There has been a sharp increase in the number of North American employers offering telecommuting as an option, reports Telephony Magazine. According to an annual survey by WorldatWork, a global human resources association, 42% of U.S. employers said they offered a telework option, up from 30% in 2007, while in Canada, the jump was even greater, from 25% to 40%.
One reason for the increase, according to the survey, is that technology is no longer a major issue, said Rose Stanley of WorldatWork.
The rise of easy-to-use Web conferencing and collaboration programs is making it much easier for workers to operate efficiently even when they aren’t in the same physical location, Stanley said, and widely available broadband access makes use of Web-based technologies easier. Collaborative software like Webex, Go to Meeting, and Microsoft’s Live Meeting bring disparate people together and enable them to work on a single document.
Managers still are concerned about how to manage employees that aren’t in one site, however. “When we conduct polls, the responses we get are, ‘We don’t know how to manage someone we can’t see,’” Stanley said.
High gas prices make telecommuting more attractive to employees, but that doesn’t necessarily motivate employers, Stanley said.
“Honestly, from a business perspective, gas prices are not as much a factor,” Stanley said. “That doesn’t mean that senior management isn’t concerned and doesn’t see that as a definite problem. But they still run their businesses, and what they are going to react to is when it starts to affect their turnover and ability to attract employees. They won’t necessarily implement something unless they see it as a win for both.”
Telecommuters need not necessarily work from the home. A more recent extension of telecommuting is distributed work.
Distributed work entails the conduct of organizational tasks in places that extends beyond the confines of traditional offices. Remote Office Centers lease offices to individuals from multiple companies.
A Remote Office Center provide professional grade network access, phone system, security system, and mail stop. They’re generally located in areas near where people live.
On June 3, 2008, the House passed H.R. 4106 which would require agencies to develop a program allowing employees to telework at least 20 percent of every two-week work period. GSA currently provides 14 Remote Offices in the D.C. area that can be used by Federal Employees. The Oregon Telecommunity Center Project (pdf) assessed the needs of specific Oregon rural communities that can be served by telecommunity centers.
