a number of issues, including gridlock, pollution, employee retention, savings on office space — and even increases in productivity.
In 1989, AT&T started a pilot telecommuting program in Los Angeles; the program was expanded to Phoenix in 1990. Employees tried working at home several days per month. AT&T’s move in this direction was a voluntary response to Title I of the 1990 Clean Air Act. In 1992, AT&T introduced a formal telework policy and started its Virtual Workplace training programs. By 1999, more than half of AT&T’s managers teleworked at least one day a month; 25 percent of their managers teleworked one day or more per week and 10 percent teleworked 100 percent of the time.
Telecommuting was given a boost in 1990 when amendments to the Clean Air Act mandated employer trip-reduction programs. While telecommuting wasn’t a requirement under the Act, it was a recommended way to meet trip-reduction goals and a number of organizations began experimenting with this option. The bill was changed in 1995, and reductions in car-commuter trips are no longer mandatory. However, regional or state rules are still in effect, and telecommuting remains one good way to get cars off the road.
There have been some major changes in telecommuting since its early beginnings. These changes have been driven both by demand and by technology — the Internet, email, and cell phones now make it easier than ever to work from virtually any place, at any time.
In the 1990s, it is estimated that there were approximately 3.7 million workers telecommuting in the United States. In 2000, that number had increased to 6 million. It is estimated that, by the end of 2009, 14 million people will be telecommuting. The rise in these numbers has been driven both by individual and environmental needs.
The entry of Generation Y into the workforce — a demographic that desires flexibility and independence more than those before them — has helped many businesses consider flexible work arrangements as a solution to those desires. Growing concerns for the environment has also spurned an increase in telecommuting as a solution for reducing carbon emissions. The increase in technology options that make it easy — if not seamless — for employees to stay connected regardless of physical location has also had a positive impact.
Flexible working benefits are a cost-effective way to help employees balance their work and personal lives. According to the SHRM 2008 Job Satisfaction survey report, 44 percent of employees cited the flexibility to balance work/life issues as a very important aspect of job satisfaction.
2. The Terminology of Telecommuting
The term “telecommuting” is frequently confused with the term “teleworking.” Telework is actually a broad term that includes telecommuting, as well as act of working from satellite offices, neighborhood work centers, and mobile working.
Teleworking means, literally, working from a remote location. The four options mentioned above are all variations of telework.
Telecommuting refers to employees who work at home on occasion or on a regular basis and who are connected to the workplace through various telecommunications links that might include a telephone, email, or a computer link to office servers. It’s the use of information and communication technology to work away from what might be considered the traditional work setting. The most common alternative worksite is the employee’s home. Other popular options include telework centers, satellite offices, client offices, hotel rooms, airplanes, trains, and even automobiles.
Satellite offices are facilities that are located at a separate location from the main business headquarters and that house only employees who work for that specific company.
Neighborhood work centers appear to be exactly like satellite offices, but there is one important distinction. While a satellite office would house employees who all work for the same firm, a neighborhood work center includes employees from a variety of different businesses. Neighborhood work centers are most common in large metropolitan areas and provide space for monthly leasing, as well as business equipment such as fax machines and computers.
Mobile workers are employees who really don’t have a specific location where they operate. They may frequently be on the road and may use telecommunications technology to keep in contact with their home office. The most common type of mobile worker is a salesperson.
Another commonly used term is hoteling. Hoteling involves assigning office space to employees who come into the office only occasionally. Rather than being assigned a permanent work area, employees who are hoteling make use of a designated area that they may share with others.
Here are Jack Nilles’s definitions of teleworking and telecommuting:
Teleworking: Any form of substitution of information technologies (such as telecommunications or computers) for work-related travel.
Telecommuting: Moving the work to the workers instead of moving the workers to work; periodic work out of the principal office for one or more days per week, either at home or in a telework center. The emphasis here is on reduction or elimination of the daily commute to and from the workplace.
And, as Nilles points out, since he coined the terms he should know!
Telecommuting is not the all-or-nothing proposition it is often considered. A teleworker is not necessarily someone who works from home 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. In fact, according to the International Telework Association & Council (ITAC), the average number of teleworked days is one to two per week.
Whether working at a satellite office, in a neighborhood work center, or at home, the concept of telework is dramatically expanding the options available not only to employees, but to employers around the world.
3. The Trend toward Telecommuting
Telework is a growing work option for companies of all sizes and types. According to the Telework Advisory Group for WorldatWork (ITAC: www.workingfromanywhere.org), there are more than 23.5 million Americans employed by a company who are working from home at least part-time. Just ten years ago in 1999, that figure was 19.6 million — and in 1990, there were just 3.4 million teleworkers in the United States.
Telecommuting can’t happen without the support of businesses, but employees themselves are certainly driving the process. Studies show that more and more companies are offering telecommuting and other flexible options as a means of attracting, retaining, and motivating employees.
SHRM’s “2008 Employee Job Satisfaction” report indicates that many companies offer nontraditional scheduling options to employees to help them balance their work and personal lives. Fifty-nine percent of Human Resources (HR) professionals indicated their organizations offered flextime, which allowed employees to select their work hours within limits established by the employer. In addition to flextime, 57 percent of HR professionals indicated that their organizations offered some form of telecommuting: Forty-seven percent of respondents reported that their organizations offered telecommuting on an ad-hoc basis, 35 percent on a part-time basis, and 21 percent on a full-time basis. Thirty-seven percent of HR professionals said their organizations offered compressed workweeks, where full-time employees are allowed to work longer days for part of a week or pay period in exchange for shorter days or a day off during that week or pay period. Eighteen percent of HR professionals reported that their organizations offered job sharing, in which two employees share the responsibilities, accountability, and compensation of one full-time job. These types of flexible scheduling benefits allow organizations to recruit and retain motivated workers who may not be able or willing to work a traditional nine-to-five schedule.
A 2009 study by WorldatWork also indicated an increase in telework. The number of US employees who worked remotely (i.e., telecommuted) at least one day per month increased by 39 percent over the past two years, from approximately 12.4 million in 2006 to 17.2 million in 2008. In its survey brief, Telework Trendlines™ 2009, WorldatWork reports that the sum of all teleworkers — employees, contractors, and business owners — has risen by 17 percent, from 28.7 million in 2006 to 33.7 million in 2008.
4. The Growth of Telecommuting