Teleworking

Abstract

This research paper aims to explain the benefits that telework has for employers and employees. It will also discuss concerns employers may have about teleworking such as; security, cost and monitoring employees' work. Teleworking (telecommuting or remote work) is when employees are able to perform their work from the convenience of their home instead of in a traditional office through the use of web based technology. The paper also discusses the negative impacts of teleworking in order to cover all the aspects of this innovation.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion5

Historical Overview5

Definition6

Relevance6

Early Interest by the Federal Government7

Benefits of Implementing an Organizational Telework Policy8

How We Can Telework9

Advantages of Teleworking from an Employee's Point Of View10

Cost Savings on Commute to Work11

Flexibility of Work Environment12

Disadvantages of Telework from an Employee's Point Of View14

Social Isolation14

Work-Family Conflict15

Higher Operating Pressure16

Human Resource Programs Impacted by Telework16

Employment17

Retention18

Summary18

Conclusions and Recommendations20

References22

Teleworking

Introduction

Teleworking consists of all types of work conducted outside a centrally located work place including work done in homes. It works best for those companies who consider it as a part of their routine. Due to fast pace of change in technology, teleworking has become a great part of businesses to help them to precede their teleworking processes and are putting it into practice. It is estimated that there is an increase of 9% in part-time teleworking jobs and only 2% of increase in full-time teleworking jobs during the period of 2006 to 2008 (Silver, 2010). There are so many companies who are considering it as a way to improve their production of sales as well as to reduce absence of employees from the workplace.

It has become possible to work at any time and everywhere. With the help of strategies implementing in the work to hold the advantages it may lead to enormous savings in the real estate costs and it can also help to improve the working style of employees. The main reason behind the idea of teleworking was to control the loss of productivity. According to the study occurring at the time by 'WorldatWork', the companies of US who are offering teleworking has increased 30 to 42 percent during the period of 2007 to 2008 (Golden,2008) . It has become beneficial for the employees and has improved the sales' productivity and saved energy and has also looked into the other organizational issues.

Discussion

Historical Overview

If we go back to the origin of the concept of teleworking which is understood as remote working using telecommunications, we can say that it emerged in the 70's during the oil crisis, with the primary objective of saving energy by avoiding trips that will cause petroleum consumption. Since the seventies, telecommunications is increasingly integrated with the data processing devices, and each time has a lower cost and higher capacity utilization (Wiesenfeld et al., 2001). Teleworking is the result of growth in IT and our knowledge. In today's marketplace having up to date, and in some industries state of the art infrastructures is mandatory for organizations to remain viable; competitive among peers (Wiesenfeld et al., ...