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10/9/13 Telecommuting Creates Happier and More Productive ... - Input Output
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Telecommuting Creates Happier and MoreProductive Employeesby Diann_Daniel on 05-03-2012 08:08 AM - last edited on 22-03-2012 08:05 AM by
estherschindler
The arguments for allowing your workforce to have more telecommuting options are many.
There's the environmental argument, to begin with: Telecommuting raises your company's
green profile; it keeps cars off the road and reduces traffic congestion. Telecommuting
already saves 10 million barrels of oil per year, according to a 2011 study (PDF) from the
Mobility Choice coalition. (See this infographic for more connections between
telecommuting and green practices.)
Environmental sustainability and greater work business continuity are valid reasons to
create more flexibility in your company's work arrangements. Another, arguably more
pressing one? Your employees want it.
Also see A Manager’s Guide to Telecommuting for mentoring advice.
Telecommuting programs can increase employee productivity and satisfaction
According to the Telework Research Network, a public-private partnership focused on
demonstrating the tangible value of telework and serving the emerging educational and
communication requirements of the Federal teleworker community, telecommuting can
make employees more productive, not less—despite what many managers fear. It points to
heavy hitters like Best Buy, Dow Chemical, and American Express as just a few companies
that have found teleworkers are more productive by 35% to 40%.
In a global survey by Reuters, 65% of respondents from around the world think
telecommuters are productive due to the greater control over work life enabled by a more
flexible work arrangement. In a Cisco survey of 2,000 of its own employees, 69% of the
employees surveyed said they were more productive when working remotely, and 67%
said their overall work quality improved when telecommuting.
A study published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Family Psychology supports
this. The study found that workers with a more flexible schedule were better able to
balance work and family life. Employees with the flexibility to telecommute at least part of
the time worked 19 more hours than their office-bound workers before experiencing work-
life conflicts.
Increased productivity from telecommuting and virtual programs also squares with the
experiences of Rick Albiero, founder and CEO of the remote workforce consultancy the
Telecommuting Advantage Group. There can be a lot of wasted time in a physical office.
Woe to the person whose cube or office is a high-traffic zone, he says. How much time is
lost as anyone who walks by feels the need to stop in and make small talk? Also, in an
office it's easy to "walk around and bump into people." There's less pressure to be
strategic in your communications and requests. It's much more likely that you rely on
popping into someone's office to make that additional request you didn't think to make
when you, for example, first asked for that report. In addition, Albiero says, typically the
first part of a meeting tends not to focus on work, but rather gets taken up by topics like
what team members did during the weekend.
It is partly for reasons such as these that teleworkers may be not only more productive,
but happier. Contrary to the popular wisdom that personal interaction on the job is an
important determinant in job satisfaction, a study in the October 2010 Journal of Applied
Communications Research notes that there are distinct benefits associated with restricted
face-to-face interaction. "Indeed, some communication scholars have questioned the
notion that face-to-face interaction or a sense of 'being there' are necessarily positive,"
write the researchers.
Past studies show that traditional collocated environments do enable greater levels of
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10/9/13 Telecommuting Creates Happier and More Productive ... - Input Output
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information exchange than what is provided by teleworking situations (which the authors
found as well). However, that increased communication can at times lead to information
overload for employees and can actually hinder performance. Interruptions, meetings,
unpleasant office politics, and other realities of many offices are easier to ignore; those
working at home can instead focus on work and remain unaware of the self-interests and
bad behaviors employees can engage in to get ahead. The result? You might say a
healthy sense of isolation can create a work-focused bliss.
In other words, having more flexibility in one's work arrangements can boost morale and
job satisfaction. And that's no small thing. As the economy makes its way toward recovery,
employee attraction, satisfaction, and retention will once again—and are even now
becoming—more important to companies, Albiero says. "Now we will have to compete for
employees again." And make no mistake: Many candidates demand more flexibility in their
work arrangements.
