Telecommuting is a win-win deal

By Allan Appel

Monday, March 10, 2008

A compilation of academic studies has been released to support the many benefits of telecommuting. It generally involves someone working at a location other than the standard place of work (such as at an employer's office) for a few days a week.

According to Ivanhoe Broadcast News, citing the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers at Penn State University confirmed that telecommuting results in higher employee morale and job satisfaction. At the same time, employee turnover and job stress decreased.

It seems these benefits were also reflected in the attitudes of supervisory personnel. The research reported how the work of telecommuters was rated higher on their personnel performance reports. These results went hand-in-hand with accounts of an increased balance of work and family issues of employees.

The key factor that led to these conclusions was the degree of employee control over how they do their work.

The practice of telecommuting is growing exponentially. As of 2004, it is estimated about 45 million people have such an arrangement with their employers.

There were some negative factors reported in these studies. Predictably, employees reported relationships among co-workers tended to suffer. However, supervisory personnel did not reflect any adverse effects on job performance because of telecommuters working off-site. In fact, the telecommuters did not believe that working away from their offices would have any negative effect on their careers. Furthermore, the studies reflected that women were the most likely to benefit from telecommuting. Additional responsibilities for children and the home may be factors in that conclusion.

With all this good news about telecommuting, it would be wise to remember that there are exceptions to this experience. If such an arrangement is to be successful, there must be a great deal of coordination and regular, periodic "face-time" with supervisors and co-workers. Future raises, promotions and favorable job performance reviews may depend on it.  (Shouldn't future raises, promotions and favorable job performance reviews be based on performance and not "face-time"?)

Thinking of this arrangement as temporary may also be useful to protect a career, according to Denise Rousseau, PhD, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, as reported by Ivanhoe.

© 2008 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers