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Telecommuting aids companies in talent recruitment, employee retention
A recent study by The Polling Company Inc. estimates that 25 percent of U.S. workers are telecommuting from home or another off-site location.
Though the concept has been around since the 1970s, many signs indicate that telecommuting is on a fast-track adoption rate. Indeed, 84 percent of the companies on Fortune's 2008 list of "100 Best Companies to Work For" offer employees the option to telecommute for at least 20 percent of their work schedule.
Companies most commonly cite talent recruitment and employee retention as the biggest reasons to offer telecommuting.
"If you offer telecommuting, your talent pool instantly expands - even beyond borders," says Ted Balaker, author of the 2005 study, "The Quiet Success: Telecommuting's Impact on Transportation and Beyond." "Surveys have shown that workers respond with more loyalty to companies that offer telecommuting. They see it as a privilege and they will work hard to get it and to keep it. When you can keep good people in place, it saves the company a lot of costs associated with turnover."
Balaker says his research also revealed that telecommuters are above average in their productivity - a finding that contradicts a common stereotype about work-from-home employees.
"You might think because they're at home, these off-site workers are goofing off or doing laundry, but telecommuters tend to work longer hours because they're not clock punchers," Balaker says. "More importantly, they know they are judged on results, not on how long they can sit behind a desk, kick up dust and look busy."
Proponents of telecommuting also cite savings in real estate costs, such as office leases and building maintenance.
A natural transition
Advances in technology and a shift toward a knowledge-based economy are further spurring the telecommuting movement. From Web conference tools to virtual networks to PDAs, it's getting increasingly easier to create a fully functioning mobile office. Also, in today's marketplace, companies are dealing more in ideas - a commodity that doesn't require employees to be in a factory or centralized location.
However, the outlook for telecommuting isn't all glowing. Hiring off-site employees raises new challenges in management and workflow. Balaker says companies worry that, with telecommuting, there will be a loss of oversight, communication and team synergy.
The good news, say Balaker, is that most of this can be resolved through technology, smart policymaking and adjustments to traditional management styles.
"If an employer is worried that a telecommuter isn't working, there are software programs now that can monitor a teleworker's progress - even down to the keystroke if you want that, though that seems a little Big Brother to me," Balaker says. "The point is, these telecommuting tools are out there."
Balaker likens the mobile workforce movement to how things were in a pre-industrialized society, when tradesman operated from their own shops.
"In many respects, we're coming full circle versus entering something that's completely different," he says.
