We all know that the daily commute can be very long and frustrating. Traffic can often cause long delays. These delays cause stress to you, your boss and the coworkers that have to cover for you until you make it into the office. Today there is a new highway that everyone can use to get to work. The delays on this highway are measured in microseconds rather than hours. It is the Information Superhighway. The Information Superhighway has the ability to connect together every computer in every part of the world. This kind of access allows individuals to do research, marketing, communications, sales and a wide range of other tasks normally completed at the office, from the comfort and convenience of their own home. This was the basic principle that started a new trend in business known as telecommuting. This paper will give you the information you need to have a good understanding of what telecommuting is and why it is becoming so popular. In addition, it will discuss how businesses design telecommuting jobs, how they work and how they are managed.
Telecommuting involves letting employees of a company complete part of if not all of their daily work in the convenience of their own home. In some cases this may involve connecting to the companies computer network through the Internet via modem. In other cases it may just mean they complete work at home and then send the completed work back to the office through the mail or by delivering it themselves. Although many people bring work from the office home with them at night to complete before the next day they are not necessarily considered telecommuters. A schoolteacher, for instance, brings students papers home to grade. She then takes them back to school the next day. This does not make her a telecommuter for the simple reason that her compensation is based on the time she spends at school not at home. “Telecommuting occurs whenever an employee is paid for work done at an alternate worksite and total commuting time is thereby reduced” (Mariani, 2000).
While being able to enjoy the comfort of your own home and still collect a paycheck may seem like a good reason, that is not what started the idea of telecommuting. State and federal government first began the research and promotions of telecommuting to help minimize traffic congestion, cut operating cost, and help protect the environment (Hawkins, 2001). The Clea...
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... beneficial to the company.
References Sited:
Coplan J. H. (2001, April 11). Making the Case for Telecommuting. BusinessWeek Online. Retrieved October 2, 2001, from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2001/sb20010411_216.htm
Edwards, L. N., & Field-Hendrey, E. (1996, November). Home Based Workers: data from the 1990 Census of Population [Electronic Version]. Monthly Labor Review, 26-34.
Hawkins, C. (2001, August). Ready, set, go home. Black Enterprise, 32, 118-124. Retrieved October 7, 2001, from ProQuest database.
Kistner, T. (2001, September 10). Can counting keystrokes be good for teleworkers? Network World, 18, 38. Retrieved October 7, 2001, from ProQuest database.
Lundstom, M. (1999, August 5). Do Right By Your Telecommuters – Pay for their Equipment. BusinessWeek Online. Retrieved October 2, 2001, from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/news/coladvice/digman/dg990805.htm
Mariani, M. (2000, Fall). Telecommuters [Electronic Version]. Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 10-17.
Sandlund, C. (2001, March 20). Telecommuting: A Legal Primer. BusinessWeek Online. Retrieved October 2, 2001, from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2000/sb20000320_094.htm
"Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.
In the previous study, the authors stated that there are various studies about the telecommuting include references to corporate attitudes toward telecommuting, motivation, productivity, supervision and employee satisfaction.
I found this article to be of great interest to myself because my work and life has revolved around telecommuting for the past several years. As the article indicates, “a telecommuter is anyone who works at least part of the time at home, in their cars, from clients’ offices, and/or in hotel rooms and telephone booths.” Although the article is somewhat dated (1995 to be exact), I feel that what Robert Moskowitz wrote about telecommuting back in 1995 still applies today. When I chose to go to work for ADP-Automatic Data Processing several years ago, I already had some previous work experience as a telecommuter. At the time, I had no idea that my current position would actually transition itself to a telecommuting position or as I would like to call it now, “a virtual office position.”
Managers must realize the benefits from teleworking and ways to improve the effectiveness of telework. I believe characteristics of a good tele-managers have 1) flexible thinking and managerial skills, 2) the ability to work with the big picture, 3) knows how to fix problems quickly, 4) exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, 5) good rapport with workers/employees, 6) caring and supportive, and 7) earned the trust of their employees. (Global Workplace Analytics: Making the Case for Place, Lister & Harnish September
Berk, S. (1985). The Gender Factory: The Apportionment of Work in American Households. Plenium Press, New York.
Home telecommuting plugs into everything that is happening at the office, just as if they were at the office. By opening your networks to the public and allowing your information to be available to the internet, Co-Works will have access to your information available with many different types of home equipment needed for home telecommuting that can be a little expensive at first to get started. Some of the different equipment that is needed is a computer with fax and scanner so proper communications are available, phone, high speed internet connection, a desk, file cabinets, and a web camera with an internet messenger along with video conferencing software. There are many advantages for companies today to use telecommuters in their day-to-day business operations. This allows business’s to cut corners and save money so that way more money can be spent on other projects which will make more of a profit, and help reduce the costs of gas and travel expenses for employees who travel a lot.
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