This is especially important, he says, since a lot of people —managers and employees
alike — will leave their current job at the first opportunity. Managers have spent the last
few years having to lay people off, to tell employees "no raise this year," and to explain
that no additional staff can be hired even though their workers are doing the jobs of
multiple employees. "People are looking for a fresh start," he says. More flexible work
situations that do not rely on an employee being in-office and desk-bound must be
considered if a business wants to stay competitive, Albiero says.
To Albiero’s point: According to a new survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of
collaboration solutions vendor TeamViewer, 17% of respondents would forego a salary
increase for the ability to telecommute.
Given broadband ubiquity and getting-better-all-the-time collaboration tools, providing a
robust telecommuting program should be easier for companies today than ever before.
And then there's the exponentially changing cultural norms around technology and
communication—and work. When Michael Dziak, COO of e-Work, a training provider that
focuses on navigating evolving workplaces, began focusing on training programs,
technological connectivity was a real issue. Today, he points out, everybody has a
smartphone and e-mail; expectations around what is possible both in work and life has
changed dramatically and organizations need to catch up, he says.
Office Space
Are the warm-and-fuzzy staff productivity justifications for telecommuting not enough for
your company? Then you can sell them on the budget advantages in real estate and
operating costs: Companies could save $1.1 million if they allowed 100 workers to work at
home just half the time, according to the Telework Research Network in a 2010 paper
(PDF) prepared for Citrix Online.
Creating more flexible work arrangements can reduce the capital required to own or lease
a building, and it also can save on parking lot leases, furniture, supplies, building
maintenance, security, and other related costs. In an IBM paper, "Working Outside the
Box," author Janet Caldow writes that savings in real estate costs and CO2 emissions "far
outweigh the cost to transition an employee to mobile status."
To her point: More than 10,000 IBM employees were mobile by 1995, and dedicated office
space per employee was reduced from a ratio of 1:1 to 4:1. That same year, more than 2
million square feet of office space and 7,500 work spaces were eliminated. The total cost
to transform 10,000 employees into mobile workers was $41.5 million. The savings? $75
million dollars. "And that was just the beginning," she writes.
Related to real estate, Jill Adams, CEO of HR Telecommuting, a remote work strategy
consultancy, points out that telecommuting programs also enable businesses to
decentralize their workforce and resources, which translates to a better ability to weather
the storms—both literal, and in the form of attacks and other disasters.
Don’t assume that telecommuting is only a policy change. When you support
telecommuters, you need more management skills – and a little extra technology. For
guidance on that topic, see A Manager’s Guide to Telecommuting.
[Ed: For more on the subject, see:Tips for Telecommuters: How to Tackle Productivity
Drains, Bond with Coworkers, and Impress the Boss The benefits of the teleworking are
many, but working from home is not without its challenges. Here are 15 tips on how to face
potential pitfalls head on.]
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Everyone's Tags: career management remote workforce telecommuting virtual workforce View All (5)
9 Comments (9 New ) Permalink View Article Reactions
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by Carlin Soctt(anon) on 05-03-2012 06:52 PM Options
Permalink
I'd like to know how they f igured out the time spent w orking w hen comparing telecommuters w ith on-site
employees. I know that I personally am much more focused at w ork than I am at home and it has to do w ith
how easy it is to multitask personal stuff w ith my w ork. It's possible that the w orkers involved in the survey
w eren't doing a good job of differentiating betw een personal and w ork time.
by Henry(anon) on 06-03-2012 06:51 AM Options
Permalink
@Carlin: I think it depends on several factors. I w ork in an open off ice environment (cube farm) w here I'm
constantly distracted by other conversations, noises, etc. At home, I have no distractions as long as I'm self-
disciplined enough to stay focused on w ork, w hich I am. Some people aren't. That's w hy I think telecommuting
should be decided on a business by business and case by case basis. I'm much more productive w hen I
w ork from hom than I am at w ork.
by Eli Sow ash(anon) on 06-03-2012 07:14 AM Options
Permalink
I believe I'm one of the people w ho's not suff iciently self-disciplined. I am not as productive at home as I am
w hen I'm in an off ice setting.
