The Telecommuting and Its Effects

On September 20, 1994, some 32,000 AT&T employees stayed national. They werent sick or on strike. They were telecommuting. Employees ranging from the CEO to phone operators were lead off of an experiment that involved 100,000 people. Its purpose? To explore how far a vast transcription could go in transforming the pasture spot by base the work to the worker instead of the worker to work. Today AT&T is just one of many organizations pioneering the alternating(a) workplace (AW- too known as telecommuting) the combination of nontraditional work practices, settings, and locations that is beginning to supplement traditional offices (Apgar, 121). harmonise to IDC/Link Resources, New York, approximately 8 million Ameri nookys currently telecommute. A survey mete outed by Olsten Corp., Melville, N.Y., reports that 62 share of North American companies come along telecommuting (Riggs, 46). In addition, forecast into shows about 50% of all employees each have a job that lends itsel f to telecommuting or want to break down involved in telecommuting. Most researchers agree that telecommuting growth is rapid in companies employing more than 1,000 and in those with under 10 employees (Harler, 26). teleworking came into origination out of necessity. First, increasing global competition has brought pressures and opportunities to businesses, consultants, and service vendors. As a provide, the Yankee Group predicts that as many as 80 percent of all employers will have to adopt remote work in order to compete in world markets by mid-to late nineties (Manire, 51). Second, the Information Age necessitates that companies move faster and thus act and play off to business conditions sooner. Third, telecommuting has been increasingly enforced at state and federal official levels due to the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970, as amended in 1990. The CAA affects any firm with over 100 employees in areas with severe ozone progression levels, which covers every good-sized city in the nation (Harler, 27).The Impact of the earnings on teleworkingThe Internet is widely becoming part of the plan when implementing and incorporate telecommuting solutions. The Internet can add a powerful attribute to the management of both internal and external instruction functions and strengthen the organizations human resource management teaching systems.communicating Internally. The Internet is redefining how we communicate at all organizational levels with individuals, teams and groups, and the corporations total labor force (Kuzmits and Santos, 35). While the Internet is not about to eradicate phones, fax machines, or the U.S. postal service, it will gradually wean us from our reliance on traditional forms of communication, and will reduce the need to conduct one of the biggest conviction-wasters face-to-face meetings. This can be effectively achieved by using e-mail, which reduces toll charges on phone calls and rounds of frustrating attempts via voice mail. Int ernet phones, mend limited, currently allows for free communication without the toll charges of traditional phone networks (Kuzmits and Santos, 36).Communicating Externally. With the Internets links to millions of computers across the world, human resource professionals can now tap into a rich array of external information resources. There are numerous links to human resources and management associations, consultants, research organizations, and local, state, and federal government organizations. Publishers of human resource information and journals are also on the Internet, providing an important source of articles on current human resources issues and trends (Kuzmits and Santos, 37).Telecommuting provides many benefits to both employers and employees. Telecommuting increase productivity, decrease office berth (and thus fixed costs), improved morale, and absenteeism. Disabled workers can benefit wondrously from working at home, and can save companies some of the costs of in-dept h conformism with the American Disabilities Act (Harler, 27). In addition, the following benefits could be derivedAchievement of the rest period between work and personal timeGeographic dispersion of stave resources (Berhard, 22).Implements a means to distribute resources strategically and accommodate customers with measurable blessedness ratios (Berhard, 22).Achieve refreshed levels of operational efficiencyContemporary trend toward administrator management using remote connectivity for video conferencing and global access to mission-critical lotion systems (Berhard, 22).Gives companies an edge in vying for and keeping talented, highly motivated employees.In addition, pay will eventually be changed to reflect the new work environment. The value role of incentive rewards may increase as a result of the extra hours that employees are now clocking (Hein, 9).Closer teamwork and greater flexibility (Apgar, 127).Value that employees place on increased personal time and const raint (Apgar, 127).There are also numerous issues and disadvantages to telecommuting that human resources should be aware of and anticipate. Among these include humane Resources should be able to handle terminate an AW relationship, especially if the company feels it moldiness eliminate a person from its course of study for poor performance.There is difficulty in anticipating rejectioration in the employees at-home situation. For example, a divorce can result in the company losing an set up office address, phone and fax number. What processes is or should be in place to assure invoices or work documents delivered to the former home are forwarded to the new location?Cost considerations for the telecommuter go above the basic infrastructure requirement.integration telecommuting into the corporate culture involves cautiously estimating personnel considerations, support issues, long-term investment strategy and productivity standards.Higher recurring expenses and a perpendicular c ost impact to support remote computing.Corporations must start drop capital dollars in security economics-the analyzed loss of corporate information as a result of data piracy. Proper planning and elaborate review of security procedures helps corporations worst this problem.The alternative workplace provides both tremendous tangible and intangible benefits. However, as most economists would point out, Theres no such thing as a free tiffin. There are many human resources problems and issues that must be address before telecommuting can be optimally and positively impacted.Examining the Obstacles to TelecommutingFirst, companies wish to utilize telecommuting should set off any potential obstacles that could deter or impact its effectiveness. During the planning process for telecommuting, it is important to brainstorm to uncover any possible problems or threats. In addition, access to the Internet, inappropriate transmitting of potentially offensive materials and electronic mail are also strikes for companies wishing to deploy telecommuting should address (Courtenay, 67). Among the potential obstacles that must be overcome include ingrained behaviors, cultural and system improvements, and judicial and tax ramifications. inhering behaviors and practical hurdles make telecommuting hard to implement (Apgar, 121). This may result in employees who will resist the effort to this new paradigm. A special concern for human resources should be old-line managers. Old-line managers are one of the biggest obstacles to the alternative workplace. The problem is they manage by observation, not by results (Harler, 27).Managing both the cultural changes and the system improvements required by and AW initiative are substantial (Apgar, 121). Human Resources must retool to support the new type of employee. For example, at Levi Strauss. A family task force was created to assist in reconciling between work and family life. The task force was formed to examine the changing nee ds of employees in terms of flex time, part-time jobs and other issues.The task force, which meets monthly, is chaired by the CEO, a fact that underscores its credibility and organizational priority (Riggs, 47). Among the system improvements include time management. Managers in an AW environment, particularly one in which employees work from a distance, must also pay close attention to time management. Failure to do so will severely impact the workflow of a telecommuter (Apgar, 128).Companies should look at the legal and tax ramifications of a corporate telecommuting program. Among those legal issues that must be addressed include indemnification, liability and workers compensation, and local legal and union issues. What would happen if company owned property is stolen or damage from a workers home? Does the workers homeowners insurance cover it, or does the employer? While liability and workers compensation is a concern for employers, the issues have not been totally defined, an d therefore not worth of a lot worry. In addition, court cases have not defined this area (Harler, 28). When companies research local legal issues, they should particularly look at zoning in the employees hometown. Some condominium bylaws, for example, forbid working out of the home (Harler, 28).