Telecommuting is used a lot in today by many people, the daily commute on overcrowded highways and streets has been replaced by telecommuting to work. Telecommuting refers to individuals who work from home and communicate with their office by means of computers and communications equipment. This form of work structure is flexible and provides many opportunities for employees and employers alike. Today, writers, programmers, accountants, data entry clerks, and other information workers, work from home rather than report to an office.
Teleworking offers significant benefits to employers, employees, self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs, and in developing the local economy. It also presents opportunities to secure wider social benefits - for example by reducing the environmental impact of car travel. Management Technology Associates has conducted several studies to obtain and analyse the views of experienced teleworkers and of managers who have experience in working with teleworkers. The following summary of the benefits includes only those aspects where a majority of experienced teleworkers and managers concur that a worthwhile benefit has been obtained. Benefits only accrue from successful telework programs, and that some companies have attempted telework programs but subsequently reverted to office based working having had a negative experience.
Work performance varies across different types of telework. Those who work from home, by far, report the most substantial increase in productivity and quality since beginning to telework. Home-based workers also distinguish themselves from other teleworkers by reporting the highest job satisfaction and organization commitment and strongest desire to remain working in their organization. Interestingly, demographic comparisons across teleworker types revealed that those who have the highest education are significantly more likely to work from home than to engage in other types of telework.
Telework America was originally established as Telecommute America in 1995 a public-private effort of representatives from government, non-profit and corporate entities bound by their mutual interest in advancing the nation's knowledge and understanding of this workplace option. The mission of the project is to encourage acceptance and growth of telework arrangements through a nationwide program of public awareness, education and active public-private participation focused on employee, employer, community and environmental benefits. The goal of the first Telework America program was to increase the number of U.S. teleworkers by one million. In July, 1997, Telework America announced it surpassed its goal three-fold when research showed that more than three million new workers joined the nation's teleworking ranks since 1995.One of the issues in designing telework programs is that of teaching teleworkers to break up their tasks into two groups: those that are best done in the traditional office and those that are location independent—and therefore teleworkable. The survey data show a positive correlation between the degree to which teleworkers allocate tasks specifically for teleworking and their productivity changes.
In conclusion however while telework offers broad benefits, not all employers will have the kinds of business problems for which telework is an appropriate solution. Employers must carefully assess the pros and cons of telework, though virtually all employers should at least consider a planned program. Ironically, almost all companies have telework programs, whether they know it or not. Two-thirds of telework arrangements are informal, and worked out between a manager and employee – people are traveling on business, they’re checking email while having to stay home with a sick child, they’re choosing to take the conference call from home. The numbers of teleworkers are growing, I personally think that it has lots of benefits toward those people who feels comfortable working at home.