with 20 percent; AT&T, with 55 percent; Boeing, with 1 percent; Cisco Systems, with 66 percent; Georgia Power, with 5 percent; Hewlett-Packard, with 8 percent; IBM, with 20 percent; Merrill Lynch, with 5 percent; and The Leisure Company/America West, with 16 percent ("Making Stay-at-Homes," 1998).

WORKPLACE AND WORK FORCE FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The philosophy that people are the most important element of a company has created a new awareness of the necessity to adapt the work facility to the needs of employees. Although telecommuting is one of the fastest-growing business trends, not every line of work is conducive to it. Telecommuting has been common for sales staff who spend most of their time on the road, but this arrangement can work for many other employees involved with office activities.

Technology-driven corporations are in the forefront of telecommuting. Telecommuting is ideal for such individuals as computer programmers, sales representatives, technical writers, public relations individuals, news reporters, clerical assistants, computer systems analysts, engineers, researchers, customer service representatives, pieceworkers, and data-entry clerks.

CHALLENGES

Areas of concern include feelings of isolation, exploitation of workers, working too much, supervision, access to files, and performance evaluation. Union officials fear that telecommuting will lead to "home work" equaling "electronic sweatshops." The implementation of telecommuting in Los Angeles has led to the filing of three notices of alleged unfair labor practices by Local 660 of the Service Employee International Union, which represents half of the county's permanent employees. The fundamental contention was that home workers are less protected from such potential abuses as violations of overtime standards and payment for work on a piecework basis. In Japan, piecework is done by telecommuters, with a truck coming by once a week to pick up the products.

A major stumbling block for companies is created by managers who do not trust that employees will work unless under direct supervision. The adage "While the cat's away, the mouse will play!" applies. The major problem employees face with telecommuting is fear that they won't be remembered when promotion time comes around. To address these concerns, both employers and employees must be involved in the development of the telecommuting program and learn to measure productivity in terms other than office hours.

BENEFITS

Telecommuting benefits both the company and employees in many ways. The most frequently mentioned advantages of telecommuting include greater productivity, improved information turnaround, better communication, reduced office space requirements, greater staffing flexibility, lower employee turnover, and an expanded employee market. Managers state that the key benefit of telecommuting is increased productivity, while employees state the key benefit is greater independence.

Telecommuting provides opportunities for new mothers, physically challenged individuals, the elderly, people living in remote locations, and individuals taking care of housebound persons to join the work force. Telecommuting is seen as a potential means of employing and retaining valuable employees by helping them balance work and home demands as well as reducing commuting costs and time. The major advantages of telecommuting are the reduced time and expense of commuting and the increased flexibility of working hours. Telecommuting is becoming a viable work alternative for many and can attract more individuals into the work force and retain them there. The Information Age brings a myriad of change that can be viewed either as a threat or a treat.

SELECTION OF PERSONNEL

Successful telecommuting requires a cooperative arrangement between managers and employees. Managers must select individuals who are suited to working at home and jobs that can be completed at home. Since it is difficult to monitor the employee and the workplace, the manager must be involved in designing and overseeing the telecommuting program. A trusting relationship between the employer and the employee is essential.

A self-assessment survey and a job description survey developed at the University of Tennessee can assist with the selection of the proper employee and the proper project for telecommuting. The results of such a test should not be used exclusively in determining whether a particular individual should work at home or a particular task should be completed at home; it should be combined with interviews and past evaluations.

Potentially successful employees should be self-directed, self-motivated, productive, well organized, and very knowledgeable about their job. Potentially successfully supervisors should trust employees, have a positive attitude toward telecommuting, be flexible, and be able to communicate well.

EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT AND SELECTION

Any equipment that works well in the office also works well in the home office. Equipment is needed in two main areas: (1) communication— phone, a fax, and Internet access for e-mail; and(2) information—whether it is a simple calendar and contact database or complex documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Access software is needed to dial into the office computer or into another machine that has needed files and information.

The American Telecommuting Association (ATA) states that a home office is quick and easy to hook up because of modern technology. According to the ATA, an office could include the following pieces of equipment: a $1000 desktop computer or $2000 notebook computer, fax, printer, copier, and scanner. For less than $2000 one can set up a powerful, complete business system in a spare bedroom or a corner of the kitchen (ATA, 1998).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING

As economic and demographic changes force telecommuting to become a reality for organizations and employees, there is a tremendous demand for training. A curriculum for a successful telecommuting program should include the following subjects: keyboarding, work environment, office automation, time management, performance-based evaluation, decision making, and ethics.

According to the City of Los Angeles Telecommuting Task Force report, training for home telecommuters should include how to set up a home office, how to start and stop working, how to control interruptions, and how to develop a results orientation to work assignments. The training for supervisors should include establishing performance standards for telecommuters, troubleshooting potential problems, and selecting the right employee and the right task.

SUMMARY

As our global economy in the Information Age evolves, telecommuting will increasingly become a popular work style. Many companies are turning to telecommuting to solve the dilemma of recruiting and retaining quality employees, controlling costs of office space, and meeting environmental standards. The major national advantages for telecommuting include savings in gasoline, a reduction in pollution, a decrease in traffic congestion, and lower highway accident rates.

For a successful telecommuting program, top-down support is vital, employee support is necessary, screening is important, training is essential, and guidelines are required. Major capital investments are not necessary. Telecommuting should be customized for each agency, each employee, and each task.

Peter Drucker sums up telecommuting in the following quotation: "Commuting to office work is obsolete. It is now infinitely easier, cheaper, and faster … to move information … to where the people are."