by Jonathan(anon) on 08-03-2012 01:30 AM Options
Permalink
I telecommute half the time and w hile I may be more focused w hen I am at the off ice, I am more creative w hen
I am at home. There is also an element of 'not being burnt out', because I get to w ork from home.
by Diann_Daniel on 09-03-2012 07:54 AM Options
Permalink
Thanks for your comments! Soon w e'll be publishing another article aimed at specif ic tips for telecommuters,
ie, how you can better manage yourself w hen you are telecommuting (how to overcome isolation, establish a
schedule, etc.). But the variety of your comments makes me think it's w orth exploring in more depth the
interaction betw een different personality types, life situations, and jobs situations and how those can affect
one's experience of telecommuting (and w hen telecommuting is decididely not a right f it--that's touched on but
I think deeper exploration w ould be interesting).
by Sacagaw ea(anon) on 30-01-2013 03:40 AM Options
i know you think your w orkforce is happier and more productive. But recently I visited my sister w ho is a
telecommuter for you. She w orked a total of one to tw o hours every day, w rote dow n eight hours on her
hard drive and sent it in. Her husband has a degree from MIT and w hatever roadblocks she encountered he
fixed for her. She didn't do this to spend time w ith me. She hates me. This w as her normal routine. She
w alked the dog on HP's time, cooked, drank, slept in, and w ent cross country skiing or soaked in the
mountain's hot springs. Sometimes they w ent kayaking, hiking, snow shoeing, or just sat around. Not bad for
over $120K a year. Yet she f inds so much to be resentful and bitter for. I'v never w itnessed someone take
these actions daily w ithout a second thought. It w as like any other household chore... dusting, doing dishes...
and w riting her 8 hours dow n at 10 am every morning. Unbelievable. I w onder how many of your w ell
adjusted, content, happy employees are doing this?
Comments
10/9/13 Telecommuting Creates Happier and More Productive ... - Input Output
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Permalink
An Indian
by Richard Widdicombe(anon) on 25-02-2013 10:53 AM Options
Permalink
As a Library Director in a university, one w ould think that I needed to be "in the library." As it happens, a
series of medical events allow ed me to not only w ork from home but also 300 miles aw ay at my country
house. Using email and a phone system that bridged my phones, most professors, students and
administrators had no idea w here I w as physically located. This w orked very very w ell for tw o decades. I
am now retired. I do believe that from time to time I needed a physical w alking about but for the most part, I
got more w ork done w hen aw ay from my palatial ( and it w as) off ice than w hen I w as remote. Also, being
remote I w orked all hours of day and night taking breaks to also do household chores, pet the dogs etc..
by L Meade(anon) on 25-02-2013 01:25 PM Options
Permalink
Dis-honest people don't end up telecommuting for long, or if they do the employer is not doing it right. It's
definitely a better environment, and if you w ant to keep it, you have to deal squarely. That's the incentive to
be productive on a telecommuting job. I w as much less productive at my off ice job than I am now w orking
from home-or-w herever-I-happen-to-need-to-be. To drive w ould mean to lose tw o hours of my day. That's
far less productive. Telecommuting needs to be the norm in the IT f ields: it's better for families, and the low
overhead allow s small softw are houses to survive, if not compete, w ith major softw are development
companies. The arguments against telecommuting in the softw are industry are all misinformed, and the
abusers are the anomalies.
by K Kramer(anon) on 26-02-2013 02:53 AM Options
Permalink
Sure, there w ill be people w ho w ill do nothing (or hardly anything) w hile 'w orking' at home. But the same thing
can be said from people w orking in cubicles or off ices. I've seen (and know ) people w ho go to w ork every
w orkday. But they're not very productive. How ever, they're quite capable of appearing very busy all day
long.
What I mean is: if people do not w ant to w ork hard, they w ill do so at the off ice or w hile w orking from home.
You should look at the output.
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