Introduction
Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which an employee is allowed flexibility in working location and hours. Its main purpose and advantage is in reducing the need to commute to a central place of work, instead allowing an employee to work at a remote location (such as their home) while in contact with the workplace through telecommunication links.
Technology
Employees are generally linked to a remote network access
Advantages
Reduced traffic congestion and car accidents Reduced road maintenance costs Less petrol is consumed
To employer
An agency may find that by offering the flexibility to work from home, they can hire back a retiree with the right specialized experience to do a job on a part-time, rather than full-time, basis.(2)
Office hoteling can be taken advantage of by the employer in order to reduce office space requirements as each office can be used by multiple employees on separate days.(4)
To employee
Conditions for the employee (the telecommuter) are generally most favorable when: (1) the employer bears the equipment cost; (2) commute distances are above average; (3) the commute vehicle has below-average fuel economy; (4) travel time is highly valued; and (5) telecommuting is frequent, while conditions for the employer are most favorable when: (1) the telecommuter bears the equipment cost; (2) there is low telecommuter attrition; (3) the employee is highly productive on telecommuting days; (4) the employee’s time is highly valued; and (5) telecommuting is frequent.
from Shafizadeh et al. (3)
Higher morale
Improved job satisfaction
Less stress
Very convenient option for disabled people to work
Reduced work-family conflict
Environmental impact
The state of California ran a pilot project to determine the impacts of home-based telecommuting on travel behaviour and personal vehicle emissions. The authors compared participants' travel behaviour before and after telecommuting, and found a 27% reduction in the number of personal vehicle trips, a 77% decrease in vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT), and 39% (4%) decreases in the number of cold (hot) engine starts. The authors determined that these decreases translated into emissions reductions of: 48% for total organic gases (TOG), 64% for carbon monoxide (CO), 69% for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 78% for particulate matter (PM). (Koenig, Henderson and Mokhtarian)
Limitations
From Koenig, Henderson and Mokhtarian, the number of personal vehicle trips and VMT partitioned into commute-related and non-commute-related purposes revealed that non-commute personal vehicle trips increased by 0.5 trips per day on average, whereas the non-commute VMT decreased by 5.3 miles. This important finding supports the hypothesis that non-commute travel generation is a potential negative impact of telecommuting.
Limited interpersonal interaction with employees at the workplace.
References
1. Koenig, Brett E., Dennis K. Henderson and Patricia L. Mokhtarian. "The Travel and Emissions Impacts of Telecommuting for the State of California Telecommuting Pilot Project." Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 4.1 (1996): 13-32. Available on-line at: [[1]]
2. Polcastro, Mike. "Wages, benefits and tighter belts: agencies must not overlook the impact of pay and perks on their bottom line." Best's Review 110.8 (2009): 64. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. [[2]]
3. Shafizadeh (P.E.), Kevan R., et al. "Costs and Benefits of Home-Based Telecommuting: A Monte Carlo Simulation Model Incorporating Telecommuter, Employer and Public Sector Perspectives." Journal of Infrastructure Systems 13.1 (2007): 12-25. [[3]]
4."'Hoteling': Employees share desks as they check in to work". Central Penn Business Journal. FindArticles.com. 06 Feb, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5295/is_199804/ai_n24334137/ Copyright Journal Publications Inc. Apr 17, 1998